Ringworm

JacquieM

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Beautiful cat towers🙁 I would definitely hate to toss them but I don’t know if it would be a place of reinfection with the spores? I also purchased the same swiffer products and found out they do get the hairs that my vacuum may have missed! I had a small collection of books on a book case and I did use Lysol wipes to remove any possible hair and then put them in a Rubbermaid tote for awhile. I took things off of shelving that I was able to and wiped down with wipes and put those also in totes. Things are still in totes because if I find a reinfection it is something that I would not have to put away again. Right now I’m all about the easiest way to keep the hair from flying around with my pets. The Miele vacuum is great. I agree the vets should know more about ringworm and treatment. She gave me tresaderm topical for the lesion on my cats head which did not seem to help at all. I insisted on oral for all my cats and then had to do the same for my dogs once I found a lesion. Gave me topical and all it did was get worse!
I am waiting and watching for any signs of a reoccurrence. It has been several weeks since treatment ended for the cats😳 I also would like to know how long does it take approximately for a reinfection to occur? I think my environment/house was disinfected the best that I could possibly do. Electrostatic spraying from a professional company and then I used rescue in a fogger and did it myself before Letting the cats out of quarantine. Still I am going day by day with it all. I have to say it sounds like your previous kitty was loved very much and sorry you had to say good bye 💕
Here is the link to the shelter medicine organization that I have been impressed by. Good information. Library

I don’t know know why sometimes when I reply, your message is copied at the start of my message, but sometimes it is not. I hope you are getting all my responses. 😊
 

JacquieM

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Beautiful cat towers🙁 I would definitely hate to toss them but I don’t know if it would be a place of reinfection with the spores? I also purchased the same swiffer products and found out they do get the hairs that my vacuum may have missed! I had a small collection of books on a book case and I did use Lysol wipes to remove any possible hair and then put them in a Rubbermaid tote for awhile. I took things off of shelving that I was able to and wiped down with wipes and put those also in totes. Things are still in totes because if I find a reinfection it is something that I would not have to put away again. Right now I’m all about the easiest way to keep the hair from flying around with my pets. The Miele vacuum is great. I agree the vets should know more about ringworm and treatment. She gave me tresaderm topical for the lesion on my cats head which did not seem to help at all. I insisted on oral for all my cats and then had to do the same for my dogs once I found a lesion. Gave me topical and all it did was get worse!
I am waiting and watching for any signs of a reoccurrence. It has been several weeks since treatment ended for the cats😳 I also would like to know how long does it take approximately for a reinfection to occur? I think my environment/house was disinfected the best that I could possibly do. Electrostatic spraying from a professional company and then I used rescue in a fogger and did it myself before Letting the cats out of quarantine. Still I am going day by day with it all. I have to say it sounds like your previous kitty was loved very much and sorry you had to say good bye 💕
I provided the link to the shelter medicine organization in another post. Here is very promising information I found:
Immunity

Naturally occurring ringworm is rarely recurrent, suggesting an effective and long-lasting immunity. Experimental studies confirm that animals express increased resistance to subsequent challenge by the homologous fungus. Re-infections may occur, but require a much greater number of spores, and usually these subsequent infections are cleared more rapidly (Moriello and DeBoer, 2012).
 

vivibebean

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thanks for the articles! i read through some of them.
also i did more research on UVC light. from what i read, natural sunlight mainly consist of UVA and some of UVB.
UVC, barely gets through the ozone layer and UVC light is what kills ringworm.
another journal i read said that UVC light 254 wavelength could kill Trichophyton and microsporum.
i bought a UVC 254 wavelength lamp that was lab certified to kill Trichophyton. it did not list microsporum... i believe what kills Trichophyton can also kill microsporum, as per my vet dermatologist. i just emailed her to confirm about the UVC.
 
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JacquieM

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thanks for the articles! i read through some of them.
also i did more research on UVC light. from what i read, natural sunlight mainly consist of UVA and some of UVB.
UVC, barely gets through the ozone layer and UVC light is what kills ringworm.
another journal i read said that UVC light 254 wavelength could kill Trichophyton and microsporum.
i bought a UVC 254 wavelength lamp that was lab certified to kill Trichophyton. it did not list microsporum... i believe what kills Trichophyton can also kill microsporum, as per my vet dermatologist. i just emailed her to confirm about the UVC.
Wow, that’s fantastic. You are like a scientist now. Okay, UVC. Where exactly will you place the lamp. I am very interested. I am also interested in the rescue fog you and the other woman have been discussing. I did buy a gallon of Rescue as you suggested. I like the swiffer tools! I had no idea they were so awesome.
I overslept by two hours this morning, I was so exhausted from cleaning for six hours yesterday.

Wednesday I take merlin to the vet for a culture, a lime sulfur dip, and a check up. I need answers about why he occasionally has a red scab in his ear.
 

vivibebean

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article online: "Hair re-grows long before the fungus is exterminated" :eek:

my dermatology vet said that "As of right now there is not sufficient enough research on this product, therefore we do not recommend using it." i will still be using the UVC lamp anyways just because it is lab certified to kill Trichophyton and it is almost similar to microsporum. the UVC lamp is damaging to the eyes, any animals or plants. so its best to remove animals and plants out of the room and dont look directly at the UVC lamp while it is on. it only takes 15-30 minutes to sanitize the area, so i would have to put the lamp in the middle of the room that my cats are isolating in and keep my cats in their kernel outside the room for about 30 minutes.

also there a UVC wand version of the lamp^^^ that sanitizes in 90 seconds. i bought both. will be using the wand daily? or every other day? to sanitize smaller surface areas. the lamp will be used once or twice weekly for the entire room that my cats are in.

i will probably do the fogging idea as well maybe when my cats are in the clear and still in the cage for reinfection monitoring.
Take any sleep you can get! i bet you have been working really hard for your cat! you deserve good sleep!

the shelter who gave me the cat with ringworm and who told me about the UVC mentioned that the UV-C breaks down DNA and will kill fungus. also, he recommended me this product to control the ringworm. it works really well for him apparently.


meanwhile i cant even tell if my cats are getting better or worse. i dont understand how i could be cleaning and disinfecting so much, but my cat's would lose hair and then grow it back, but then lose hair at another area.... very confusing.
 
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vivibebean

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Hi
I change the blankets if they are fur covered but not everything is disinfected daily. Twice weekly disinfecting happens. So much work. I disinfect carriers with rescue and then I have rinsed with plain water after that to rinse off the hair and residue from rescue if needed. Grateful it is good weather otherwise I truly dont know what I would do. I have a home and the outdoor hose has been beneficial. I take the blankets outside and shake them off before washing. My cats are tired of being caged but because of the dogs now being treatEd it cannot be helped. I was thinking and wondered why there is not a cat vacuum? So today when vacuuming their area and cages I tried vacuuming my bengal and she loved it💕 I then vacuumed my three Maine coons and it went well. They were curious but were fine. They looked like they enjoyed it actually. I used the soft bristle attachment. I have made several attempts with wipes, washing with a rag and I think the soft bristle brush for vacuuming has worked the best on cleaning off wired cage edges. I am going to try and vacuum the cages daily and possibly the cats who will enjoy it! My white Maine coon sheds soooo much. Hair is everywhere! He loved being vacuumed😊Should have thought of it sooner. Also, I am sending a picture of one of the crates I purchased. It seems to work well. I returned a smaller one because it was to small. Being thirty inches high the cats like to stretch up at times and it gives them enough room. I have stacked one on top of the other because my room is only so big. I also have a plug in of multicat feliway for calming in their room. It is a very good product.

also, S Sandy7272
the large outdoor dog kernel that i got for my cats, TWO OF MY CATS LEARNED HOW TO ESCAPE BY CLIMBING OUT THROUGH THE TOP :eek: :eek: :eek: .... they are too smart... i wish they were a tad bit slower..... so i ended up buying 3 of the dog kernel you told me that you bought back then^^. i didnt want to, but now i will have to separate each of the cats... they might be a bit more stressed since they wont have much physical contact anymore with each other.

only good news about separating all three of them is that one wont reinfect the other now. only my ragdoll looks like shes improving. she is very fluffy now. meanwhile my russian blue has three bald spots. my siberian whose head and neck went bald is now growing some hair back... but he might be losing fur near his ears? these cats are very confusing. cant tell if they are getting better or worse.
 

JacquieM

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article online: "Hair re-grows long before the fungus is exterminated" :eek:

my dermatology vet said that "As of right now there is not sufficient enough research on this product, therefore we do not recommend using it." i will still be using the UVC lamp anyways just because it is lab certified to kill Trichophyton and it is almost similar to microsporum. the UVC lamp is damaging to the eyes, any animals or plants. so its best to remove animals and plants out of the room and dont look directly at the UVC lamp while it is on. it only takes 15-30 minutes to sanitize the area, so i would have to put the lamp in the middle of the room that my cats are isolating in and keep my cats in their kernel outside the room for about 30 minutes.

also there a UVC wand version of the lamp^^^ that sanitizes in 90 seconds. i bought both. will be using the wand daily? or every other day? to sanitize smaller surface areas. the lamp will be used once or twice weekly for the entire room that my cats are in.

i will probably do the fogging idea as well maybe when my cats are in the clear and still in the cage for reinfection monitoring.
Take any sleep you can get! i bet you have been working really hard for your cat! you deserve good sleep!

the shelter who gave me the cat with ringworm and who told me about the UVC mentioned that the UV-C breaks down DNA and will kill fungus. also, he recommended me this product to control the ringworm. it works really well for him apparently.

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meanwhile i cant even tell if my cats are getting better or worse. i dont understand how i could be cleaning and disinfecting so much, but my cat's would lose hair and then grow it back, but then lose hair at another area.... very confusing.
Well I’m a medical writer, and doctors use medications off-label, meaning they have not been specifically approved for the purpose, all the time. If you found a reliable source that says the light works, go for it. Plus it will make you feel better. Except, if you are adding it to all your cleaning, it intensifies your workload.

yes, I read that too, about the hair regrowing even though the fungus is still present. I am going to go with a weekly culture approach, or at the least biweekly, as I saw that Dr. Moriello recommended. It seems I can use a toothbrush and bring the needed material to the vet, without traumatizing my cat by holding him there. I hope my vet agrees to that. I also hope these stupid cultures don’t cost me a fortune. 😒

it is so confusing! I notice it has helped my emotional state to pick one expert and follow their advice. So it’s Dr. Moriello for me. My own vet seems relatively clueless. Which is really surprising because she volunteers for the rescue organization where I got Merlin. Wait, let me modify that. It is a very perplexing condition, not just to us but to veterinarian professionals. So my vet is not clueless, but I do wish she would stay updated on current tactics and recommendations. She is basically following my lead. 😳

I finally contacted the rescue organization about my situation. I was very polite, and started by thanking them for rescuing Merlin, etc. But then I said, “you should not take ringworm so casually.“ And I stated that Merlin should have been cultured for ringworm. It turns out I misunderstood a few things about their organization; really I knew nothing about them. All I knew was that Merlin had a ringworm patch when he came to me. It turns out that his patches look nothing like typical ringworm. And since a woods lamp did not light up, they were sure it was not ringworm. Also none of his mates had or have developed ringworm! Just Merlin. Just my luck. 🙄

I was bleaching the kitchen floor at 11 PM last night. Good grief. Today is vacuum the living room rug again, vacuum the upstairs carpet, clean surfaces in the kitchen and dining room, finish swiffer in the walls in the sanctuary. The image below was accidentally pasted, ha ha. I think I’ll leave it. I’m going to a concert tomorrow night.
1655211191416.png
 

vivibebean

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its okay. i'm pretty desperate to get this fungus off my cats and out of my life. if i could, i would pay someone a good amount of money to take my cats in, treat them for the ringworm for several weeks- months and bring them back to me 100% ringworm free.

they started their 5 weeks itrafungol 5 mg/kg week on and week off treatment on 4/26. if everything had went well, they would've been off their medications right now, lesions would be healing, hair grown, and i would be just monitoring for reinfection.

unfortunately, they developed more lesions at the last week of their itrafungol (late may - early june)......... so now they are on their itrafungol 10 mg/kg every day for 3 weeks. the end of the three weeks is 6/24, thankfully. i will bring my cats in for culture on/around 6/24 probably if it gets better.

if they still have lesions on 6/24, my dermatologist advised to give itrafungol 5 mg/kg week on and week off until lesion subsides.
i will probably still give them the on and off itrafungol 5 mg/kg until their culture comes back. approx 3 weeks for culture to come back. theres no limit to how long my cats could be on itrafungol my dermatologist said.

i think you shoudl let the vet do the culture. if you do it at home, there a chance it might get contaminated and might be false positive or false negative.

how is the treatment of your cat doing? did you end up startign oral medication again?
 

JacquieM

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its okay. i'm pretty desperate to get this fungus off my cats and out of my life. if i could, i would pay someone a good amount of money to take my cats in, treat them for the ringworm for several weeks- months and bring them back to me 100% ringworm free.

they started their 5 weeks itrafungol 5 mg/kg week on and week off treatment on 4/26. if everything had went well, they would've been off their medications right now, lesions would be healing, hair grown, and i would be just monitoring for reinfection.

unfortunately, they developed more lesions at the last week of their itrafungol (late may - early june)......... so now they are on their itrafungol 10 mg/kg every day for 3 weeks. the end of the three weeks is 6/24, thankfully. i will bring my cats in for culture on/around 6/24 probably if it gets better.

if they still have lesions on 6/24, my dermatologist advised to give itrafungol 5 mg/kg week on and week off until lesion subsides.
i will probably still give them the on and off itrafungol 5 mg/kg until their culture comes back. approx 3 weeks for culture to come back. theres no limit to how long my cats could be on itrafungol my dermatologist said.

i think you shoudl let the vet do the culture. if you do it at home, there a chance it might get contaminated and might be false positive or false negative.

how is the treatment of your cat doing? did you end up startign oral medication again?
I thought the exact same thing! I dreamt of somebody being able to take Merlin and rid him of the ringworm and give him back to me. I guess I would still have to do all the cleaning though. I’m feeling a little better about the cleaning, because I am halfway through the house now.

I didn’t fully realize your cats had more lesions after the medication ended. That must’ve freaked you out. I’m so glad you’re seeing a specialist. I’m going to look for one in my area. Giving the 5 mg until the culture comes back sounds like a great idea to me. I will keep that in mind for myself, too.

Today is day four of the first week of itraconazole. I did all this back in February.

that’s true, about grabbing the specimen at home, but bringing him in multiple times will increase his stress level. I’ve read that stress is related to ringworm. The last time I tried to put him in the carrier, two weeks ago, I have never seen a cat so upset. He actually urinated in fear. He is a rescue from a hoarding situation, so who knows what he has been through.

Both ears have no hair on them, and I hope hope hope the problem stays there. Tomorrow we are getting a lime sulfur dip. Which I feel very bad about. But I know he will forgive me.

Chin up, I’m thinking of you.
 
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Sandy7272

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I have just ordered more fungassy test to do at home. I am going to use a sterile toothbrush and get a hair and skin culture from each cat and dog. Then take another from each two weeks from the first. After reading about the reinfection and on going lesions with the intraf
 
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Sandy7272

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After reading about the reinfection and lesions still present while they were on intrafungal is unsettling 😳
I keep checking for hair loss and any sign of a lesion starting but have not noticed anything. But, every time they scratch I’m thinking it’s ringworm starting again. Culturing with the fungassy is what I am able to use without having to begin with a new vet. You tube videos are very helpful and the instructions are very clear.
Best to you both and your kitties❤
 

JacquieM

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After reading about the reinfection and lesions still present while they were on intrafungal is unsettling 😳
I keep checking for hair loss and any sign of a lesion starting but have not noticed anything. But, every time they scratch I’m thinking it’s ringworm starting again. Culturing with the fungassy is what I am able to use without having to begin with a new vet. You tube videos are very helpful and the instructions are very clear.
Best to you both and your kitties❤
I saw you and Viv talking about a fungassy test. I’d not heard of it. Would be great to test at home!!!
Thanks, best wishes to you and your little monsters, too. 😁
 
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Sandy7272

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Hi
Panic had me looking for options due to my vet not doing cultures! I found the Fungassy test by sortie on you tube. Being done by a vet I believe. I called Zoetis and questioned the product. It has to be shipped overnight from a supplier because it needs to be refrigerated. Once culture is taken then it’s room temp. Dark place and cover loose. It is recommended that no antifungal shampoo or dip be on them. Need to obtain a clean culture. Once treatment was done I bathed with regular shampoo and took hair samples and also used a sterile toothbrush on the fur. I’m just trying to do my best without a vet to help😬
 
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Sandy7272

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The hair loss was very minimal and one lesion on the kitten who brought it in. My yorkie had two small lesions above her eyes. I did not find any other lesions but the spores glowed green on the other cats fur and also the two other yorkies . I am still concerned for reinfection. Fungassy is coming in tomorrow and will take a hair and brush each with a sterile toothbrush and then wait and watch for color change in the medium. Hopefully none. In two weeks I will do it all over again. If someone tests positive I will quarantine just that one and not all my pets again.
 

JacquieM

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The hair loss was very minimal and one lesion on the kitten who brought it in. My yorkie had two small lesions above her eyes. I did not find any other lesions but the spores glowed green on the other cats fur and also the two other yorkies . I am still concerned for reinfection. Fungassy is coming in tomorrow and will take a hair and brush each with a sterile toothbrush and then wait and watch for color change in the medium. Hopefully none. In two weeks I will do it all over again. If someone tests positive I will quarantine just that one and not all my pets again.
That seems like a really good plan. I have news, but I am so confused. My vet thanks, on a visual inspection, that it is NOT ringworm. We also did a culture, and now I have to wait 10+ days for confirmation. The hair loss and skin appearance look exactly like it did 2 months ago when the culture came back positive. She is now saying that 2 months ago some of the skin condition looked like ringworm to her and some of it didn’t. And she thinks this time it is a reoccurrence of the “didn’t” part, if that makes sense. So of course I said, “But you cultured and it came back positive.” And she said that she did not culture the area that did not look like ringworm to her. How stupid is that. Why would you not culture both areas of hair loss. Apparently one was circular, and one wasn’t. She did not share that information with me at the time.
 

JacquieM

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The hair loss was very minimal and one lesion on the kitten who brought it in. My yorkie had two small lesions above her eyes. I did not find any other lesions but the spores glowed green on the other cats fur and also the two other yorkies . I am still concerned for reinfection. Fungassy is coming in tomorrow and will take a hair and brush each with a sterile toothbrush and then wait and watch for color change in the medium. Hopefully none. In two weeks I will do it all over again. If someone tests positive I will quarantine just that one and not all my pets again.
PS Your situation sounds under control. You’re keeping on top of it really well.
 
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Okay! Maybe good news for you! I would agree that you would think two cultures should have been done?
Hopefully it is something else other than ringworm reoccurring 😬 I had contacted the vets at Chewy where I purchase most of my pet supplies and they were very helpful and knowledgeable about ringworm. Recommended everything that I had read on the internet and they understood the seriousness of it being highly contagious to other animals and also myself. I then had solid information to go to my vet and advocate for what I needed to treat my animals.
 
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