My half-adopted kitten has ringworm
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| Wed, 06-22-2005 - 10:01am |
I just talked to the head of the rescue organization. She said the foster home had the kittens in a room that was too warm, with it being 90 degrees outside. They put in an air conditioning unit that night, but it was apparently too late. All the cats have ringworm. They're treating them, but she actually asked if I still wanted him!
Ringworm doesn't scare me. When I adopted Chalimar from the SPCA, she didn't have any spots, but she gave ringworm to Bad Annie and myself. So I've treated a cat both with baths and an oral treatment. And I know what it looks like.
So I have a decision to make: wait for them to completely treat him, I bring him home and treat him myself, or I let them treat him half the time and then I bring him home and finish it. Decisions, decisions. I WAS planning on keeping him in a seperate room for awhile, thus segrigated from Bad Annie and Chalimar. I know what is involved in treating him, so I could probably handle it. I knew this was going to happen, though. I told my mom, I was afraid I'd bring home another cat and it would have ringworm. ARGH!
** Noelle


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Well, I picked him out about 2 weeks ago at a foster home for a local cat rescue group. He was too little to come home yet, so I've been waiting. He was fine when I picked him out, but yesterday was when they told me all the kittens had come down with ringworm. I think he's 7 weeks old, at the moment.
He's a little light-orange, almost beige ball of fluff. You know how when a cartoon animal gets wet and then their hair is dried, how they're drawn so the hair just goes "poof" into a big ball of fluff? That's what he looked like. He's got some faint tabby stripes in his fur. They're calling him "Tanner", but I don't think I like that. I'm still working on a name.
** Noelle
Noelle, when you bring the kitten home, my advice is to buy a good-sized spray bottle (the kind they sell in garden supply stores will work, and they are very inexpensive), and fill it with a 1:10 dilution of bleach to water. This dilution is low enough that it is very unlikely to stain any fabrics (and won't hurt your cats), but strong enough to kill any ringworm spores around your environment. Two or three times a week, spray it EVERYWHERE - all over your carpets, your furniture, your drapes, and any other fabric surfaces. The spores won't live as long on hard surfaces such as floors or walls, so regularly disinfecting the fabrics will go a long way to preventing any re-infections.
I did this I think the 3rd time that Tasha's ringworm came back, and it never stained or ruined any of my fabrics. I even test-spotted on an old pair of red flannel shorts that ALWAYS run when I wash them, and it didn't stain. I used it on my couches, drapes, carpet, even the burgundy-coloured comforter on my bed, and it was all fine.
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Ok, so now I'm concerned. (read that as: paranoid and freaked out) 7 yrs ago, I just treated Bad Annie and myself. I didn't do any environmental disinfecting. The only one who reinfected, was me, and that was one time. I just read the website that eghtyslady posted, and it's reiterating the bleach thing you mentioned. So now what?
I have a 2 story condo, no basement. I'm going to be closing the kitten in an unstairs bedroom. It has no curtains yet, because I didn't put them up. All that's in there, besides the kitten stuff, is a bed, empty dresser, a closet full of boxes for storage, and then a couple large stuffed animals. How far do I take the disinfecting thing? Before he comes, do I strip the bed completely and remove the large stuffed animals? Encase the mattress in a plastic cover? Do I have to steam clean all my carpets after he arrives, even if he's only in one room? There IS a cold air return in there. Do I have to spray bleach on all my clothes in my closets? Stuff in my own dresser drawers? And do I have to do all the furniture and surfaces in all the rest of the house? Downstairs and everything? Do I have to empty all my closets and spray all my unpacked boxes?
This is why my mother doesn't tell me these things. I can go from zero to paranoid in seconds. I'm having visions of renting a storage unit and moving all my stuff out into it for the duration of this. And yet....I KNOW how this all went last time, and it was fine. My second infection wasn't bad, because I recognized it imediately, and treated myself. Oh, the angst.
** Noelle
Sorry... didn't mean to freak you out! I'm not going to laugh at you though because I know how you feel! I went from zero to panic myself when I first read about all the disinfecting that can go into ringworm treatment. I had visions of needing to rent a steam cleaner once a week, vacuuming everyday, washing my floors and walls everyday, putting on the same outfit every time I handled my cat so that I wouldn't infect the rest of my clothes.... you name it, it went through my head. I have a rather vivid imagination and I had crystal clear visions of ringworm spores constantly falling off my cat and imbedding themselves deep into everything! Ack! I'm kind of a freak when it comes to anything parasitic or bug-like, and that's how I was envisioning the fungus.
I asked my vet how much cleaning I should do of my apartment, and he shrugged very nonchalantly and said I could "try". He said it's not as important as all the websites make it sound (unless you have a very multi-cat household and multiple infections, or are running a cattery), because it is truly impossible to rid your environment of each and every single spore - just imagine trying to eliminate every single speck of dust in your home! He said to just concentrate on treating the cat and keep her confined to one room. Unfortunately, I DIDN'T keep her confined to one room, because we had just brought her home and we didn't want her to feel like she was being locked up!
Don't break your back or stress about doing all that cleaning - just use a bottle of bleach around your home as kind of a "back-up", more for peace of mind than anything else, really.
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Ok, I feel better. Everything you said you thought of, was what was running through my head. I was even upset that the website said to vaccuum and throw the bag away. I have a bagless vaccuum! I was also thinking about having to change my clothes each time I saw him, etc.
So if I get the spray bottle, and I spray that around a couple times a week, I should be ok. I can vaccuum more often than I do now. And dust. I hate dusting, but I'll start doing it. It probably wouldn't hurt to change the air filter more often, either. I should probably keep my 80-something grandparents and my friend's toddlers out of my home for awhile, too.
I can be such a germ-a-phobe about this stuff. I can't cook with raw chicken, because I end up scrubbing my kitchen repeatedly afterwards. I'm telling you, the invention of the lysol wipe was pure genius. I mentioned before, that my mom said she'd help me treat the kitten. This is why. Because she knows how badly I freak out.
** Noelle
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