Ringworm Treatment
Several years ago I had a ringworm outbreak and 2 cats had dark grey pigmentation in the area where they lost their hair. Oddly the other cats simply had scabs, but they all had ringworm. I wrote this in reply to someone’s post on one of the lists and immediately had several people e-mail for more information so I’m downloading.
First you put every cat on Sporanox once a day for 4 weeks. I’d culture at 3 weeks and if it’s negative “pulse” with 2 days on 5 days off until you get a second negative culture at 6 weeks. That’s the easy (but expensive) part. you can get Sporanox cheapest from 1meds online–they import if from Thailand. You can also get if from your local pharmacy at $10.00 a capsule and I’d be inclined to do that to get treatment started right away. Each 8-10 lb cat gets 1/2 capsule a day. Smaller cats get 1/4 -1/3 capsule. You can sprinkle the little beads on Gerbers turkey or chicken and the cats think they’re getting a treat. When you divide the capsules, put the unused part in a baggie with that cat’s name so if you’re short one day you make up for it the next. My vet does not trust the sporanox from Mexico so I never used it. The Thai brand is called “Sporal” and it’s made by Jannsen.
The huge thing is the environmental cleanup. You need a Hurricane sprayer (Revival) which will set you back $175.00 but is absolutely essential. You need also A-33 (Revival) and Healthguard (also Revival). I also bought a cheap vacuum specifically for the use of the cat barn where I had the ringworm. Lay in a supply of bags because you’ll change it every day.
Throw out any cat furniture that has carpet covering. you simply can’t guarantee that you’ll kill the fungus in them.
Here is what you do every day for one month: Put the cats in a cage. Vacuum the area where the cats live, Wash all flat surfaces with Clorox and water 1:10 and then spray everything with A-33. Be sure you get the walls and cat flaps. Let the cats back in when it dries and then do the same for the cages that they were just in. Then discard the vacuum bag and spray the inside of the vacuum with 1:10 clorox and water & rinse out the little filter. Soak the vacuum hose and attachments in clorox and water. Sun is good–everything should dry in the sun.
Empty every litter box and hose down every toy and litter box and spray with A-33. Every day. Leave in the sun to dry. Every day collect your feed dishes and soak them in clorox and wather over night. throw out any soft toys that you can’t soak in clorox.
You bathe each cat twice a week in Lyme Dyp for about 4-6 weeks. Let the solution dry on them. I did mine in a tiled bathroom and stood them on the floor and poured the solution over them. It smells awful and discolors metal.
Wash any cat bedding and the clothes you wear for cleaning in clorox and water every day and rinse with Health Guard.
Be careful of your clothing. When you finish cleaning put your clothing directly in the wash–don’t walk around it it. I also sprayed the soles of my shoes with desenex spray whenever I left a contaminated room.
Don’t skimp on any of this (especially the 4-weeks of Sporanox) because you’ll just prolong the treatment. You can get your own culture medium from (again) Revival and save a lot of money on vet fees. What I did was bring my cat to the vet for a final culture 3 weeks after I had 2 negative cultures. You give the culture 3 weeks to grow after they’re on the Sporanox because that inhibits the growth but there could still be live fungus.
The disappearance of the symptoms does not mean cure–you need the full four weeks of Sporanox. After that, I cleaned about every 3 days for several months. Now I do once a week.
For this to work you need to confine the cats to a small living area–I don’t know your circumstances. My affected cats were in my cat barn and I brought one pregnant queen into a spare bedroom because she couldn’t ahve the sporanox until her pregnancy was advanced and I was afraid she’d continue the contamination,
After it was all over I sent my inside rugs out for cleaning and sprayed my whole house with A-33. This was nearly 3 years ago and I’ve not had ringworm since. (When I rolled up one rug to send it out I found a diamond bracelet that had been missing for months–the cats had pushed it under the rug)