What will kill ringworm on surfaces

September 19, Get A Quote. Want to read Figo blog articles curated specifically for you and your pet? Should Dogs Eat Thanksgiving Leftovers? Q: Hi Dr. Can we treat our Many people understand how human health Do you live in an area where you're More From Figo Blog. Go fetch! Teaching your retriever to retrieve. One of the best things about owning a dog is Do Cats and Dogs Hear Music? How do I transition my foster cat into a forever pet? The surface should remain wet for at least 10 minutes to allow for the appropriate amount of contact time.

A fungal culture of the environment can be done by your veterinarian after cleaning and disinfection to ensure the areas have been successfully decontaminated from fungal spores. You should also avoid using these chemicals if you have no way to safely contain the cats in a different area during cleaning; I would suggest putting them in carriers outdoors while you are cleaning to avoid contaminating any other areas in your home.

All soft items blankets, towels, clothing, etc. Use the longest wash cycle available on your machine and do not overload the washer. Do not wash with other items that have not been exposed to the infected cats in the same load. Bleach can be used in addition to detergent but is not strictly required. For carpeted areas, thorough vacuuming followed by two cycles of carpet shampooing has been shown to be effective.

Steam cleaning is also recommended as an alternative. For the cat trees, if the kittens or lesional cats had access to them, I would suggest throwing them away as complete decontamination will be difficult. There is limited evidence that some dermatophytes are inhibited by UV light, though this has not been demonstrated to be effective for sterilizing surfaces, and I would not expect it to have any meaningful effect on a carpeted or fabric covered surface.

Your veterinarian could do fungal cultures from the cat trees to see if there are fungal spores present but the high risk makes it preferable to discard them. The other important piece of this is to reduce contamination from the cats themselves. The most effective way to do this is to apply lime sulfur dip at 8 oz.

We do recommend systemic treatment in conjunction with the topical lime sulfur but the topical treatment is the most important component of successful treatment. You should also discuss additional forms of treatment with your veterinarian.

Your veterinarian may already be doing this, but since it was not mentioned, I wanted to add that we recommend routinely performing fungal cultures on cats during the course of treatment. This helps to determine if they are responding to treatment or if a change in treatment plan is indicated. It is important to demonstrate that the cats are culture negative before determining that they are cured, as some cats will regrow their hair but remain culture positive due to small areas of persistent infection.

In such cases, this may create a false sense of security and lead to contamination of their future homes and exposure of other cats. We recommend culturing cats weekly while on treatment and two negative cultures are needed before declaring an animal is cured.

These strategies can help you avoid those telltale red rings or prevent them from spreading from one part of your body to another :. Learn how to treat and prevent this common fungal infection.

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