I think it's more related to the season than the outdoor
temperature!  Their internal clocks tell them it's summer,
and whether the temperature confirms it or not, they shed!

When Ming had ringworm all over his face, the vet debated over whether
or not to give him the oral meds, just for that reason- the effects on
the liver.  Ming was only about a year or so old, but he does have a
significant heart murmur, which complicated the descision. We finally
decided that we had to go that route because of the extent of the
infection in hard-to-reach places that could NOT be reached with either
shampoos or topical cremes/ointments.  He had it inside his ears, in
his nostrils, and all the way around his eyes- trying to treat those
areas without getting whatever we were putting on the ringworm in his
eyes would have been impossible. I did shampoo him mainly to cut down
on the chances of him passing the infection to the rest of the
household (the vet's comment was "kill as many of the spores as we can
while we're waiting for the oral meds to work"). He also got a couple
of large doses of Program to kick start the process. Shaving was
mentioned, but in the context of "it doesn't seem to make a difference
for shorthaired cats"...  The vet thought we might have to use the oral
meds for up to 3 or 4 months or until the lesions healed and the fur
grew back. As it turned out the lesions healed and began re-growing fur
within 2-3 weeks. The vet was absolutely amazed when I took Ming in for
a check at the 2 week point- he said he would have expected that much
improvement at the 2 MONTH point.  Ming was only on the meds for about
6 weeks, and I would have stopped it earlier but the dog and I
developed a couple of little spots (2 on the dog's face and 3 on my
arm- all about the diameter of a pencil) and I wanted to make sure that
we didn't start passing it around.  Oh, and the oral meds were from a
compounding pharmacy... they did it in a tuna flavored suspension.

Katrina