Any Cat Lovers Familiar with Ringworm

[DebE13]

My husband rescued a kitten from the below freezing temps and she was sick when he brought her home. I suspect she has the cat herpes virus which will be lifelong for her. She went through a course of antibiotics and eye drops which helped but she still has the cough and a squinty eye. I'm getting more drops even though there is no discharge and hopefully that will help.

My son slept with her the first night home and now has ringworm. The vet doesnt think its for the cat but he was home from college on break at the time so I dont think he caught it from the dorm. I could be wrong. He has a creme that is working but now m 8 year old cat has a a spot on her back leg on the joint just before her foot that has lost all fur and its red. It fits the description of ringworm and I've started putting diluted apple cider vinegar on it.

Any suggestions how to put an end to this and prevent anyone else in the house from getting it, especially my 4year old cat.

[TXBrenda]

I don't have any suggestions on how to keep it from spreading to other household inhabitants. My mom always used straight lemon juice to treat us when we got it as kids. Not sure if it has to be from fresh lemons or if bottled juice would work.

[DebE13]

Thanks for the suggestion. The vet tech suggested vagisil or an athletes foot creme, then a vet visit if that doesn't work. I won't try anything that she may lick and get sick. The idea of wrapping or bandaging her leg is laughable. I know she won't tolerate it. The other option, I read, would be garlic and aloe vera. It may take weeks but as long as it doesn't spread on her I think I would be satisfied.

I appreciate the non MC related suggestion. I trust the advice here because we seem to be a different breed of people.

[TXBrenda]

One time, we had a kitten that developed ring worm. Mom put the lemon juice on her and she or one of us kids held her to keep her from licking it off. I would not want to try holding an adult cat like that. My two are very strong, especially the one that is the most stubborn. Tonight she sat on the arm on my recliner, looked over at me and knocked my reading glasses to the floor. When I got up from dozing off during a movie, I noticed she had relocated my nail buffer to her bed. I'm sure she thought she needed to buff hers.

[DebE13]

I can relate with the relocation of items. Sometimes it's like a easter egg hunt for the items they take a fancy to. Application of anything and giving meds is always a two person job. My three month old will be getting declawed in early March. Hopefully that will restore some peace in the household. She is terrorizing my two other cats.

I will keep lemon juice on my list of options. Thanks!

[kayare]

Hi Deb,

Please follow your vet tech's advice. That's what I used regularly on my kittens when I fostered for our local animal shelter. Be sure to search all over each day for new spots. They can appear like small crusty spots or even dandruff. It can also help to wash the affected areas with dandruff shampoo before applying the cream. This works for both kitties and people. Be sure to get rid of it all. It can be tough stuff. Good luck!

Kathy

[DebE13]

Kathy, your cats didn't try to lick it off?

[kayare]

Hi Deb,

If I had a cat or kitten with a small or single patch, I would apply the athlete's foot cream and rub it in completely at least three times per day. It seemed to be soothing, and the ringworm would resolve within 10-14 days. If the kitten/cat/person had multiple sites or a more aggressive outbreak, I would also use the dandruff (blue) shampoo. I would wash the affected area or sometimes the entire kitten if I felt it was spreading over his entire body. I would wait a few minutes before rinsing. It would then allow the area to completely dry - or use a blow dryer to dry the area before applying the cream to the spots. This also works for people. It is highly effective.

I imagine there were times some of it was licked off, but nearly all was rubbed into the skin. In my opinion, that is better than the alternative. Ringworm can spread easily throughout a house and between people and pets. Years ago, before knowing of this treatment, I had a cat who caught ringworm from me and the cat's abscess required surgery. That's an extreme case, but it can happen.

I would always take in a kitten with ringworm, but I always treated it this way to resolve it immediately and permanently. It was fun to see them later completely healed and then adopted!

Thank you for your rescue! Kathy

[JLH]

http://www.schreiners.com/PETS_SITE/Pet ... onials.php

[DebE13]

Thanks Kathy, that makes me feel much better. It's always nice to hear from someone you can trust.

There's a big issue in our community right now because our County stopped funding the Humane Society and put the burden on the local municipalities to figure out what to do with non-dogs (cats). There's nowhere to take them at the moment because this happened during budget time last fall and the municipalities did not have the proper notice to address the issue during their own budget process. It's really sad because the dogs are covered under the Humane Society because of state law but cats aren't.

I had no intention of owning three cats because it is just simply too many for my small house and it's time consuming and expensive. But when it come right down to it....I didnt really have a choice. Obviously, I'm a cat person and I wouldn't give her up now. Our local ordinance only allows for two cats per household but what can I do? The funny part (and I'm not really laughing) is that part of my job is enforcing ordinance violations. I don't like living by double standards so the situation makes me uncomfortable. I plan to request the ordinance be changed but I'm waiting to see how the issue is resolved. Currently, a resident is allowed two dogs and two cats. To me, it doesn't make sense. Why not 3 cats and a dog or another combination? I can only assume it is to prevent an issue with four barkey dogs at one house or four of a large breed dog in a house on a smaller parcel that doesn't allow enough room for proper care or exercise, or it could have been some arbitrary number that was proposed eons ago when the ordinance was established.

All I know is the night the kitty came to my house the temps were at -23 below. It would have froze to death had it not had a place to go.

Thanks for the link Joan, looks like it's some good stuff. May have to order a bottle to see if its good as all the reviews indicate. I'd much rather give an herbal treatment a try versus some chemical dip which probably isn't cheap either.