It's not been a good quarter for my cat.
She's fully recovered from her FHO surgery, she's able to walk fast, run a little and even jump around short heights.

However, she's now down with ringworm. Noticed a red patch a couple of days back that she's been scratching near her ear, immediately put the e-collar on and used Canisep. Did this for 2 days, but whenever i remove the collar, she scratched again. Brought her to the vet and he administered some anti-fungal cream itraconazole for 20 days. He infection is still at a very early stage, since she's only got 2 spots, 1 just close to each ear. She's being her usual self, but with the collar on she tend to get a little sad.

Anyone here with experience in healing a cat with ringworm? Any advise? Thanks.

My cat is indoors and always clean, even her ears.
Yes, it's infectious, but not fatal. It's more of a nuisance fungus as it attacks the skin of the cat, causes hair loss, scabs, flaky skin and even bleeding due to excessive scratching.

Cleaning ears regularly might not exactly have anything to do with ringworm, as the spores of the fungus are airborne and invisible to the naked eye. I believe she probably caught it during her stay at the vet during her surgery. Or from what the vet told me, could be due to change in food as well. Alternatively, some cats are born with ringworm, but in dormant stage, and it will show as they grow older. She's not scratching as much now, but she licks her hand and wipes of the antifungal cream, which defeats the purpose of applying it, that's why I've gotta use the e-collar for now.

Hopefully those spots heal within a couple of days there wouldn't be a need to use the e-collar anymore.

Hi everyone

May I seek your advice please.. I have a 6 year old domestic mid/ long haired ginger female, adopted as a stray from when she was just a couple months old. She's been fully indoor ever since, and only exposure to the outdoors would be during her visits to the vet - or whenever we have visitors at home (she's easily scared and thus usually hides in my room)

She had flea infection once, a couple years back - which was cured with Advantage spot on + diatomaceous earth powder.
She probably caught fleas through me, as I used to take care of a couple of other strays within the area too.. I've since taken care of the flea issue and she's been flea free since.

She broke her leg once probably 3 years ago, whilst running around at home. Brought her to the vet, all good and she was up and running in a couple weeks. Though, she picked up ringworm - I would assume she caught this at the vet itself, likely through the clippers used to trim her fur. I showered her frequently with Malaseb, and used medication provided by the vet to rid of Ringworm and she's been good since.

In early October 2019 - she had her regular scheduled annual vaccination. To which we made the dreaded trip to the vet. Vet determined she was all in good health, provided vaccination and we brought her home. HOWEVER, this is where things started to get really...itchy

A couple days after the vet visit, she started to itchy and was offen seen scratching using her hind legs, excessive licking of the bottom half of her body and nibbling (biting) herself. Mid October, I applied Advantage again, and started to shower her with Malaseb as well as powering her with DE just to be sure it wasn't another infection. Fast forward to mid-December, I started to notice bald patches at her hind regions, legs, and smaller bald patches on her ears. There were wounds (or scaly skin) due to her excessively licking and biting herself but did not look like ringworm. Seeing no improvement, I brought her back to the vet and they confirmed it wasn't ringworm but instead fur mites (mange?). They also reconfirmed by gut assumption that she could have picked this up at the vet during her last visit (which is why I dread bringing her to the vet). She was prescribed Frontline & Broadline spot on (seems Advantage doesn't work for mites). I've applied the necessary spot on, whilst dusting her bald areas with DE since.. but as of today, I do not yet see any improvement.

She still itches, and lately I've noticed that she has been increasingly licking and biting her ankles - more scaly skin and bald patches. I've applied another dose of Frontline a couple of days back and still dust her scaly skin regions with DE but nothing seems to be working.

What should I do? I've ordered Machiko shampoo and some sulfur bar soap online that should be arriving next week. Should I stop DE? Because all she seems to do is lick the power off the dusted areas.

I'll probably give her a shower with the sulfur soap next week and apply Broadline spot on a couple days later. In the meantime, your advise is much appreciated.

Thank you.

Edit: located in Selayang/ Kepong btw - so if you have recommended vets that could help with this issue, please suggest as well.

This post has been edited by Seager: Jan 5 2020, 02:19 PM

How do you apply DE? My concern is if DE dries skin up even more, so I'm not sure if my actions of rubbing DE on the scaly skin actually makes it more itchy. Besides, my cat will just end up licking it all off... I think coconut oil may help the wounds heal, not sure about eliminating mites though.. will giv it a shot!

Used Canisep when my cat had ringworm but uncertain if it really helped, or was it the malaseb that I used to shower my with with every 2 days. Also, cat will likely lick it off but I think this is non-toxic. Will probably get a cone to put on her, bet she wouldn't be too pleased about it

This post has been edited by Seager: Jan 5 2020, 05:26 PM

Environment all good, mop, sweep, even dust with DE. But my mom seems to have allergic reactions, so I've cut down a bit and only putting on areas where she's been biting.

Yup arriving soon.. just received Canisep too.

I have broadline too, but .. I can only apply it on her probably 2-3 weeks from now as I've applied Frontline on her twice over the last couple of weeks. I had also visited a vet closely to my office, and she provided some good advise to be patient, shower her with medicated soap and use Broadline when suitable. It seems Frontline spot on is starting to lose efficacy, which is why new products come out every couple of years - in this case Broadline.

I bought some sulphur soap, and also ordered Ivermectin to treat her.. will see how it goes.

Most vets sell broadline.
You could also probably find it at established pet stores, and online e-commerce platforms like lazada and shopee.

Thought I'd update on my little one's condition. Its been over a week now I've showered her with Sulphur soap twice, and also given her Ivermectin (Bexton Itin Vet) orally, about 1.2ml/day, daily. At night, I put the cone on her, and rub some of the solution on affected areas.. leave it for 1-2 hours, and then she gets about cleaning herself.

Overall, she has improved a lot. Now just battling some remaining ear mites (she basically picked up all possible mites at her last vet visit). Will probably continue oral medication for 1-2 more days, and I also put a few drops into her ears twice a day. All seems to be well. No more new wounds, and prior wounds have closed up and her hair/ coat is growing back to normal.

I did not have the opportunity to use Broadline yet, as I don't see a need for it right now and especially since I don't know how it will react with her daily dosage of Ivermectin. Will use Broadling later on, perhaps 3-4 weeks after she is fully recovered. I would say she's probably at 90% now, just some ear mites remaining, which have been gradually reducing.

Thank you everyone!