How is Ringworm Diagnosed?
How can you tell if your pet has ringworm?
Sherry
Montgomery, AL
Ringworm is an extremely frustrating syndrome.
Ringworm is not a worm. It is a fungus. The fungus is ubiquitous. It can spread from pets to people, and vice-versa. It also can be contracted from the environment. It is almost impossible to eliminate ringworm from a contaminated area.
The fungi that cause ringworm often cause a red, circular rash on the skin of infected humans. The rash looks like a worm under the skin. This is the origin of the name. In animals, ringworm may cause hair loss, scabbing, red skin, or itching.
A black light can be used to diagnose some forms of ringworm. Microscopic evaluation of specially prepared hairs is used in other cases. The most reliable method of diagnosis involves plucking several hairs from a suspected lesion and using a special culture plate to isolate the fungus. This process can take up to ten days to yield a diagnosis.
It is not possible to diagnose ringworm through visual evaluation of a suspected lesion.
In my experience, ringworm is overdiagnosed in pets. Children often catch the disease at school (or in the garden), and pets often are wrongly held to blame. In my experience, pets are as likely to contract ringworm from people as the other way around.
That said, it is possible for pets to spread ringworm to humans. Any pet with a suspicious skin lesion should go to the vet for a ringworm culture.
Go to my web site for more information on ringworm:
Photo: Caroldermoid. [Note: I am not convinced the cat in the photo has ringworm. Allergies are more likely.]
You have questions. 
I think it’s interesting that in the article there is mention of cleaning and disinfecting the areas, and also mentions of topical and oral medications, but not a mention of the sulfur lime dip. When I adopted some cats from a rescue organization, they had ringwom. I had it diagnosed by a vet. He said the oral medications could have some side effect, but the sulfur lime dip was 100% effective. And you know what. It worked like a charm. (Was it fun to bathe my cats every week? No, but it worked.)
It’s interesting that the vet mentions that “No single treatment is accepted as the best one, and none is perfectly effective.” Maybe not, but the one method that worked perfectly for me, was not one that was mentioned at all.
Just some thoughts. Obviously I’m not a veterinarian, but just think that perhaps the article could be expanded just a little bit to also include this safe and effective method. My two cents. Thanks!
I had a young pit/boxer mix come to stay with me that had been diagnosed with ringworm. her meds were $175. i was looking for a holistic approach (and cheaper of course) to treat her. i read that fresh crushed garlic made into a paste would work. i applied it two times day (and more when i was home on weekends) and it did take away the fungus within a two week period. she had one lesion on her lip which did resemble a worm about the size of a nickel. there was a noticeable difference within the first two days. she of course wasn’t pleased because she licked (in the beginning) but soon found out how bitter it tasted. If there are only a couple of lesions, i would recommend trying this, but i am not a vet and have no formal training. i only offer this from my experience with a rescue dog.
I adopted a cat 1 year ago, and after a few days we found a little bald spot by the ears, taking him to the vet, we discovered it was ringworm. After taking him home and bathing Buzz and the dog, we discovered that we had it too. That month was a NIGHTMARE! Now its over, and we all know what it looks like, and what works best.
Six weeks ago, I rescued a starving kitten (2=3 months old) she was skin and bones, and ate ravenously, Three bowls dry food, and eight large cans wet food daily, and was still hungery…after threeweeks she was still skin and bones, but thought she just might be pregnant, she gave birth to four sweet beautiful kittens, even though she was a kitten herself. She did fine during birthing process, and is a good mother..however her behavior regauding food, is aweful, she will jump up on the table a drag food from the plates, when I prepare food, she jumps up on counter to grab some, any food anywhere she goes beserk, I was baking fish in oven, open oven to see how its coming, she jumped on counter, stuck head in oven, and I didn’t see her, and her head alsmost got smushed, cooking in pans and boilers on stove, she jumps up on counter and onto stove top to try to get the food heat doesn/t deter her, am afraid she will get her paws burned, She has been closed in the fridge more than once, on a hunt, but its hard to get a round in the fridge with door closed, I had chicken thawing in sink today, she jumps into sink grabs the bag, jumps out of sink with bag of frozen chicken in her month, I have tried using a spray bottleof water, and rolled up piece of newspaper,doesn’t work, when she is going after food, nothing else exist. And garbage…..she is worse than the neighbor hood dogs and racoons…she is a never ending eating machine. No one can eat dinner in peace, one moment of inattention from any of us, and she snatches the food of the plate and will keep trying untill we have emptied our plates, or she does. I thought it might be tape worm, and I have checked the feces regularly, because they can be seen if you know what you are looking for, no evidence of tape worms, she is still skin and bones no weight gain even with all she is eating, and her stomach is not bloated, I can’t afford aa vet, cause soon I will have five kiits that will need spayed, and rabies, don’t know how I can pay for this even….as I am living on Social Security . I need light shed on this delimina. She must have starved for a long long time.Thanking you in advance for your response,
i heard spraying Apple Cider Vinegar on the dog daily helps. is this true?
I have 3 small dogs. One of them was diagnosed with “probably” ringworm. Her vet explained to me that it takes a very long time to get results from a culture. He used a blacklight to view the affected area and was almost positive that she had ringworm based on his experience. He gave me options: 1. wait for the culture results and then treat her accordingly or 2. begin ringworm treatment immediately. I chose option 2. This was particularly worrisome for me because I didn’t want my other dogs to get infected. After about 2 weeks of treatment (medication, special shampoo), her condition began to clear up. It’s important to know that it is imperative to keep the environment CLEAN! For me, this included constant cleaning and bathing of all three dogs. I kept all of the dogs in t-shirts to reduce the amount of exposed skin. I did laundry (w/bleach) almost daily, and shampooed my carpet several times. Fortunately my dog recovered and the other two dogs nor myself ever got infected. It was an exhausting couple of weeks, but everyone is healthy and ringworm-free.
I rescued a kitten who, unbeknowst to me at the time, had ringworm and passed it along to my 2 other cats, as well as myself. Trying to stop it before my dog got it too, I took him to the vet and after spending over $200 on 2 visits and some medicine that my older cat threw up, I decided to look for a homeopathic remedy and discovered the wonders of GoldenSeal. It worked like a charm on all of us with no nasty side effects. I bought a bottle of liquid Goldenseal and would put a few drops on a Qtip and then dab the Qtip on the various spots where the ringworm was. After a couple of weeks, I took my older cat to the vet and he asked me what happened to the ringworm so I told him what I did. He was very impressed and more important, we were all cured and it, thankfully, never spread to my dog. I hope it helps someone else out.
Good article!
Fran,
Try the APA in your area, they should be able to help you get everyone fixed quite reasonably.
i too had a hellish experience with ringworm. i rescued a kitten who had no visible symptoms but passed it on to our entire household (3 dogs, 1 cat, 4 people) within days of her arrival. the vet used a blacklight and cultures to diagnose. to the best of my recollection, we did not have to wait 10 days for the culture results.
for the animals, we used a combo of oral medications and the sulfur dip mentioned by another reader. it takes a full 6 weeks to kill the fungus entirely. it is a nightmare of continually washing, santizing, treating, and separating every single thing in your environment.
what is not mentioned in this article is this simple fact: ringworm is the same fungus that causes athlete’s foot and jock itch. it is called ringworm when it appears on other parts of the body due to the shape of the lesions. over-the-counter athlete’s food remedies, tea tree oil, and, surprisingly, patchouli essential oil (NOT perfume oil!)will all kill the fungus on humans, but i wouldn’t put any of these on my animals.
I have 3 Flame point himalayan and i persian, They are loaded with these fleas that I have never seen before..I have never seen FLEAS so big. I had to put them in this iold travel trailer that was nasty . they werent allowed in the house I was staying at. Now I am in trouble they are so infested there fur is a black color from the flea dirt and there has to be hundreds of fleas on them I have bathed them and pick and comb them daily. They are so weak from loss of blood. PLEASE any help u can give me would be grateful. One is so weak he cant even eat. I don’t have the money for a vet for I lost my home and am out on workers comp. waiting for my checks. I am desperate to try anything.PLEASE HELP
We got our pup since he was 4 months old from a rescue and his parents apparently had ringworm that had been untreated. The parents had the litter of pups one which was ours. When we got him he was ok but no more than 2months after, he had ringworm. They prescribed Itraconizol and I used Malaseb shampoo 3 times a week (leave in coat for 10 minutes then rinse—do not get shampoo anywhere near eyes). After 2 months it was cleared however, four months later it appeared again. Same process. Humans in the house have not gotten the ringworm and my other pup has not gotten the ringworm either….both times. Is my little guy doomed with having to deal with ringworm off and on during his life because of his infected parents? It’s just annoying because I can’t take him outdoors to doggy parks etc because its something yo definately DO NOT want to give to someone else’s dog. Even now when hes been ok and stable, I just dont feel comfortable him being around other doggies because I feel his immune system might not be as strong and ge can probably get it again or if its still lingering in his system in a “dormant” state. Lysol is one of our best friend……on their pillows, our bed, furniture……btw, he will be 1 yr old in October.