kitten with ringworm- help!

[Mojo0216]

I adopted a kitten a week ago, and when I took him to the vet, the vet told me that the kitten has ringworm in its early stages. He only has a few lesions, and I've been dousing them in miconosol twice a day, plus giving kitten a bath once a week in anti-fungal shampoo. I cleaned the entire apartment with bleach, and am keeping my little guy isolated in the bathroom. I clean the surfaces in the bathroom every day with a mild ammonia solution and lysol. My question is: how long until I can safely (for me- I don't want to get the worm!) let kitten run around again? I've heard so many different answers this question. Some say 48 hours, some say a week. The longest I've heard is 2 months, but I don't think I can in good conscience keep him locked up that long! Common sense tells me that I should keep him locked up in his own room until the lesions heal up. Is this right? Can anyone offer some advice on how I can protect my kitten from re-infecting himself and protect myself from infection?

[fanachan]

You are doing all the right things, however, there is also an oral antifungal medication which can be used. It really isn't the end or the world, so take heart. Some cases can be difficult to eradicate. Try to make sure he is eating a good healthy diet, as my experience has shown, in some cases, a poor diet will lower resistance to disease.

Good luck!

[nancyjac]

The good news is that ringworm is not serious and rarely leads to other complications.  The bad news is that it is a persistant fungus and can survive in the environment for months.  

Ringworm is not a worm, it is a fungal infection.  It can be contagious but it is not what I would consider to be highly contagious.  I would release the kitten from bathroom quarantine for a couple of reasons.  One is that the daily cleaning with ammonia is going to create problems for him if confined to that space.  Cat has much more sensitive respiratory systems than we do and inhaling the ammonia fumes is worse than having ringworm.  Secondly, if that bathroom is used for showering or other purposes that produce heat and moisture, that will provide ideal conditions for the fungus to continue to grow.

Ringworm is active when there are live spores which look like teeny tiny white balls.  The lesions themselves are not contagious but rather just dried and dead skin cells.  There may also be temporary hair loss in the area.  If there are no spores, I think it will be fine to turn him loose even though it may be still be some time before the lesions are completely healed and the hair has completely grown back.

[opus88]

hi and welcome, sorry I'm not able to answer from my own experience so I will send you a link that may help answer some of your questions and perhaps others on this site can give more help too.
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/ringworm.html

good luck to you and kitty, I really doubt you would need to isolate him any longer since he is undertreatment.
but maybe others will say different?...:-)