Ring Around the Worm

You may have noticed kittens getting dunk baths and cleaning. Lots and lots of cleaning. What's going on? Ringworm.

Ringworm isn't a parasite or a worm. It's a fungus. The spore usually lives on damp soil so if an animal comes in contact with this contaminated soil (and usually has to dig in it and not just touch it), they will develop ringworm in anywhere from 2 days to 3 weeks later. Ringworm was named because the lesion it forms appears as a circle. Or it can be scaly and flaky. It often causes thinning hair or hair loss in the affected area. It is really contagious, particularly if the cat sheds a lot. The hair with the ringworm spores can become airborne and can get everywhere. This means in order to contain ringworm, you must clean the environment and the cat often.

Vacuuming removes the hair contaminated with spores. Bleach kills ringworm on surfaces. Lime sulfur reduces the contamination on the kitten itself. And an oral medication called Terbinafine kills the spores from the inside. Antifungal ointment kills the ringworm on days when the kitten isn't dipped in lime sulfur.

On Tuesdays and Fridays, the kittens get a lime sulfur bath (you may see me dunking them in a bucket); they all dry off in carriers while I wash all the bedding and toys, vacuum the room, and bleach everything to holy heck and back. Everything must be washed or bleached. The rest of the days, you may see me putting on disposable gloves and applying ointment to the kittens (mostly on their faces). The kittens tolerate the ointment. They also get an oral pill every day.  Most of the kittens take their pill well; Walter will even eat his on his own.  The first time I bathed the kittens, they were all pretty darn good about it. I was able to bathe everyone, including the Little Hissers/Charlie's Angels. The second time, they all knew what the bucket meant. Even my friendly kittens dodged me. After the third time, I wasn't able to get two of the hissers (Kate and Jacqueline). While everyone dried out in carriers in the hall, those two remained in the room and had to endure the vacuum cleaner. They were not happy with that. I explained to them that perhaps next time they should let me just bathe them so they wouldn't have to put up with the vacuum. I don't think they thought a bath was a better fate.

I'm pretty certain Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang came into the foster room with ringworm (I am hoping none of the kittens picked it up on a vet visit or Feline Rescue visit and then brought it home). Harley and Boomer were strays that were live trapped outside. Since Harley isn't entirely open to being handled, I did not see the ringworm brewing until it had gotten pretty far. I first noticed it on Boomer. He had a crusty patch on his cheek under his whiskers. It looked like ringworm... but I was hoping it was a food allergy. That sight is what made me grab his sister for closer inspection. A Woods Lamp (a UV lamp) glowed green for Harley in a couple of spots, but oddly not anywhere on her belly where it was scaly and missing all its fur; and even more oddly, did not glow for Boomer, even though his patch was visually reminiscent of ringworm. I still opted to treat them as though it were ringworm.

Nigella and Montie developed their own scaly, red, and angry patches about a week and a half later. Montie likes to bathe everyone so it's no wonder how she got it. Kate has a suspicious  red patch above her eye but she won't let me handle her to medicate her. All of the others had spots or specks that glowed green under the Woods Lamp. They haven't developed any visible lesions and hopefully it will stay that way, particularly with the pills, ointments, and sulfur bath.

The whole bathing and cleaning process takes anywhere from 5 hours to 7 hours. On Tuesdays, because it's during the week, I opt for a more streamlined process. On Fridays, I don't cut any corners.

The kittens need to be bathed and medicated for 2-3 weeks or until their lesions heal and/or their hair grows back. After that period, they will get a culture taken of their fur. A week after that, a second culture. We require two negative cultures in order to consider a kitten ringworm free. Cultures take about 2-5 weeks to grow.

As of Christmas Eve, we mark 3 1/2 weeks of ringworm treatment. I'm hoping to get Montie cultured on New Year's Eve. She's the only one who has visible ringworm (she developed a new nasty scab a few days ago). Three weeks after that, hopefully we will be declared ringworm free. Note: I'm also planning on getting the room cultured, particularly the cat tower, to make sure it, too, is ringworm free.

Singles' Bar

The room is filled with orphan kittens. Most came in as singles; some came in with siblings; none came in with a momma. Most adapted quite well and made friends with the others; some took a few days to calm down and get used to living in the herd.

Nigella

Nigella has been with me the longest. At first, I thought Nigella was a Nigel. I named the kitten Nigel because it seemed elegant. Such a beautiful fluffy Siamese needed a regal name. When the vet told me he was actually a she, I made her check three times. I've never been wrong before. Nigel became Nigella. Nigella was quite standoffish for the longest time. She refused to eat and lost a lot of weight. I had to give her lots of medicines and she was not happy about that. In time, Nigella decided I wasn't so bad and has started approaching me to be petted. She's not a lap cat but she does like to sit next to me. She has quite an interesting personality. She's reserved and mellow with me; she can really kick up her heels with the other kittens and runs around, occasionally, like a maniac. She's very sweet.

Montrose

Montrose (a.k.a Montie) is the oldest. She was live trapped by my parents. She and her mother would visit my parents' feeding station. When my parents found one of her siblings dead on the highway, they decided they needed to start trapping the cats that visit them (they live out in the country). I met Montrose before she was even trapped. She crawled under the bay window of their house. I fed her and she inched closer and closer to me but at the last second got spooked and wouldn't let me catch her. I knew she would be tamable if I got her. My father live trapped her and brought her to me. She took a few days to adjust to living in a house and quite shortly after that became my new best friend. She loves to be petted. Purrs up a storm. But she also gets nippy because she's so excited to see me. She means well. They're love bites. But love hurts sometimes. I think she'll be fine with someone who spends more time with her. Montie has decided indoor living suits her just fine; being fed without hunting is her favorite thing.... and now Montie is a bit of a chunk. She's also become the matriarch of the room. Kittens line up to have her bathe them.

Walter Mitty

Walter Mitty was dropped off at our shelter. As director of the foster program, I then get called about kittens who were dumped. When they're singles, it's just easier for me to take them home myself than to find another caregiver, particularly when it's late at night. Walter was named by the shelter worker who called me. Walter was a teeny guy, about 5 weeks old. He originally bunked upstairs with Montie in a kennel because he was too small to be in the big foster room. Just as Montie graduated to the big foster room, a new kitten came in so Walter had a new roommate. Walter loves to give kisses and has recently developed a habit of actually waving at me...

Rosalind

Rosalind van Hoorn arrived in the nick of time. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a great movie from the 50s starring Danny Kaye. Since my Walter Mitty was going to be bunking with this new girl, I decided to keep with the theme and name her as a character from the movie. His love interest in the movie is Rosalind van Hoorn. Ros hated Walter at first. She hated all cats. All he wanted to do was love his new friend; she growled and hissed and slapped him around. After a few days, she calmed down and they became best friends. Ros is fiery fun. She has a ton of energy and zips around, always on the move. She's also insanely smart and is the first to figure things out. I can see her little mind working, plotting. She's an amazing jumper. She's a cuddler... when she has the time.

Petunia (Tuni)

I inherited Lil Petunia Bud from another caregiver who was getting too attached. She, like Ros, was a complete pistol when she first came in. She had to be separated from the group and kenneled for a few nights. Finally she calmed down. She's turned into quite the sweet girl. I call her Tuni. She has major food aggression. She's oddly self aware of this and will grab a mouth full of food, run several feet away to eat it. Sometimes she doesn't bother and that's when she turns into The Hulk, smacking kittens who dare to eat off the same plate she is. She's actually quite sweet (when not eating). She, like Montie, have become the sentinels of the room. If a kitten gets out of line (particularly a new kitten who doesn't know the rules), they smack that kitten into shape.

Tomatillo

Okra

Tomatillo and Okra came from the same caregiver (but separately). All three were found in that caregiver's garden so I named the new kittens after veggies. Both were quite sick for quite a long time when they came to me. They were teeny forever. And then, overnight, they grew into big kittens. Tomatillo was originally my best friend when they came in but with the constant medications, she is now leery of me. Okra forgave me and is much more easy going than her sister. Tomi is high strung - but sweet. Okra is goofy - and sweet. Neither can meow worth a darn. They open their mouths and nothing comes out.

Harley

Boomer

Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang are sister and brother. Harley bit me the first time I met her. Hard. She meant business. Harley and Boomer were kenneled for two weeks until they started to get used to me. Boomer came around fairly quickly. Harley still wasn't convinced. Since Boomer really needed to be released into the room and I couldn't leave his sister alone in the kennel, I let both of them out. If she can be caught, Harley lets me pet her. She doesn't love it. She tolerates it. Her circle of avoidance is getting narrower; she's walking closer and closer to me. She doesn't dart under the couch when I enter the room; she waits a few minutes and then saunters away. She's getting better but she still has a long way to go. Boomer is the most mellow kitten ever. He has started following me around the room because he really likes to be held like a baby, kissed, and petted. He's really turning super sweet.

Charlie's Angels

I got a phone call that three kittens were dumped at our shelter on Halloween night. The next day I went to retrieve them. The shelter workers had set them up in a kennel. I soon learned that these little 6 week old kittens would not come willingly to me. The leader, who was merely a pound, really tried to hurt me. I had to resort to wrapping my hand in a towel to protect myself from tiny teeth and claws of furry to get them into a carrier. Once home, they were kenneled. Any time I opened the kennel door to feed them, two would fly around hissing and spitting. After two weeks of being kenneled, I finally had to release them. Not only were they not showing any signs of improvement, their health was declining. They had explosive diarrhea and wouldn't eat. I knew I couldn't medicate them because I couldn't handle them. My only hope was that they'd either socialize with the other kittens and understand that I could help them or freedom would improve their spirits enough to get them to eat. In the end, it was a combination that helped save them - they liked being free and with other kittens enough that I was able to sorta medicate them enough to make them feel better and start eating.

These three kittens are known as the Little Hissers or Charlie's Angels. The photo I took of the three of them in their carrier had a resemblance to the iconic 1970s Charlie's Angels opening credits pose. I named them after the actresses that played the Angels - Farrah Fawcet is the tamest of the three kittens and the whitest; Kate Smith is the leader of the three; she's the lilac point (although I suspect she's actually a lynx point); and Jacqueline Smith is the brown tabby. All three have great hair.

Delano

Delano is a cuddly brown tabby guy. He's another one that my parents live trapped. He kept coming to their feeding station with his momma and sister. My parents finally trapped him. For the first several days, any time he heard a cat meow outside the foster room door, he yowled and yowled. I anthropomorphized that he was calling out for his sister. It took Delano a few days to settle down and then he became my new best friend. He's a major lap cat. He often gets quite jealous when another cat sits on my lap. He will often climb on top of that cat so that he gets all of the attention.

Superfudge

Superfudge is the grey medium haired disheveled guy. He has major defecation issues. He's sort of along the same lines as Dixie. He's about 4 months old and doesn't even weigh 2 pounds! He's got a good heart, though. We're still trying to figure out what's causing his issue. He had an ultrasound and that showed that all of his organs are normal. We think his issue is his spine but an x-ray (yet to be scheduled) will confirm that. He gets laser treatment on his spine and his tushy in the meantime.

Mary

Mary is Delano's sister. About two weeks after Delano was trapped, Mary finally wandered into the trap. She's absolutely gorgeous. She started hanging around with the Mean Girls (see more about that later) and as a result, spent a few weeks avoiding me. She's suddenly realized that I'm not bad and has been venturing out more when I'm in the room. And she also doesn't run away every time I approach. She does love to be held and petted. She's quite different from her brother physically - she looks big but that's all fluff. She's small and fluffy where he's big and sleek. If I hadn't witnessed them together outside, I wouldn't believe they were related.

I've dubbed Harley the leader of the Mean Girls. All of my undersocialized kittens have flocked to her. The Little Hissers (Charlie's Angels) look up to Harley. All five of them crowd together under the couch (and interestingly, they're all girls).

Fast forward several weeks: It turns out Harley has ringworm. It often takes weeks before the signs are visible and not being entirely handlable, I didn't notice that she had it all over her tummy. I noticed that her brother Boomer had a patch on his cheek; when Harley happened to be sitting within inches of my grasp, I pounced on her. I finally got a good look at her and was horrified to see pretty much her entire belly hairless and scabby. Ringworm! Since ringworm had a good three weeks to incubate in the room, other kittens are starting to show signs of ringworm. Nigella was the first (after Boomer and Harley) and then Montie. I ran a UV lamp over all of the kittens and, to my horror, found that everyone (except Mary) has some amount of ringworm on them. Several just have a speck here or there. Most (aside from Nigella and Montie) are showing no signs.

And now that the room has ringworm, what's one more that already has ringworm? When an animal control facility put out a bulletin that they had a ringworm kitten that would be put down if a rescue couldn't take her, I opted to add her to my room. She absolutely hated the other kittens in the room so I kenneled her. Her name is Billie Howliday. She's quite the singer and kept giving me jazz paws. Jazz paws!

Jacqueline Smith

Kate Jackson

Farrah Fawcet