Ringworm Cat Information
Mary, a neighbor discovered a six week old stray kitten in her back yard. The kitten was sick and hungry. Mary loves pets and decided to keep this kitten along with her dog. The kitten was taken to her vet and was given medication for a cold. After several trips to the vet office, the kitten seemed to be recovering. In the interim, Mary noticed a ring shaped rash on her skin and thought that it was ringworm. She returned to the vet with the kitten to convince the vet that the kitten had ringworm and should be treated. What had happened was the kitten did have ringworm that went un-diagnosed by the vet during her first few visits. This is what can happen with ringworm cat treatments and humans.
Ringworm is a fungus. Ringworm can be passed from person to animal, from infected animal to animal and from animal to person or even from the soil! This is how Mary’s kitten got ringworm or maybe the kitten’s mother had it and passed it along. In time, the ringworm appearance normally shows up as round lesions missing hair on animals. Also, these lesions might have scaly skin in the center commonly located on the ears, tail or head of a cat. Some fungus will not be circular in shape and can spread to the lips, nose, face and chin. Ringworm can be hard to identify in early stages and can be sometimes diagnosed as an auto immune disease as in the case of Mary’s malnourished kitten. The kitten had thinning of the hair in front of the ears only which is common in cats that are malnourished. Long story short, Mary now had ringworm which did spread to her dog and other concerns in her household.
The ringworm cat treatment is a team effort with the pet owner and the vet. Depending on the size of the lesions, a small isolated lesion might only require an antifungal cream. For severe cases of ringworm, oral medication is possible or a prescribe lime sulfur dip. The dips can temporarily turn the cat’s hair to a yellowish color. Also available is an antifungal shampoo. Best options are with your vet’s suggested method of treatment and complete follow up.
Once your cat has ringworm, drastic procedures are required to contain the spread of ringworm. Ringworm can spread for example through fabric, bedding or other items like mats etc. All these contacted items by your cat need to be washed with hot water and bleach daily. Everything your cat is sleeping on daily should be washed daily with hot water and bleach. It can be very difficult to wash fabric on your furniture daily. A suggestion is to cover the cats sleeping areas and furniture with washable sheets that will be washed daily. If the cat’s bed is being used, it should be washed in hot water and bleach daily. Keep you and your family members contact to a very minimum at all times is extremely important to confine ringworm spreading. Do change and wash your bedding in hot water and bleach daily. Any other pets in the household should be treated even thou no signs of ringworm is apparent. When will these measures end? The treatment is ongoing until two negative lab tests of your cat’s results indicate the cat is ringworm free than you are good to go!
