Written by Tasha Lopez and posted November 11, 2018
Junior is a tuxedo who turned two years old in May. He had a rough beginning.
We adopted him at five weeks We went to the shelter and went back for him to adopt him and they had him in sickbay. They were getting ready to euthanize him.
He had burnt paws and whiskers because he fell out of a moving car. The witness took him to the shelter. We said we don’t care that’s the one we wanted to adopt.
After adoption and chipped, we took Junior to the vet who gave him an antibiotic shot. Then come to find out he had ringworm. He had to be dipped in bleach water every other day for six weeks. The vet said we were his heroes.
Most people don’t have the time to deal with ringworm they’d rather have them put down then deal with it.
Look at him now and his paws healed and healthy skin.
Tasha Lopez
Note from Elisa: This is another beautiful cat tale in the Reader’s Forum series. If you have a story you’d like to tell, please PM me on Facebook or email me at elisablacktaylor@gmail.com. Be sure to include 1-3 photos.
My friend had 6 cats. He adopted a 7th, who turned outto have ringworm. Everyone got it. Mike, who is handicapped, treated every single one of them, his house, himself, for weeks until it all cleared up. Stuff happens. Responsibilities are part of life and Life is not a joyride.
Thank you for adopting and caring for that sweetie!
I really hope that you find her a home soon. I live in England. And have a cat and two dogs. OR I WOULD Jump at the chance. It is like muder. That’s only my opinion. Please let me know. Por cat god bless her. I am a great animal lover. . Thanks. Mrs G Dore. Xxx
Thanks for commenting Geraldine.
“He had to be dipped in bleach water every other day for six weeks. ” – I thought the normal protocol is Lime Sulfur dips once a week until the culture is clear + 2-3 weeks after that. There is also miconazole bath for those who don’t like lime sulfur dips. In case of more than a couple of lesions, they also give oral anti-fungal medication.
This is the standard protocol in the US as outline on most vet sites with small variations.
My current two cats had ringworm when I adopted them as kittens. By the time the first lesions appeared – a week or so after I had adopted, the kittens have been all over my home and my bed. It was a miracle neither I nor my father, whom I took to live with me after my mother died, caught it. I had to take them to the vet for lime sulfur dips every week as I opted to pay for it rather than try doing it myself. This was a good decision as my kittens weren’t exactly cooperative. They didn’t try to scratch anybody, but were really good at wiggling out, even two vet techs couldn’t do it without calling the vet to help them. I also had to give them itraconazole first, then we switched to fluconazole as I couldn’t get sufficiently small amounts of itraconazole, all pharmacies refused to sell anything, but a human size bottle while the compounded itraconazole wasn’t effective. It took a while for it to clear, but it was probably because of the combination of stopping dips too early and the ineffectiveness of compounded itraconazole (it’s documented).
The worst thing was cleaning the environment… The instructions US vets give you could probably be summarized as: soak all of your home in bleach, change bedding and wash everything daily, vacuum daily. The vacuuming instruction is especially funny: every area of the carpet needs to be under suction for at least 10 minutes. Given that my second floor and the basement have carpeting, I’d probably have to spend the next year just vacuuming. Needless to say I didn’t follow the instruction to the letter, just did my best.
It seems you got off easy. Ringworm is a royal pain. I adopted kittens during my vacation to have time to spend with them, so I spent all of it cleaning morning to night, then reduced the frequency as I went to work. Spent $800 just on dry cleaning my clothes.
He looks to be in superb health. You are heroes. There is a reward for the dedication and commitment in bringing a cat to good health – a strong bond which carries through for the entire length of the relationship.