I think it would all depend on the nature of the animal.. 17 hands worth of new skittish horse is not a doddle to treat..
But you can do it.. As I would expect for a cat.. And yes.. it is a doddle to treat humans.. we can speak we know what to look for we understand how we have to keep it isolated..

believe me, having treated both horses and cats, the average horse versus the average cat... horses are MUCH easier to treat. MUCH. The treatment regime is far easier for horses, its just dabbing a solution on thr infected spots. for cats its bathing every other day and you have to leave the shampoo on the cat for a good 10 to 15 minutes. try treating a ring worm cat for 6 weeks then get back to me and tell me your horse was difficult :tongue_smilie:

 

Total rubbish, don't they have an isolation area for cats for heavens sake?

I adopted a cat that had ringworm, no signs initially but it did develop. I caught it, my hubby caught it and so did two of our cats. We were easily treated with cream as were the cats with skin lesions.

Our other 3 cats were fine and my dogs too. Never had problems again with it.

Our vet told me many cats carry the fungal infection but never develop symptoms and as said, in healthy cats it runs it's course. My cats only had couple of tiny areas of hair loss.

 

believe me, having treated both horses and cats, the average horse versus the average cat... horses are MUCH easier to treat. MUCH. The treatment regime is far easier for horses, its just dabbing a solution on thr infected spots. for cats its bathing every other day and you have to leave the shampoo on the cat for a good 10 to 15 minutes. try treating a ring worm cat for 6 weeks then get back to me and tell me your horse was difficult :tongue_smilie:

Catsmum.. Im not getting into an argument over this.. I believe in what has been said to the OP is Wrong I believe the cat should be given a chance.
I believe the RSPCA have the money and resoucres to help this cat.. I believe as soon as they had suspicions the said cat possibly has ringworm it should be isolated with one person only to look after it.. I believe anything that has come into contact with kitty.. that can be should be burned not boiled..

Yeah yeah.. The lad really enjoyed chasing the horse round the stable getting booted etc.. t treat it.. Oh and he said it was a doddle.. A ton of horse crushing you.. a doddle..

 

Nope I don't think Im making it sound easy.. But I am always open to trying..
I would not give up so easy..
Its a cats life that is possibly being condemned here..

then why dont you volunteer at your local rescue to be a ringowrm bather that will come in every day and bathe the cats with ringowrm? or voulunteer to foster ringowrm infected cats in your home. because thats what they really need. the money is often their for the oral treatments but they lack foster homes for ringworm infected cats, and they lack the manpower to come in daily to bathe infected animals that they keep quarantined in shelters

its easy to pick the rspca apart for making harsh decisions like this, i could do the same too. but i would only do that if i was willing to put my money where my mouth is and volunteer my time and/or my home to treat animals like this. volunteers (willing to do ringworm bathing) and fosterhomes willing to take ringowrm cats are very thin on the ground, that is just the reality. it has nothing to do with not giving up.

 

there are oral treatments available too -not just shampoos but there is a risk of catching ringworm from any where -every time you go to a vet you could carry it home from the last client -every dog you stroke while out -every time your dog meets a dog out walking -from the soil in your garden -from the garden fence where spores like to live -shall I go on ?
but not every animal will catch it from another -the spores need to enter by a wound or abrasion into the skin

 

Catsmum.. Im not getting into an argument over this.. I believe in what has been said to the OP is Wrong I believe the cat should be given a chance.
I believe the RSPCA have the money and resoucres to help this cat.. I believe as soon as they had suspicions the said cat possibly has ringworm it should be isolated with one person only to look after it.. I believe anything that has come into contact with kitty.. that can be should be burned not boiled..

Yeah yeah.. The lad really enjoyed chasing the horse round the stable getting booted etc.. t treat it.. Oh and he said it was a doddle.. A ton of horse crushing you.. a doddle..

you can believe what ever you want to believe, but you have admitted that you have zero experience of ringworm in cats, i have, so sorry if i disagree with you BASED ON EXPERIENCE. you going to start threatening me again now, or editting my posts or locking the thread?

 

one other point you say you gave her shelter for the night so if she had ringworm then you already have it in your home
if not then she caught it frojm the RSPCA !!

I believe if the kitty had been in op's home within a week before the ringworm was noticed then its possible kitty could have infected the home.. as with rescue.. It is harbouring before noticed.. so you wouldn't know it has it..

 

There's no getting away from the fact that it is far from easy to treat a cat for ringworm. It's costly, time consuming and stressful for both owner and cat. I've seen friends who own multiple cats go through this and have felt dreadful for them.

The truth is, however, it is a simple, very common fungal infection and in the majority of cases will even clear up by itself (not that I'd ever recommend omitting to treat an animal). How the RSPCA can view this as a death sentence is beyond me. Re-home the cat to someone who is prepared to take her on who is full knowledge of what it involves.

 

you can believe what ever you want to believe, but you have admitted that you have zero experience of ringworm in cats, i have, so sorry if i disagree with you BASED ON EXPERIENCE. you going to start threatening me again now, or editting my posts or locking the thread?

I beg your pardon?

 

there are oral treatments available too -not just shampoos but there is a risk of catching ringworm from any where -every time you go to a vet you could carry it home from the last client -every dog you stroke while out -every time your dog meets a dog out walking -from the soil in your garden -from the garden fence where spores like to live -shall I go on ?
but not every animal will catch it from another -the spores need to enter by a wound or abrasion into the skin

oral treatments are used in combination with shampoos. the risk of bringing ringworm home from the vets or catching it from stroking a random dog is nowhere near as high as transferring it within the a household that has a known case of ringworm

and the spores do not need to enter a wound for the animal to become infected

 

I beg your pardon?

what bit didnt you understand?

 

you can believe what ever you want to believe, but you have admitted that you have zero experience of ringworm in cats, i have, so sorry if i disagree with you BASED ON EXPERIENCE. you going to start threatening me again now, or editting my posts or locking the thread?

but I have -personal and through veterinary work and recently from a good friend who runs a rescue.
Ringworm is common in recue animals and every rescue should know how to deal with it and must have isolation areas -the rescue in question is not a small self funded one man show it's the weathiest one in the UK if it doesn't have enough staff paid to do the job they are meant to do then there is something very wrong-and it should not have to rely on volunteers to do it's job for it

 

Catsmum.. Im not getting into an argument over this.. I believe in what has been said to the OP is Wrong I believe the cat should be given a chance.
I believe the RSPCA have the money and resoucres to help this cat.. I believe as soon as they had suspicions the said cat possibly has ringworm it should be isolated with one person only to look after it.. I believe anything that has come into contact with kitty.. that can be should be burned not boiled..

Yeah yeah.. The lad really enjoyed chasing the horse round the stable getting booted etc.. t treat it.. Oh and he said it was a doddle.. A ton of horse crushing you.. a doddle..

You are so right

Seriously ringworm isn't difficult to treat in cats in my experience. I was horrified when I found out we had it, not something you brag about but it was hardly leprosy

We never dipped or bathed our affected cats or treated the other animals with prophylactic measures ... they were all fine. We didn't replace carpets and furniture, which they all had access too, neither did we isolate, too late for that But never had a recurrence.

I have many guinea pigs in via rescue with ringworm, now that is NASTY and it can become systemic ... but I have NEVER put one to sleep because of it ... if I can manage to treat and care for them at home, why the **** can't the RSPCA look after a cat with it

 

There's no getting away from the fact that it is far from easy to treat a cat for ringworm. It's costly, time consuming and stressful for both owner and cat. I've seen friends who own multiple cats go through this and have felt dreadful for them.

The truth is, however, it is a simple, very common fungal infection and in the majority of cases will even clear up by itself (not that I'd ever recommend omitting to treat an animal). How the RSPCA can view this as a death sentence is beyond me. Re-home the cat to someone who is prepared to take her on who is full knowledge of what it involves.

i totally agree with you that IF the cat could be rehomed with the OP then it should be. but if the OP doesnt want the cat with its ringworm, then i can understand why they would put it down, its the lesser of two evils. no one else will want it till the ringworm is cleared and it takes about 8-9 weeks minimum to get an all clear. The rspca cant get rid of healthy cats, let alone ringowrm infested ones. and every day they have it in the rescue center the chance of spreading it to the healthy cats increase. so yes it is a treatable fungal disease, but if people dont come forward and offer to foster ringworm cats then i dont really see what else they can do

 

Bloody hell people no need to get so worked up over this and start being rude over ringworm?? lol
The thing i don't understand is the cat has been there a while already, therefore already exposing people and cats so having her put down if ringworm is confirmed, is a little like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, are they then going to put the whole shelter down if it has indeed spread? crazy.

 

oral treatments are used in combination with shampoos. the risk of bringing ringworm home from the vets or catching it from stroking a random dog is nowhere near as high as transferring it within the a household that has a known case of ringworm

and the spores do not need to enter a wound for the animal to become infected

they need to enter the skin where the surface is damaged not necessarily a large wound
ofr course you run a higher risk by introducing it into the home but it is curable just needs the right disinfectation methods and correct treatments

 

I haven't got any experience but from what I've read it seems expensive and time consuming to treat.

But I've also just read that yazoo88 is willing to take this cat home and give it the appropriate treatment! Surely thats enough not to put this cat to sleep??

 

There's no getting away from the fact that it is far from easy to treat a cat for ringworm. It's costly, time consuming and stressful for both owner and cat. I've seen friends who own multiple cats go through this and have felt dreadful for them.

Genuinely, that was not my experience. I would not want anyone to be terrified if their cat contracted this, it's not a life sentence and though not nice to find out. Not the end of the world. Certainly no animal should be destroyed on it's diagnosis.

Animals with lowered immunity might find it more difficult to shake of, but many healthy animals probably catch it and shake it off without owners even being aware!

Our cats were treated with one tube of cream between them if I remember rightly, so not expensive at all

 

they need to enter the skin where the surface is damaged not necessarily a large wound
ofr course you run a higher risk by introducing it into the home but it is curable just needs the right disinfectation methods and correct treatments

not true, not in humans and not in cats. i have had ringworm myself (from my pets) and i can assure you i had no abrasions on my skin at all

 

Bloody hell people no need to get so worked up over this and start being rude over ringworm?? lol
The thing i don't understand is the cat has been there a while already, therefore already exposing people and cats so having her put down if ringworm is confirmed, is a little like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, are they then going to put the whole shelter down if it has indeed spread? crazy.

Chances are many of the cats they take in and re-home do carry ringworm and nobody is ever aware of it

At the time our cats had it, and tests may have become more accurate, our vet said that testing for fungal infections like ringworm was not always conclusive either way ... I think they said you get a lot of false negatives ...

 

not true, not in humans and not in cats. i have had ringworm myself (from my pets) and i can assure you i had no abrasions on my skin at all

You probably had "lesions" caused where you had scratched yourself after handling cats

Doesn't have to be obvious, like open cuts or wounds.

 

taken from here
Ringworm - PubMed Health

Ringworm is more likely when you have frequent wetness (such as from sweating) and minor injuries to your skin, scalp, or nails.

as for tests yes you can get false negatives but not false positive

 

i dont think the people doing the condemning will be chomping at the bit to go daily to their local rescue centre and spend 30 minutes per cat shampooing them

Bathing with antifungal shampoo should be alternate days or three times a week. Treatment with Lime Sulfur is twice weekly.
Oral medication is a viable alternative using Griseofulvin or Itraconazole anti-fungals. The medication has to be given for several weeks though.

 

Genuinely, that was not my experience. I would not want anyone to be terrified if their cat contracted this, it's not a life sentence and though not nice to find out. Not the end of the world. Certainly no animal should be destroyed on it's diagnosis.

Animals with lowered immunity might find it more difficult to shake of, but many healthy animals probably catch it and shake it off without owners even being aware!

Our cats were treated with one tube of cream between them if I remember rightly, so not expensive at all

I wouldnt be terrified of it either if my cats got it, and i certianly would never have a cat of mine put down because of it, but i do agree with gsskinner that it is far from easy to treat a cat for ringworm. It is costly, time consuming and stressful for both owner and cat. Like her i too have seen friends and family in multi cat households go through this and i too have felt dreadful for them. you were lucky your cats responded to just topical treatment, very many dont, maybe your cats just had a very mild dose of ringworm? and many vets are reluctant to even try going down the topical treatment route because by the time you know the topical treatment is not working other cats are infected, thats why they often go for the shampoo in conjunction with oral treatment

 

Genuinely, that was not my experience. I would not want anyone to be terrified if their cat contracted this, it's not a life sentence and though not nice to find out. Not the end of the world. Certainly no animal should be destroyed on it's diagnosis.

Animals with lowered immunity might find it more difficult to shake of, but many healthy animals probably catch it and shake it off without owners even being aware!

Our cats were treated with one tube of cream between them if I remember rightly, so not expensive at all

I certainly wouldn't want anyone to be terrified of it either It can be difficult to eradicate, particularly so in multi-cat households. The households, admittedly, that I have in mind (or rather those that I'm referring to) have been breeders for whom the implications are simply enormous, particularly if they have a litter or two at the time a cat or cats - in their home are diagnosed with it. You have to inform the governing body, treat every cat, repeated tests for months and then yet more repeated tests to check every cat is clear - more than once. It's horrendously expensive and no kittens may be sold until clearance is gained. It can be a horrible vicious circle, trying to eradicate it.

But equally, I have seen ringworm cleared up very easily and swiftly, particularly with only one or two cats in the home.