My son rescued a one year old kitty a few months ago, and it turns out he had ringworm on one of his ears. This cat doesn't live here, but we had him here for a couple of days before we knew he had it - that was about 2 1/2 months ago.

I had Kasey at the derma vet today for his allergy check up stuff, and he has a small area above his eye that the vet thinks is probably from him scratching at it, but when I told her about the cat, she said it could be possible that it's ringworm. She wants me to put antibiotic cream on it for a week and then if it's not better, or gets worse, then we're in for the $80 ringworm test.

I called our regular vet who did the cat's test, and it's the canis variety of ringworm, which apparently can live up to 14 months in the spores? Ugh! So I was wondering if you would go through all the deep cleaning that the paper from the derma vet said to do? Our regular vet did not tell us we had to do this, but the paper says to steam clean the carpets, throw away all the dog's toys, bedding, brushes, etc. Clean all your heater/air vents and change filters, etc. Now I'm paranoid. Even if Kasey doesn't have it (which the derma vet thinks is the most likely scenerio), the cat was here for a few days back then, so do we need to do all that cleaning and throwing away? The derma vet didn't say we HAD to, she was just giving me the info, and telling Kasey, "you better not have ringworm!" - she loves Kasey and said she'd had to have to deal with that on top of his allergies!

What would you do in regard to the cleaning issue?

What I would do and what is actually recommended, if one has babies, immunosuppressed individuals, cancer patients, or a general germ phobia may not be the same.
Ringworm is a "skin plant", it grows on dead skin,damaged skin. Athlete's foot is a cousin. It is a zoonosis=something your pet may have that you can get, and the reverse is true, your pet can pick it up from you. It CAN be hard to eradicate from the environment. It is itchy, you don't want it on any haired area of your body, where creams are hard to apply. It takes awhile to clear up. But it's not cancer, you know? It's just ringworm. I've had it several times. It's not a big deal.
I would just do routine housework and forget the rest, myself. If the cat had a bed I would throw that away. If you have a brush that you used on the cat, I would throw that away. The business about the furnace filter etc. seems a little
over the top to me. If someone in your home gets athlete's foot, do you change the furnace filter?
You are applying clotrimazole, miconazole (the vaginal yeast infection product)?

Yay! That's pretty much what I was thinking too. And we have had people with athlete's foot in this house and didn't change the heater filters!

Yes, I am applying the clotrimazole cream just in case, and he has to take Fluconazole on the weekends to keep away the yeast he used to get, so that should help also she said. The cat took the fluconazole for a month and he put the cream on the ear and shampooed the cat every week with the rx shampoo she gave him. He's all healed and seems fine - although the vet said we should repeat the $80 ringworm test to make sure the cat's ringworm is gone. Betty, do you agree with that?

 Quote: betty landercasp

What I would do and what is actually recommended, if one has babies, immunosuppressed individuals, cancer patients, or a general germ phobia may not be the same.
Ringworm is a "skin plant", it grows on dead skin,damaged skin. Athlete's foot is a cousin. It is a zoonosis=something your pet may have that you can get, and the reverse is true, your pet can pick it up from you. It CAN be hard to eradicate from the environment. It is itchy, you don't want it on any haired area of your body, where creams are hard to apply. It takes awhile to clear up. But it's not cancer, you know? It's just ringworm. I've had it several times. It's not a big deal.
I would just do routine housework and forget the rest, myself. If the cat had a bed I would throw that away. If you have a brush that you used on the cat, I would throw that away. The business about the furnace filter etc. seems a little
over the top to me. If someone in your home gets athlete's foot, do you change the furnace filter?
You are applying clotrimazole, miconazole (the vaginal yeast infection product)?

Betty, I have been reading two small animal derm books and every authoritative web site I could find since Lori posted.

Your first paragraph here puts in a nutshell what they say (or what I gathered, anyway).

Lori, is there some special situation in your house that the derm vet was considering? Or maybe she was just thinking of all his other challenges. I certainly wouldn't fault her for wanting you to do whatever you can, but like Betty said, it's not the plague.

I've had it on my fingers three times (from two dogs, way back when) and it did not recur or anything. I mean, once it was treated and gone, it was gone until next time I "caught" it. It's been gone for 30 years or so. I guess I just mean it's not something I ever had the shivers over.

JMO, though!

The dermatology vet said that she only has 1 dog case of this a year, so ordinarily she wouldn't have even thought that the place over kasey's eye was ringworm. But since we had that cat over, and he had it at the time, she gave me the handout for ringworm so I could choose to do whatever prevention measures I wanted. She told me the handout is radical, so I could make up my own mind as to what to do. Even with Kasey's allergies, she said it's more likely that it's not ringworm, than that it is. But she did say that if a dog gets it, especially a long coated one like Kase, then it can be extremely difficult to get rid of for good. So I think she was giving me options and info so I could make a choice.

We have show cattle and it is common enough to get ringworm. On haired cattle it is critical to get it stopped before the coat is ruined. We use tea tree oil dabbed on multiple times a day. Tea tree oil is a fungicide and can be purchased at your local pharmacy or walmart. Do not get it in the eye. We have never tested for it and certainly wouldn't pay $80 for a test! If it isn't ringworm, the tea tree oil still isn't going to hurt. I have used it to treat a sore on a show pig, burns on me, etc. You can google it to see it's many uses. Good luck.

No, I would not have any 80 dollar test for ringworm. You can see with your eyes if the hair is growing back and the skin is looking healthy, or it isn't.
Christi - your post about tea tree oil is interesting for show cattle. We battle ringworm here occasionally as well. Local show folks swear by WD-40! Tea tree oil would be way less embarassing to purchase than multiple tubes of vaginal yeast medicine...

Christi, I actually have used tea tree oil for things over the years. I think I was afraid to use it on this little patch over his eye because I was afraid it would end up getting in the eye. Maybe if I put it on with a q-tip it would be ok. I'll try it, it's a good idea.

Betty, thank you for the info. I will pass it along to my son - he got laid off a few months ago and a $80 vet test is definitely NOT in the budget! I'm not going to do it with Kasey either then. I'll just treat it like it could be, then we're good either way!

Mitzi came up with ringworm this summer when we were on a month long sailboat trip. Unmistakeable patches on her belly and groin area (she was in heat, as well).
After a bunch of googling, I decided to use what I had available which was dabbing with vinegar and Canesten (clotrimazole - a fungal and yeast infection creme for people). Tiny amounts, just enough to rub in good, once a day.
It worked fine. I didn't catch ringworm and I did not wash anything till we got home!