Kittens still not here - ringworm

[ShutUpLegs]

The Rescue people called at the weekend to say that Boykitten has suspected ringworm and they are going to treat both him and his sister for a week before delivering them to us. Apparantly the treatment is for one week on/one week off for three cycles - and they will have had the first cycle by the time they arrive.

I have NO experience of ringworm. I guess we just keep them in the kitchen, keeping mopping everything and washing bedding and watch the kids like a hawk, enforcing lots of hand-washing.

Anything else I should factor in?

You should factor in that ringworm can be really difficult to treat in cats. If take the cat you need a commitment from the rescue that they will cover all the treatment costs.
Personally I would take the kitten till it has had a negative culture.

Yikes. I suspect that it is being underplayed. I need to ask whether it has been formally diagnosed by a vet. ANd whether their vet will continue to monitor the treatment.

Do you have a vet you can get advice from?
FYI I got ringworm off an animal. It is very contagious.

Ooh, I had a rescue cat that they neglected to tell me had ringworm. It cost me hundreds in vets bills as it kept flaring up and each time I caught it. Had to return him in end as I had a newborn and all the bleaching and laundry as well as treatments got too much.

I'm currently watching a livestream from a rescue foster in Canada, with feral 4 kittens of various ages with ringworm - the livestream is here - you can see how they cover up every time interact with the cats
livestream.com/tinykittens/bells
(They are very cute, especially the littlest who was almost starving when she was trapped)

They are expecting treatment to last 6-8 weeks and it seems very intensive - explanations here
www.tinykittens.com/ringworm

Not something I'd like to undertake in a home, especially with children!

Actually not much to watch on the livestream at the moment as they are currently cleaning the room!

My rescue had ringworm, she was 5 at the time & is a longhaired cat but it was OK. She must have had it when she came to me but I only noticed about a month afterwards so because I was past the 2 week period the insurance paid for the medication. It was last year so fairly clear in my mind, its a 6 week medication period yes but its a liquid medicine so you don't have to get tablets into them! I had a little syringe & just squirted it into her mouth & it was fine, my cat is very docile though. DS2 also had it as well but his was treated by a skin cream that the pharmacist recommended. The vet only confirmed ringworm when DS2 had been to the pharmacist as ringworm is a funny thing & my cat was back & forth to the vet as she wasn't testing very positive under the light thing (they shine a black light on the animal & any ringworm shows up as apple green).

It can be a lot of cleaning as the spores will be active for about 2 years & they can get everywhere but I've never had a recurrance of it. I cleaned the hard surfaces with Milton sterilising fluid & hoovered the soft furnishings throwing the hoover bag away once a week. Direct sunlight kills them too. I bought a spray version of the Milton as well I think for awkward places & things like slippers that the cat played with & her toys I soaked in a washing up bowl of the fluid for 15 mins.

At this time of year its worth remembering that all your Christmas tree, tinsel & decorations can get infested with spores so go for a real tree that will be outside the house come January & throw away all your tinsel & replace next year.

Midnight you were exceptionally lucky treating cats with ringworm is often very difficult and takes a long time:

Its just struck me Lonecat that all of my decorations from last year are now out again on a new tree! Fingers crossed!

With 2 cats is it possible that they could pass the ringworm between them & constantly re-infect themselves?

Yes multi cat households make treating ringworm much more difficult. I had one household where ultimately they had to wait years to totally de-cat before we gone on top of the ringworm.
I currently have one cat who we have been treating for 3 months, first we did oral liquid, then we did the baths and now they are using oral liquid and two different types of baths at the same time.
The type of ringworm is really important microsporum canis is much easier to deal with than tricophyton in my experience.

I had an outbreak of ringworm around a year ago. It was confined to cats I was fostering in a separate room. The treatment was a bit of ointment every few days and it all cleared up completely within around six weeks. Two of the four cats in the room didn't even get it. I was also quite lax with my barrier nursing but still didn't transfer it to any of my other cats.

So while it can be a bugger to get rid of and very infectious, it can also be a piece of piss to treat and really no problem.

Well, we have taken the plunge and accepted them. They arrive tomorrow. They are one week into the meds, we'll keep them confined to the kitchen and have a strict washing regime for hands/bedding/surfaces. They will not be allowed in any room with soft furnishings until the New Year at least.

I think they have a better chance at getting over it with us than in the foster home.

I hope I don't live to regret the decision. Wish me luck...

They are here! Boycat has one tiny,tiny patch near an ear. I struggle to locate it. Let's hope it stays manageable.