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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / December 2004Ringworm in shelter situation - ?'s
Hope some of you shelter experienced people can help me out here. We have a kitten about 8 months old who's been in the kitten room (large open room with a couple cages, most kittens run free) for at least three months or so. He used to be my foster and was the shyest of the litter. I had him at home for about three months. He really shouldn't be in the kitten room anymore since he's over 6 months, but he's just been kinda hanging with us, waiting for the right person to find him. Anyway, a couple days ago, this kitten broke out in suspicious bald patches, one that is a bit crusty. The vet suspects ringworm and sent off a culture and we should have results in a week. In the meantime, she started him on a liquid med (don't remember the name). We are in a mild panic mode, not sure if we need to shut down the kitten room, the whole shelter, or what. We have had a couple cases of ringworm before, but they were adult cats who were caged individually and did not effect a whole room. Also, when this kitten was in foster with me, he developed hair loss and got a culture which was negative. The kitten coordinator and I think it might just be stress or some other disorder, as the hair loss came on very suddenly, and so far none of the other kittens appear affected. Also, this guy has been in the shelter for months, how would he just now have ringworm? Wouldn't I have ringworm all over my house if he was here for so long?  Signature-Kelly kelly at farringtons dot net "Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG Hi Kelly, The shelter I volunteer at regularly just went through a "ringworm in the kitten room" episode. It's really common when groups of kittens are housed together, and unfortunately travels pretty quickly and effectively via the human hand. I'm not all that knowledgeable about the medical details, but we did isolate the entire kitten room for a few days and bleached out the floor and the insides of all the cages. Vets see a fair bit of ringworm, so it might be a good precaution before it spreads all over the shelter .... > Hi Kelly, > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Vets see a fair bit of ringworm, so it might be a good precaution > before it spreads all over the shelter .... I have a foster kitten who has ringworm. The results just came back yesterday and the vet is supposed to call me this morning. I've kept this kitten isolated (because of other medical problems) so he hasn't come in direct contact with any of the other cats but I have had to handle him and it jumped out at me when you mentioned spreading the ringworm via the hand. I was fanatical about washing my hands after handling him when he first got here because he had an eye infection but have been somewhat more lax since that cleared up. I was fully expecting the results to come back negative as it didn't fluoresce and the hair was growing back on the spot we had cultured - not. So at this point what precautions should I be taking. I have already been bleaching any towels I use in the cages as a matter of course. W > Hi Kelly, > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Vets see a fair bit of ringworm, so it might be a good precaution > before it spreads all over the shelter .... Thanks Tracy. We are temporarily shutting down the shelter as in no new cats in or out until we get the results, and also having our cleaning crews do the kitten room last, wash hands, do not handle any cats after being in the kitten room. The kitten in question has gone into foster. Signature-Kelly kelly at farringtons dot net "Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG > Hope some of you shelter experienced people can help me out here. > We have a kitten about 8 months old who's been in the kitten room (large [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > suddenly, and so far none of the other kittens appear affected. Also, this > guy has been in the shelter for months, how would he just now have ringworm? Someone could have brought it in from a vet's office. In a study a few years ago, the floors of 50 private vet clinics were cultured - M. canis were grown in 30% of the cultures from the clinics. > Wouldn't I have ringworm all over my house if he was here for so long? I would imagine so. The incubation period between contact and clinical signs is about 7 to 14 days. Dermatophytes can remain infectious in the environment for up to 18 months. So, if your home was contaminated, you would've known it a long time ago. Under the circumstances (shelter) I don't understand why the vet didn't do a direct mic exam. Even though a negative finding doesn't rule out ringworm, a positive finding is diagnostic - which would allow you to begin treatment and decontamination and limit the spread. For that matter, he could have cultured a sample himself. DTM and Sabouraud's aren't exactly expensive and not very difficult to use. Take it easy but take precautions until you get the results back. btw, keep a lot of shade on this. Even one case of ringworm can cause permanent damage to the reputation of your shelter. Good luck. Phil > Someone could have brought it in from a vet's office. In a study a few > years ago, the floors of 50 private vet clinics were cultured - M. canis > were grown in 30% of the cultures from the clinics. That's true, or from their home. >> Wouldn't I have ringworm all over my house if he was here for so long? > > I would imagine so. The incubation period between contact and clinical > signs is about 7 to 14 days. Dermatophytes can remain infectious in the > environment for up to 18 months. So, if your home was contaminated, you > would've known it a long time ago. This is giving me hope that it is NOT ringworm. Neither the humans or the cats in my house have ever exhibited signs of ringworm. > Under the circumstances (shelter) I don't understand why the vet didn't do > a [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > and > not very difficult to use. I honestly don't know. I had left for the day when the kitten was examined. We did begin ringworm treatment of this kitten and today he is going into foster care. So far none of the other kittens have shown signs. > Take it easy but take precautions until you get the results back. Thanks, that's what we're doing. No cats in or out of the shelter until we get the results and volunteers are to clean the kitten room last. > btw, keep a lot of shade on this. Even one case of ringworm can cause > permanent damage to the reputation of your shelter. With Christmas around the corner, this allows us to use the "no adoptions because of the holidays" excuse. Another shelter in the area just went through a bout of ringworm. I used respect this shelter, but they handled it by euthanizing all cats/kittens who have ringworm :-( I'm really, really hoping this is not ringworm. Signature-Kelly kelly at farringtons dot net "Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG > "Phil P." <phil@maxshouse.org> wrote in message > With Christmas around the corner, this allows us to use the "no adoptions > because of the holidays" excuse. Another shelter in the area just went > through a bout of ringworm. I used respect this shelter, but they handled > it by euthanizing all cats/kittens who have ringworm :-( Good lord! WTF was the rationale for that? I mean, ringworm is ringworm, a contagious fungus that's unsightly, a nuisance, vaguely unpleasant but treatable and not a *major* health issue. I mean, is that a gross over-reaction, or what? > Good lord! WTF was the rationale for that? I mean, ringworm is ringworm, a > contagious fungus that's unsightly, a nuisance, vaguely unpleasant but > treatable and not a *major* health issue. I mean, is that a gross > over-reaction, or what? From what I heard, they didn't want to shut down completely and thought this was a better alternative :-( Luckily, a few people managed to get some of the cats and kittens out and took them into foster. Signature-Kelly kelly at farringtons dot net "Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG > I used respect this shelter, but they handled >it by euthanizing all cats/kittens who have ringworm :-( >I'm really, really hoping this is not ringworm. That is horrible! Why would they do such a thing? It isn't THAT bad. Back when I was 8 or 9 years old, our whole household got it. two adult cats, 5 kittens, 3 dogs, 2 wild kittens, 2 adults, and 3 kids. It was "diagnosed" by my teacher when she saw a spot on me and called my parents. It took a long time to get it completely gone. I remember ointments on the cats and dogs. And the pills were huge. My dad had to grind them up and put them in ice cream because i could not swallow them. We thought it came from the stray kittens, but it turned out that one of the girls in my campfire group had gotten it, and her mother sent her to campfire anyway. And my mom was the leader, so the girl brought it to our house, and the rest of the group. It spreads easily enough, but I don't remember it being painful or causing anybody to get sick. It was just a skin problem that needed to be treated and was really annoying. Certainly not anything to kill over. Was it so inconvenient for them to treat that cats that it was easier to kill them? How can people care so much about cats as to work in a shelter, but then be so willing to kill them? BTW, it sounds like you are doing everything right. I hope they have it figured out soon. It might be mange. There are two kinds. One is more common in younger animals, and that type is caused by stress, injury, or illness, and is not contagious. I would think they would have already tested for that. My dog had it a couple years ago. They did a scraping, and showed me the slide (and her new buddies) right there. The full treatment lasted 3 months, but it was obviously improved after the first treatment. No more hairloss, and it started growing back in fairly quickly. Signature-- Meghan & the Zoo Crew Equine and Pet Photography http://www.zoocrewphoto.com > > I used respect this shelter, but they handled > >it by euthanizing all cats/kittens who have ringworm :-( > >I'm really, really hoping this is not ringworm. > > That is horrible! Why would they do such a thing? Because they're morons. They probably got the idea from cattery management literature - that's what some catteries do to "protect their reputations".... and save money. > It isn't THAT bad. Certainly not anything to kill over. Of course it isn't. Was it so inconvenient for them > to treat that cats that it was easier to kill them? Killing the cats is easier and cheaper for them than treating ringworm because they don't know how, or don't want to, or can't, deal with it -- plus they're probably afraid of law suits since ringworm is zoonotic. Next, they'll probably start killing cats with fleas. Phil |
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