Chronicles of ringworm *picheavy*

[JustineNYC]

Sooooo I take in this little guy like I posted before, hes fine for almost 2 weeks....Of course he gets sick after I decide he is going to be in my home for the rest of his life.

And then my friend calls me and tells me the brothers and sisters from the same litter that she has, are all going bald. Moglie was fine until 2 days later when I took him out of his case to feed him and he had no hair on one ear. I was at the vet within fifteen minutes and they did a culture (it takes 10 days) but without it he is positive its ringworm.

Now its 4 days later and its gone from one ear to both ears, his forehead, his back, his elbows, the inside of his thighs and tail. Ive never seen anything move so fast.

The vet had given me the OK to mix and mingle my animals because all his tests checked out 2 weeks ago, so the damage is done but from here on out its baths, quarantine, medicine and medical gloves for my little guy. I dont have rugs so I try and keep him on hard surfaces because their easy to clean and keep track of hair.

Its going to take roughly a few months to get rid of this (and thats if we're lucky), so Im documenting everything...I dont want to not take his kitten pics just because hes sick and losing hair. My friend didnt keep his brothers and sisters because she is about to have a baby and with 3 kittens with ringworm, she had to bring them to a shelter

Anyway, just send us some well wishes because there is a chance the medicine will not help him.

Bath time, he is NOT happy, the shampoo has to sit on him for 10 minutes so he absolutely loves that...

Drying off...

Going through his hair...

Medicine...

And washing my hands for the 108,049th time. Can anyone reccomend a good dry skin lotion? LOL

Thank god I dont have kids! LOL My economic stimulus check is going to ringworm medication <sigh> :sobstory:

 

[dionythicus]

Poor baby!! I hope it goes away for good very soon. What a way to start life. :awcrap: At least he's with someone who cares and loves him enough to go through the ordeal of getting him healthy.

 

[crackerhead]

OMG! I work at a pet store and we have dealt with many cases of the dreaded ringworm. What a pain in the butt. Kittens have such under developed immune systems they get everything. Ringworm is expensive and tedious to treat but we've had good success. Some doctor will recommend baths in medicated shampoo and then (I'm drawing a blank on the proper name) a leave-in fungal conditioner. The oral medicine is very expensive and rough on the little guy's liver. Most kittens outgrow the ringworm as their immune system gets more mature. We've always been lucky with the fur growing back. The most fun we've had is looking at the infected areas with a UV light, it glows chartreuse! Lots of patience and diligence with keeping things clean and you should make it through this rough patch just fine.
Good Luck,
Terri
PS - The first time this happened, we didn't know about it until we all had ringworm from handling the kittens! What an itchy mess!

 

[JustineNYC]

And dried off...........

 

[Tula_Montage]

Look at that face... how can you torture him with baths?! LOL

Hope everything cleans up as soon as possible. Poor wee guy...

 

[JustineNYC]

Poor baby!! I hope it goes away for good very soon. What a way to start life. :awcrap: At least he's with someone who cares and loves him enough to go through the ordeal of getting him healthy.

You know I keep telling him that when he makes a fuss! Haha...Hes developing a little temper heehee. I feel terrible because his mom is a stray, he was born outside and I saw her yesterday and bingo....she is covered with ringworm. Its all over her poor face. I feel so bad. The worst part of this is not being able to kiss him and pick him up....It sucks.

 

[JoannaD]

Good luck treating him. He is so cute! He's lucky to have found you.

 

[Cegninedorf]

Oh, sad...sad for the 3 kittens who had to *understandably* go to a shelter (where hopefully they'll receive treatment & good homes!), sad for the mom cat who is all likelihood may be knocked-up again, and sad for poor Moglie -- but at least he has a good chance of making it & being happy and healthy with treatment & your diligent care.

My fingers are crossed for all involved!

 

[JustineNYC]

The vet that I was originally going to give him to who takes in kittens and tries to find them homes (as long as they test negative for aids and leukemia), told me if he still wouldve had him when he developed ringworm they would have unfortunately been forced to euthanize him.

All the vets and organizations my friend called didnt want kittens, forget about taking 3 infected with something very contagious in. Pretty much everywhere she called told her theyd be put to sleep, even the ASPCA...

My dr said they had a cat there with ringworm once and the office became infected, so if people bring kittens now and even one has any kind of bald spot, they refuse the entire litter.

So if I had brought him that Friday like I originally intended, he'd already be dead :crying:

 

[Susan]

Just another thought, and not to go against your vet, but did he also check and treat for cat mange? Ringworm is not that contagious and we see much more cat mange, which is VERY contagious and almost always starts on the ears, making them looks very crusty. Also, how itchy is the kitten, as ringworm is not that itchy, but mange is. A simple injection of ivermectin, repeated in 2 weeks, as a precaution should have been done for the kitten. It's inexpensive, very easy, and if it is in fact mange and not ringworm, you'll notice a great improvement in a much shorter time and not have to do the long, drawn-out ringworm treatment.

 

[kathylove]

I once bought a Persian kitten (almost 20 years ago) that came complete with ringworm. I had no idea what it was at first, and managed to catch it myself. But my other cats did not get it. The vet gave me oral medicine for the cat. I had some Betadine soap that I used on myself, and as far as I can remember, we both got over it without too much difficulty. The kitten went on to live for another 15 years before I finally lost her, probably to cancer. Hopefully your kitty will also recover quickly without any further problems.

 

[JustineNYC]

Just another thought, and not to go against your vet, but did he also check and treat for cat mange? Ringworm is not that contagious and we see much more cat mange, which is VERY contagious and almost always starts on the ears, making them looks very crusty. Also, how itchy is the kitten, as ringworm is not that itchy, but mange is. A simple injection of ivermectin, repeated in 2 weeks, as a precaution should have been done for the kitten. It's inexpensive, very easy, and if it is in fact mange and not ringworm, you'll notice a great improvement in a much shorter time and not have to do the long, drawn-out ringworm treatment.

I spoke to the doctor this morning and the culture which starts out orange but turns red if ringworm is present is pink today. I just wanted to touch base with him and let him know Moglie had developed more bald spots, and now actually has lesions and he told me that.

They shaved his neck last week for a blood test and he actually has red rings there now, so we're pretty sure. At least he is.

 

[crackerhead]

Just another thought, and not to go against your vet, but did he also check and treat for cat mange? Ringworm is not that contagious and we see much more cat mange, which is VERY contagious and almost always starts on the ears, making them looks very crusty. Also, how itchy is the kitten, as ringworm is not that itchy, but mange is. A simple injection of ivermectin, repeated in 2 weeks, as a precaution should have been done for the kitten. It's inexpensive, very easy, and if it is in fact mange and not ringworm, you'll notice a great improvement in a much shorter time and not have to do the long, drawn-out ringworm treatment.

Sue were you advocating the ivermictin for mange treatment or ringworm? I ask because I've never heard it used on ringworm which is a fungal infection but using it on mange that comes from mites makes sense. And does the oral ivermictin work as well? Sorry if I sound stupid I just wanted clarification for future outbreaks at the store.
Thanks,
Terri

 

[JustineNYC]

Here are some of the spots on him today....

Todays the first day I dont see any 'new areas'

Ear

One of the circular patches on his back

And this one of him kinda looks like a ringworm photo that I found on Vetrinarian.com

 

[kathylove]

There are some natural home remedies for ringworm. Maybe you want to use one or more in addition to whatever the vet gives you? Take a look here:

http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Ringworm.html

I am doing some experimentation with coconut oil myself (not for ringworm though). It seems to have really excellent natural antibiotic properties against certain types of microbes because of the natural lauric acid - evidently the only other good place to get it is mother's milk, which may be important in giving immunity to babies. Researchers have even used it in HIV patients and found their HIV load went way down after a few weeks on coconut oil. I plan to try it out on some "failure to thrive" babies to see if it works on them. It is always interesting to try something new. Look it up on the Web for some interesting info.

 

[JustineNYC]

Thanks Kathy! Raw Papaya....who wouldve thought?

 

[JustineNYC]

Just another thought, and not to go against your vet, but did he also check and treat for cat mange? Ringworm is not that contagious and we see much more cat mange, which is VERY contagious and almost always starts on the ears, making them looks very crusty. Also, how itchy is the kitten, as ringworm is not that itchy, but mange is. A simple injection of ivermectin, repeated in 2 weeks, as a precaution should have been done for the kitten. It's inexpensive, very easy, and if it is in fact mange and not ringworm, you'll notice a great improvement in a much shorter time and not have to do the long, drawn-out ringworm treatment.

Ya. Definitely ringworm....I have a lovely red circle on the inside of my forearm as of today. Greeeeeeeeeeeeeat. This is going to be worse then I thought. The dog and I slept with this little guy for 10 days before anything appeared to be wrong. :headbang::headbang:

 

[ghosthousecorns]

Oh no!
I've gotten ringworm once before too (it was from contact with an infected cat as well)
Tinactin or another antifungal athlete's foot cream will fix you. It's no fun though! I must say you are going above and beyond for a critter you had no intention of keeping, but I am glad you did as it was his only chance of life.

 

[JustineNYC]

Oh no!
I've gotten ringworm once before too (it was from contact with an infected cat as well)
Tinactin or another antifungal athlete's foot cream will fix you. It's no fun though! I must say you are going above and beyond for a critter you had no intention of keeping, but I am glad you did as it was his only chance of life.

It stinks, especially IF my other animals catch it, but how can I be mad? Look at him..

 

[Cam5]

There are some natural home remedies for ringworm. Maybe you want to use one or more in addition to whatever the vet gives you? Take a look here:

http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Ringworm.html

I am doing some experimentation with coconut oil myself (not for ringworm though). It seems to have really excellent natural antibiotic properties against certain types of microbes because of the natural lauric acid - evidently the only other good place to get it is mother's milk, which may be important in giving immunity to babies. Researchers have even used it in HIV patients and found their HIV load went way down after a few weeks on coconut oil. I plan to try it out on some "failure to thrive" babies to see if it works on them. It is always interesting to try something new. Look it up on the Web for some interesting info.

Not trying to get personal...but I was wondering if you are ingesting the coconut oil or topically applying it?
I was curious to see if it might help acne and eczema? I know coconut milk is supposed to be helpful as an anti-inflammatory when you drink it.

Thanks...

And to the OP...this too shall pass...
I wish you all fast healing:licklips:
I worked in an elementary school where several kids and several of us staff went through this...
The kicker was that I had to go to 3 dermatologists before they figured out what it was. They originally thought it was a tick bite, hello-in November?!