Saved A Kitten, Now Ringworm Infestation

[Rahoyt]

So a few weeks ago I rescued a kitten about seven weeks old. I also have an eleven month old cat as well. Turns out the kitten was a ringworm carrier... . Now I am absolutely covered in ringworm and my other cat has no hair on his head. I've been taking oral medication and the vet gave me a liquid medicine to give th cats. Problem is, I don't have a washing machine to clean stuff with and I can't really afford to keep taking everything back to the laundromat over and over. Also some of the ringworms on my leg have become infected and my doctor advised me to stay off my feet so I can't constantly clean the house. So now me and my two cats are confined to half of my house... Is this enough or is it necessary to constantly clean? I live alone so this would be very difficult. I put nail polish on the ones on my face and arms so they've been clearing up, is this safe? It's been four days since we started treatments and a week and a half since I first noticed symptoms.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with this. I did some searching here, and found the following articles. I hope they help.

Ringworm Infestation In Cats: The Housecleaning Regime

Ringworm In Cats: How To Win The Fight

That should at least give you a starting point until some more knowledgeable members get here!

I'm glad that you found us, although I hate the reason! Welcome to TCS. You are no longer alone with this! Oh, and thank you for opening your home and heart to a kitten in need. Once the ringworm is under control, I know he (she?) will bring lots of joy to you.

 

[Rahoyt]

Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with this. I did some searching here, and found the following articles. I hope they help.

Ringworm Infestation In Cats: The Housecleaning Regime

Ringworm In Cats: How To Win The Fight

That should at least give you a starting point until some more knowledgeable members get here!

I'm glad that you found us, although I hate the reason! Welcome to TCS. You are no longer alone with this! Oh, and thank you for opening your home and heart to a kitten in need. Once the ringworm is under control, I know he (she?) will bring lots of joy to you.

Thank you so much! She definitely will bring me much Hoy and already has! I guess mostly I'm just worried about the amount of cleaning I have to do and if it's even necessary, especially because like I said my doctor told me to stay off my feet because of the infections I got from scratching at the sores before I knew what they were. Also if there's even a need to isolate seeing as how me and my cats are the only ones in the house and we all have it.

 

[Sarthur2]

Isolating will make cleaning easier.

The spores will be everywhere otherwise, and can cause reinfection.

 

[mokapi]

Cleaning is very important. Rather than using fingernail polish, can you use athlete's foot cream? The terbinafine will clear it up.

You can also apply athlete's foot cream topically to your cats, as long as its in spots they can't lick. We went through a ton of the stuff at one of the rescues I volunteered for when an entire slew of ringworm-infested chinchillas came in.

 

[Rahoyt]

Isolating will make cleaning easier.

The spores will be everywhere otherwise, and can cause reinfection.

But since I have it, do I have to isolate myself to a portion of the house as well? Won't spores come from me as well?

 

[Rahoyt]

Cleaning is very important. Rather than using fingernail polish, can you use athlete's foot cream? The terbinafine will clear it up.

You can also apply athlete's foot cream topically to your cats, as long as its in spots they can't lick. We went through a ton of the stuff at one of the rescues I volunteered for when an entire slew of ringworm-infested chinchillas came in.

Ah I would use that on my cats but the luck each other so there's no place I could put it... I'll look into trying it on myself though! I've been scared to go anywhere public because I have over 100 sites on my body.

 

[Sarthur2]

Yes, you will spread it wherever you go, so the fewer rooms you are in to spread it, the easier it will be to clean your home.

But you do not have to isolate yourself.

However, the point of isolating is to stop the spread of spores.

It's your choice!

 

[josiegirl]

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I rescued a stray kitten in 2001 (see avatar) and she, too, carried ringworm. My other cat contracted it first and then I got it. Not fun!!! Boy, did they itch! But I only received a couple of sores and it went away fairly quickly. You must have a bad infestation.

I did have to stay away from my friend who was pregnant. It can be dangerous for her.

Good luck!! And, yes, athletes foot cream really helped!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Well, you aren't alone here! I did do a search for "ringworm" trying to find some more help for you, and BOY are there a LOT of posts! If you go to the top of the page in the brown bar, and click "search," then enter "ringworm" you will have a couple of hundred folks who are going or have gone through this. You might find some additional information on one of them! Meanwhile, I'm sending a lot of your way for you AND your kitties!

 

[josiegirl]

I belong to a site that often talks about alternative remedies and someone said coconut oil mixed with lavender essential oil works wonders for ringworm and gets rid of them quickly!

Put 1/4 cup coconut oil in small pan (if the oil is solid) heat until melted. (On low heat.)After heating remove. Add 15 drops lavender oil. Let solidify. Apply as salve.

Make sure coconut oil is unrefined, cold-pressed organic Virgin oil. I use Simple Truth that I found at Kroger.

Coconut oil smells wonderful, too.

 

[DeannaF]

Where are you located? Wish I could come and help you do some washing and clean for you..

It's important to clean the floors and vacuum on a very regular basis (especially furniture and carpets) and especially washing all sheets/blankets/cat bedding in HOT water reguarly.

 

[Rahoyt]

Where are you located? Wish I could come and help you do some washing and clean for you..

It's important to clean the floors and vacuum on a very regular basis (especially furniture and carpets) and especially washing all sheets/blankets/cat bedding in HOT water reguarly.

I've had a friend come over once or twice and help me clean. I've been halfway isolating me and the fur babies to help contain spores and stuff. My infection is getting a lot better too so that helps me clean a bit more as well. I live in South Carolina so that humidity and all definitely does not help with it either haha.

 

[Rahoyt]

Well, you aren't alone here! I did do a search for "ringworm" trying to find some more help for you, and BOY are there a LOT of posts! If you go to the top of the page in the brown bar, and click "search," then enter "ringworm" you will have a couple of hundred folks who are going or have gone through this. You might find some additional information on one of them! Meanwhile, I'm sending a lot of your way for you AND your kitties!

Omigosh I didn't even realize you could do that! Thank you so much!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

You're new. I figured you didn't have the fine details down yet. LOL...although TCS has been around for years, this host is kinda new, and even the old timers are still getting used to how to do stuff!

I'm glad you have some help with the cleaning. As you can see, I'm in North Carolina, and I do know about the humidity! It's even worse where you are. I wanna go to ALASKA!

 

[di and bob]

You will not spread the spores if you have your lesions covered. Clothes will cover most, any visible and not covered by clothes would need to be covered with a bandaid. Nail polish would seal and cover the fungus, so might be handy to use instead of all those bandaids and cleaning clothes. Of course the clothes would have to be washed daily as to not spread the fungus if the lesions are not covered. Keep them in a plastic bag until washed and try not to handle them much. Athletes cream is cheap and does well in healing. The cats will have to be given medicine prescribed by the vet. Usually after medicine is taken for so long, the condition it is treating is no longer contagious, call your vet and see if this is the case. My heart goes out to you, I thank you for putting up with all this from adopting a little one, and hope things get better!

 

[kmm808]

So a few weeks ago I rescued a kitten about seven weeks old. I also have an eleven month old cat as well. Turns out the kitten was a ringworm carrier... . Now I am absolutely covered in ringworm and my other cat has no hair on his head. I've been taking oral medication and the vet gave me a liquid medicine to give th cats. Problem is, I don't have a washing machine to clean stuff with and I can't really afford to keep taking everything back to the laundromat over and over. Also some of the ringworms on my leg have become infected and my doctor advised me to stay off my feet so I can't constantly clean the house. So now me and my two cats are confined to half of my house... Is this enough or is it necessary to constantly clean? I live alone so this would be very difficult. I put nail polish on the ones on my face and arms so they've been clearing up, is this safe? It's been four days since we started treatments and a week and a half since I first noticed symptoms.

Thank you for rescuing the kitty and for treating it! I'm so sorry you and your kitty is going through this. I was a formerly a vet tech for 17 years and am now a foster kitty mom and TNR person. I foster ringworm kitties for the local humane society here. I use chlorhexidene (you can find it cheap on amazon and ebay) diluted and spray everything they've been on and around, including their food bowls and let it sit for a minimum of 10 minutes. Air dry is best. I also put a capful of the straight chlorhexidene in the laundry and let it soak for 10 minutes before the rinse cycle.

As far as for yourself, my vet always said that fungus loves dry skin, and I use hand and body lotion on my face and body every day to keep it moist. So far (fingers crossed) I have not had any ringworm on me in the past few years.

For the kitties, if you are able to bathe them, I use a sulfur soap (amazon), then a lime sulfur dip (amazon), once a week for 3 weeks. Daily I use a human antifungal cream on the active spots that you can pick up from Wal-Mart for pretty cheap. I've found that most of the kitties I've treated like this cleared up by 3 weeks with the fur grown in by the 4th or 5th week. If you're not able to bathe them, the oral meds from your vet works well on it's own also. Good luck to you!!

 

[arouetta]

I knew someone who would actually mix athlete's foot cream and cortisone cream to put on ringworm. You could also do the cortisone immediately after the athlete's foot cream like I do for my skin problems. Not only will it kill the ringworm, it'll keep you from itching. Not itching means not scratching which means no infections.

When you wash stuff, use a decent dose of vinegar and a splash (between an eighth and a quarter cup) of bleach directly into the water and then put the clothes in. The small amount of bleach won't discolor your clothes and both the bleach and vinegar will kill the spores. Mix the vinegar and water 50/50 in a spray bottle and liberally spray all your soft stuff, like carpeting, upholstery, mattresses, things like that. Use the same concentration to put on a sponge and rub down your hard stuff.

Good luck.

Edit: I saw kmm808's comment, but my doctor told me the opposite when I got fungus on my skin. She said fungus love dark moist areas, like folds of the skin. I was told to carefully dry everywhere so no moistness was left anywhere on the skin. Take a hairdryer to your skin after a shower if you have to. Avoid antibiotics too, if at all possible, as an antibiotic will cause the ringworm to spread. Antibiotics are like nuclear bombs, they not only kill the problem bacteria, they also kill all the helpful bacteria we need. Like the ones on the skin that normally gobble up fungus like Pac-Man at an all-you-can-eat buffet.