Thread: Ringworm Diaries

Hello all. New to the forums.

So to jump right into it, a few weeks ago I picked up 2 new Maine Coon kittens from a breeder. I knew prior to getting them they'd been treated for ringworm, and I waited until they had a negative culture to pick them up.


So I immediately quarantined them pending a negative culture from my own vet. Unfortunately that came back positive for one of the cats.


It was during this time I noticed one of them was panting after heavy play. Having never seen that before I took her in immediately. She had an x-ray and at the end of that they diagnosed her with lungworm - indirectly as they hadn't actually tested for lungworm. So she was to begin steroid treatments to deal with any lung inflamation. Which also meant her immune system wouldn't be as good at battling the ringworm, and also meant I couldn't begin the lime sulfur dips.


Flash forward about a week, I took her in for a second opinion from a specialist I trust very much. He said she was perfectly healthy, nothing wrong with the lungs, but at least 5-7 of her ribs had been broken (prior to me receiving her) and her panting was likely due to pain and being out of shape. Stop the steroids, begin lime sulfur dips immediately.


But by this point she's got little ringworm spots popping up all up and down her back. And now the other cat has it too. Sweet!


So far nobody else in the house has developed ringworm. I use a hazmat suit to deal with them during the day. We've started the lime sulfur dips, but I'm starting to lose the faith. I took them to get a culture done last week. Of corse it showed up positive for both, which I expected, but it's still demoralizing.

My treatment for the past few weeks has been:
* Every 7 days, dip.
* Vacuum carpet, bleach the bathroom
* repeat

Now after this culture I'm moving up to twice a week, and vacuuming and bleaching daily. But I'd like some advice from those of you who have lived this nightmare.

Even though we're pouring the lime sulfur solution over them, it doesn't really feel like it's getting fully to their skin. I mean their fur is designed to be resistant, but I'm paranoid that I'm wasting my time by not even getting most of the solution to the skin. Is there a better way to apply the solution to ensure it's soaking them to the skin?

Also, should I confine them to the bathroom during the entire next month to ensure they aren't re-contaminated from the carpet? The vet says that's extreme and re-contamination is not so easy by just encountering a spore in the carpet, after all we encounter spores daily outside, but like I said - paranoid.

Help? Happy thoughts?