Ringworm on kittens or something else?

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  • 16 August, 2012 at 8:06 pm #52530
    luvmy3jewels
    Participant

    I’m hoping for a little advice on what might be going on with my kittens. I have been bottle feeding two kittens that were abandoned by their mom (approx. 5 weeks old – I have had them for four weeks). One week ago, I noticed that one kitten had a spot on the back of his leg that looked crusty. The next day there was another grayish crusty spot on his head, and I thought maybe his sister had scratched him on the spots and they were scabbed over. This afternoon the hair came off (with the scab) on the spot on his head. Now, I’m not sure what this is and my vet’s office is closed until tomorrow am.

    Does this fit with ringworm? The spot on his leg is still scabby looking and I haven’t read a description of ringworm that fits with that. Any ideas? Thanks! I’m a little panicky about the idea of ringworm because I have three young kids who have been playing a lot with these kittens.

    Thanks!

    Shell

    16 August, 2012 at 8:14 pm #745000
    ecbrown
    Participant

    I know that panic well. I’m sorry. It does sound like it could be ringworm. It takes on different appearances. Our Leo had some lesions that were wound like, some that were gray or blackish, some that were irregularly shaped. But they were all missing hair. Of course your vet can tell you for sure. He may check with a blacklight, but that only some ringworm glows under a blacklight. If it doesn’t glow, a fungal culture can identify it for sure.

    You may want to give your kids extra good baths at night, inspecting for any red spots. Apply anti-fungal creme twice a day if you see anything. Washing the hair with a selenium sulfide shampoo like selsun blue can help keep it from spreading to the scalp. You can read all sorts of info on how to treat it and clean your home on the internet. Good luck.

    Edited to add….We also washed our kids’ bodies down with the selsun blue shampoo (wal-mart brand.) I think we did the bodies with it daily and the hair twice a week (using regular shampoo on the other days.) It can be hard on the scalp used every day. It’s hard to really say how much something like that helped, but we read it might help.

    Also, you will read all sorts of home remedies. I’d stay away from using bleach on your skin, and definitely not on cat skin. Also, clear nail polish seemed to make my skin “angry” and made the fungus spread, I think. Some that did seem to work were apple cider vinegar, apple cider vinegar mixed with sea salt into a paste, betadine (I think it worked a bit….used it on the cat.) I have recently read good things about using colloidal silver. I also made a shampoo by mixing 1/4 tsp tea tree oil (which has antifungal properties) with 3 oz. regular shampoo. I used this on my head on the non selsun blue days since tea tree oil hasn’t been shown to be safe for kids (or cats.)

    One of the best things you can do is vacuum as much as possible (the spores are lightweight and vacuum up easily.) Also, doing tons of laundry…sheets, towels, etc… and never rewear pj’s or clothes without washing (with the hottest water possible.)

    16 August, 2012 at 9:16 pm #745001
    kittiekat
    Participant

    Hi luvmy3jewels,

    We are also hand wearing a 4 week old kitten and last week we discovered she has ringworm. Our kitten also has a scab on her mouth and we brought her to the vets and she was diagnosed with ringworm. The vet gave her oral drops and a cream for her and also advised us to use an anti fungal wash to spray all the furniture, carpets etc with. We also put it in with the washing detergent when we are washing our clothes and we wash our hand with it too. Its called Hibiscrub, its an anti fungal wash and hospitals use it also. We also vacuumed the whole house and sprayed everything with the hibiscrub! We have also quarantined our kitten. We got a small dog crate which is plenty big for her and her bed and litter tray and food bowls. We keep her in a spare room away from our other animals and whenever we feed her or play with her we put on disposable gloves and plastic aprons and dispose of them after use. We also change our clothes and wash them with the anti fungal wash every time we go into her. We also keep all her medications etc in that room too. I know it probably sounds over the top but so far we haven’t contracted ringworm or neither has our dog. We are constantly washing clothes and cleaning but it’ll be worth it to get rid of it quickly so can we can let kittiekat out and run around the house!

    16 August, 2012 at 9:48 pm #745002
    Jeankit
    Participant

    Here is a link that may help you!

    http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/43844

    16 August, 2012 at 9:50 pm #745003
    ecbrown
    Participant

    Kittiekat, as someone who has dealt with that fungus, what you are doing does not sound over the top at all. We knew Leo might have ringworm so we washed our hands after visiting his isolation room. But, simple handwashing was not enough. I’m sure the spores were all over our clothes.

    17 August, 2012 at 1:11 pm #745004
    luvmy3jewels
    Participant

    Thanks for all of your help! I just called my vet and they are booked until Tuesday. I guess I’ll just go ahead and start treating for ringworm based on what I have read. So far Iger’s sister hasn’t shown any signs of it, but I did notice my youngest daughter has a red area around the top of her lips and I have started treating that spot with a topical ointment (Lotrimin).

    We have three cats and two dogs inside our house, so we have been keeping these kittens quarantined in two dog crates in the garage (one sucks on the other, so I have to keep them seperate). We also wash our hands as soon as we go inside, so that should have helped too. I’m going to stop and get some Selsum Blue today and start using that on all of us as a preventative measure. I have no previous experience ringworm and had no idea it could be so problematic! It is a little overwhelming!

    ECBrown – I noticed in reading your old posts that you were using diluted apple cider vinegar as a topical treatment for the kitten. Did that work for you or did something else work better? I was thinking about trying to find some betadine and starting that, but used apple cider vinegar last night and this morning. Thanks!

    17 August, 2012 at 4:42 pm #745005
    luvmy3jewels
    Participant

    Just spoke with someone from my vet’s office and she recommended I try 1% miconazole cream (over the counter yeast infection treatment) twice a day on the kitten. Guess I’m going to ditch the apple cider vinegar and try that for the weekend.

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