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.