Ringworm

Ringworm is a skin disease caused by a fungus (plural: fungi). Because the lesions are often circular, ringworm was once thought to be caused by a worm curling up in the tissue. However, ringworm has nothing to do with any type of worm. 

Ringworm is also known as dermatophytosis. There are four species of fungi that can cause dermatophytosis in cats; however, it is most often caused by the organism called Microsporum canis. The Microsporum canis organism is so well adapted to cats that up to 20% of cats are thought to be asymptomatic carriers, meaning they have the organism but show no outward signs. 

Ringworm is actually an infection of the dead layer of the skin, hair, and nails. The organism is able to utilize this dead tissue (keratin) in the skin as a source of nutrition.

Clinical Signs
The fungi live in hair follicles. As the organism invades the hair shafts and they weaken, hairs break off at the skin line. Patches of hair loss tend to be round; however, as the fungus multiplies, the lesions may become irregularly shaped and spread over the cat's body. These patches may be associated with scaling and crusting of the skin. The lesions are sometimes pruritic (itchy) but this is not a consistent finding.

The incubation period is variable, but not sooner than 7-14 days. This means that the exposure to the fungus and establishment of infection occurs 7-14 days before any lesions occur.

Diagnosis
Feline ringworm can be diagnosed by four different methods. In some cases, more than one technique is used. 

Identification of the typical "ringworm" lesions on the skin. This is an inaccurate diagnostic method, especially since “typical” ringworm lesions are not always present in cats – the clinical signs of ringworm in cats are extremely variable. 

Examination of the scales and hair under the microscope. Some of the fungal elements, such as spores, can be visualized with this technique. 

Fluorescence of infected hairs under a special light. This is a screening test that is useful because Microsporum canis will sometimes fluoresce as a bright apple green under ultraviolet light. However, failure to fluoresce does not eliminate ringworm as a potential diagnosis. 

Culture of the hair for the fungus. This method is the most accurate way and considered the gold standard for diagnosing feline ringworm. After some hair is plucked from a lesion on the skin, it is placed on a special gel (culture media) to watch for growth of the fungus.  

Transmission
Transmission occurs by direct contact between infected and non-infected individuals. It may be passed from dogs to cats and people and visa versa. If a child has ringworm, he or she may have gotten it from the pet or from another child at school. Adult humans are relatively resistant to infection unless there is a break in the skin or there is suppression of the immune system (AIDS, chemotherapy, etc). Children are quite susceptible.
Transmission may also occur from the infected environment. The fungal spores may live in the environment for up to 18 months. They may be killed with a dilution of chlorine bleach and water (1part bleach to 10 parts water) where it is feasible to use it. See the section below on treating the environment.

Treatment of the Cat
There are several methods for treating ringworm. The specific method(s) chosen for your cat will depend on the severity of the infection, how many pets are involved, presence of children in the household, and how difficult it will be to disinfect your cat’s environment.

Itraconazole is considered the drug of choice to treat ringworm. It is not approved for use in cats, but is generally considered safe and effective. The high cost of the drug is prohibitive in some cases. 

Other oral drugs that can and have been used include griseofulvin (higher risk of side effects vs. itraconazole, not as easy to find as it used to be), terbinafine (Lamisil) (effective but quite expensive), and fluconazole. 

Lime Sulfur Dip. This should be done once or twice weekly as prescribed by your doctor. Lime sulfur dip should also be applied to other pets (dogs or cats) in the household to prevent them from being affected. If they develop ringworm lesions, they should be seen by a veterinarian. You should wear gloves when applying the dip and should remove jewelry before you start. 

Treatment will not produce immediate results and the areas of hair loss may get larger before they begin to get smaller. Within 1-2 weeks, the hair loss should stop, there should be no new areas of hair loss, and the crusty appearance of the skin should diminish. If any of these do not occur within two weeks, your cat should be re-evaluated by your pet doctor.

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Litterbox 101

Urinating in the wrong places is the number one reason cats are surrendered by their owners. Many of these issues could be avoided, by handling the litterbox issues properly.

Listed below are a few important litterbox tips:

Your household should have the same number of litterboxes as the number of cats you have (3 cats, 3 litterboxes).

Have a litterbox on each floor of the house-(one on the first floor, one on the second floor)

Scoop your litter box DAILY, keep garbage bags, and a scooper by each litterbox; it will be worth the small initial investment.

The easier you make it for yourself-the easier it will be to keep up!

Larger tall cats can’t stand UP to poop in the covered litterboxes, so they tend not to like them as much. They may be fine for months, then one day, just decide ‘I don’t like this anymore’, and start going else where. 

The covered litterbox style holds in odors more, scooping and cleaning them daily is vital.

Keep the litterbox in low traffic area, cats like their privacy-like humans. NO busy laundry rooms (near the garage door entrance), or no busy hallways. 

IF you relocate the litterbox, make sure you show the cat where it is being moved to-do not change out the litter the same day as you move the litterbox the cat needs to be able to identify its familiar scent in the box.

If changing the TYPE of litter you’re buying (for example changing from scoopable litter to Yesterdays News-or scoopable litter to the clay type) make the change over a week or two. Gradually mix the two litters- ½ and ½, then ¼ old and ¾ new, so the cat gets used to using the new type of litter over the course of that week. Now, would NOT be the time to change locations of the litterbox, or purchase a new litterbox. Change only one thing at a time.

Tapeworms: how do our dogs and cats get them and how do you know they have them?

Another intestinal parasite, the tapeworm, is transmitted to dogs and cats when they eat those annoying fleas off of themselves! Or they get tapeworms from eating birds, mice, or other rodents that are infected with tapeworms or fleas. If you were to see an entire tapeworm you would see many tiny rice-like repeating segments making up the worm of about 4-6 inches long.

This worm lives in the intestine of the cat or dog until it is properly treated. The small rice like pieces of tapeworm is what is seen in the cat or dogs stool.

Many cases are diagnosed simply by seeing these tiny rice like pieces attached to the pet's fur around the anus or under the tail; they even move around a bit shortly after they are passed and before they dry up and look like little grains of rice. These segments of the tapeworm contain the eggs. Tapeworms cannot be killed by the typical generic, over-the-counter wormers. See the veterinarian for a prescription - it's the only treatment that really works. So don't waste your time or money on non-prescription tape worm medications...they don't work very well.

Most often, cats with tapeworms have enormous appetites, and remain thin, due to the tapeworm eating all the nutrients from their food!

Roundworms: what are they and why do kittens need deworming treatments?

A large percentage of puppies and kittens are born with worms. The most common one is the roundworm. 

The roundworm larvae goes through the mother's tissues right into the developing pup or kitten in the mother's uterus! The worm larvae can also be transferred to the nursing kittens from the mother's milk. 

The larvae make their way to the intestinal tract where they set up housekeeping. They start shedding eggs and the worm infestation begins. The eggs that the worms pass are in the kittens stool and when the stool is accidently eaten (this happens when the kittens are grooming themselves and licking their sweet little paws!). So, you can see that repeated exposure to stools with eggs in it is easy when a whole litter of kittens is sharing a small litterbox. That is why it is so important to scoop the litterbox at least 2 times a day,and/or have 2 litterboxes, so the chances of the kittens stepping in a piece of poop is lessened. And….that is why we do a series of deworming medicine- you are trying to kill as many adult worms as possible, at different stages of their life cycle. Which is NOT a one time task.