My cat will not get rid of ringworm after 4 months!?

Question

Our sweet OSH tabby picked up ringworm from the groomer back in July and it has since grown into a complete NIGHTMARE!

We took him to the vet after spotting a hairless spot on his neck. The culture came back as the Trichophyton species of ringworm. We treated topically with Tresoderm and systematically with Ketaconazole. After a month the systems worsened. The ringworm spread to his ears and to the other side of his neck. On top of that, both my wife and I contracted ringworm and a friend who came to visit got it as well! 100% Tea tree oil worked on myself so we tried that on our cat as well (we e-collared him so as not to ingest the tea tree). That didn't work.

After much research, he's now on Itraconazole and once to twice weekly LymDyp baths. We've now isolated him to a hallway which we have been cleaning with 10% bleach solution. It's been 4 weeks since we started this treatament and he is STILL getting new spots! His baby fur is now thin and coarse and he's just so sad. HELP!!

Answer 1

DON'T use tea tree oil on a cat, it's incredibly toxic to felines.

One thing they don't tell about doing the medicating is to not scrub at the spot, you only spread the spores around making it worse. Dabbing is best. The dips are used on cats where it's all over, they smell awful, but sometimes are the only way.

Ask your vet if there's a compounding medicine you can use that's liquid in form. I didn't know about the existence of that till I talked recently with a friend who does cat rescue, she's been using the liquid form to treat the ringworm on the cats she's got and says it's so much easier to get into the edging of the fur without irritating the spores.

It costs the same as the other meds, so there's no extra cost that way at least.

Once it's cleared up, the fur will come back in just fine. Thanks for sticking in there with the cat, a lot of owners don't go the whole route when problems start.

Answer 2

As you probably know ringworm are microscopic organisms and is actually a type of fungi, NOT worms.

***Has your vet suggested the effective drug "griseofulvin or griesofulvin" (Fulvicin) to your cat? It is given orally and the usual treatment of choice.
If not, suggest it.
The sore spots should be treated with topical anti-biotic ointment like Panolog (I always have on hand for other pet conditions, it is broad spectrum) There is also a fungistatic cream (Conofite, Tolnaftate)
To reduce the spread of further spots, anti-fungal dips/baths with solutions of "captan or iodine shampoos".
Or you can bathe the skin with Weldol, Betadine shampoos or Casteen (an antifungal) to remove the dead scaley skin.

*For yourself an over-the-counter anti-fungal such as tolnaftate (Tinactin) will clear up most cases.

*~~This is all I know, pls. look into it,.. hope it helps.

Answer 3

Lyme baths can be very toxic especially to cats. keep him on the oral medication but try bathing with a chlorhexadine shampoo. this is an anti fungal/ anti bacterial and will not dry out kitties skin or possibly make him sick. also use a miconazole topical solution.

has kitty been shaved? that will make treating easier, even if kitty is short haired. make sure you wash everything! bedding, towels, clothes, floors...everything. bathe kitty in the chlorhex shampoo at least once a week.

Answer 4

my cats had ring worm, they contacted it from my dog Tiffy, who slept in his dog house sometimes , and in the porch sometimes, one day i saw these 2 kittens about 3 months old coming out of Tiffy's house, and they were Bald in spots, and i could see they had ring worm, and had gave it Tiffy, as i checked him next, had he had it on the top of his head, i then pan iced as my inside cats played on the porch with Tiffy, and all 5 of them had it, i took one to the vet, they gave me some pills, and told me i had to wash everywhere the inside cats had been in the house, because even thou they got ride of the ring worm, the spores were every where the cats were, and that was the whole house the vet said to was everywhere with bleach and Lysol and hot waited. especially bleach, it kills the spores, and if all the spores are not destroyed, the cats could get ringworm , over and over. so i did the house the porch, and burned the dog house, Tiffy took a little longer, but they as ll got ride of it, i got it, my neighbors kids got it, but i used lamasil (used for athlete's food) worked great, and cats dog kids adults all got rid of it. but it was horrible, and a lot of work cleaning. good luck, make sure you wash any places your cat was , with bleach.

Answer 5

you probably already found this, but ... this seems like a pretty informative site. Have you tried the Maleseb shampoo?

Has he been tested for FIV, FeLV, etc.?