DSM Paintball

Ringworm is quite common in cats, especially those that are not groomed or looked after well enough. However, even the most cared-for cats can get ringworm because it is so infectious.

However, ringworm is not caused by a worm. Sorry, for telling you how to suck eggs, if you already knew that, but a lot of owners do not.

Ringworm is really a fungus known as dermatophytosis and is highly infectious for most animals including humans. Cats frequently pass it on to each other while rubbing and pass it onto humans during grooming or stroking.

Not just that, but when you have the infection on your hands, you may develop ringworm on your body wherever you touch yourself or you might pass it onto someone else, another cat or your dog.

If you notice the tell-tale catherine-wheel shaped mark on your cat, you should take it to the vet instantly for treatment.

Likewise, if you or your kids pick up the fungus, you should see a physician or dermatologist. You ought to see an improvement in a couple days and complete recovery within a week or so, although treatment may continue for a fortnight to ensure complete recovery.

Occasionally, you may not see the ring-like mark, but if your cat or child is itching or scratching in one spot and there are no fleas, assume ringworm. Being a fungus, spores will drop off the host all over the house and might even get blown around in the aircon system. This could easily infect each living thing in the house, so it is horrible.

Therefore, if you think that something is wrong, but you cannot explain it, suspect ringworm, be on the look out for the signs and see to it as soon as it reveals itself.

Whilst you have your cat on your lap, inspect it for signs of ringworm. These are very often on the head, where it has nuzzled another cat.

Look around the eyes, the ears and on the paws for balding spots, the ring mark or merely red, flakey dry skin. The cat might lick it or scratch the spot often and there might be dandruff.

The first thing to do is don gloves and inspect the cat for fleas. If you do not see a heavy infestation of fleas, your cat almost certainly has ringworm so get it to the vet as soon as possible.

In the meanwhile, isolate it from your children and do not touch the patch, although it might already be too late.

The treatment for ringworm in cats is fairly simple. It normally involves bathing your cat every other day and applying anti-fungal cream once or two times a day to the infected patches wearing rubber gloves.

Applying the cream is not difficult, but a large number of cats actually hate being bathed, so this could be a problem. If your cat hates water, put it in a pillow case and fasten it at its throat with an old flea collar. This ought to prevent the cat from clawing you and running away.

A comparable treatment must be undergone by each member of the family, but you will just exchange your regular soap and shampoo for an anti-fungal one for a fortnight.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several topics, but is now involved with feline distemper vaccination. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Distemper Vaccines

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with feline distemper vaccination. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Distemper Vaccines

Cats do not generally need bathing because their mothers teach them how to clean themselves when they are kittens. Furthermore, cats have a valid reputation for not being fond of water too much. However, there might be occasions when you feel the need for bathing your cat.

For instance, your cat might be old or sick, have been in a bad scrap or get infested with fleas. If these times crop up, you will be glad of some tips for bathing your cat, because they can become fairly nasty about it, inflicting deep scratches that could become infected.

This first thing to do is get everything you need in advance, because you will almost certainly have to hold your cat down. So, you will want the shampoo, a cloth and a towel close by.

If you know that your cat is going to become a problem, bathe it in a bowl either in the garden shed or in the bathroom, where flying water will not cause much of a problem.

Otherwise, you could wash your cat in a bowl on the lawn, but an enclosed space might help your cat feel less threatened and it will be easier to capture it in an confined space if it escapes your grasp.

If your cat really, really detests bathing and you have trouble holding it, place it in a pillow case with only its head sticking out. You can use a cat collar to keep the pillow case in place.

If you use a pillow case, wash your cat through the pillow case as you would a delicate, costly woollen sweater. Use an old collar, because otherwise you may wash out the insecticide that is impregnated in it.

If your cat’s fur is matted or clotted with blood, you had better remove the clots and cut away the hair with the cat on your lap before you begin bathing it.

Whilst preparing the bowl, put a non-slip mat or towel in the bottom and merely half fill it with luke warm water. The shampoo ought to be mild. In fact, you ought to bathe your cat as you would a child who does not like getting soap in its eyes.

Lower your cat gently but fairly quickly into the water and talk to it reassuringly all the time. It will probably hate what you are doing to it, although some breeds are fairly happy to be in water. Yours probably will hot be though and it will become more than a little frightened, so carry on talking to it.

Work quickly and do what you can. It is better to get most of the bathing done the first time round and have to come for another go later than to actually stress your cat out with a long session and who knows, it may become used to it after repeated sessions, if they do not last too long.

When you are finished, wrap the cat in a towel and be nice to it. If it is in a pillow case, wrap the towel about the pillow case and take it off under the towel. When your cat is pretty dry, you can let it go if it wants, because it will dry itself off anyway.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with feline distemper vaccination. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Distemper Vaccines