The saga continues:
In this chapter the story gets a little more convoluted. In order to maintain some clarity I think it best to start with an introduction of the key players. We have 3 cats.
Ruby is the cat that this thread is all about. She is the stray that I found when I went "fishing."
Ozzy is a purebred Korat. This breed is from Thailand. Korat's are a small breed, but he is very muscular and stout, he is truly a hard body. He has a short silvery gray coat like a Russian Blue. Shedding is minimal so if your allergic this is said to be a good choice. He sometimes yowls and "talks" like a Siamese. They are considered to be "good luck" cats in their native country. This is the second Korat we have had, and we have had good luck ever since getting the first one. So who am I to disagree? He was a Breeder rescue.
Then there is Cooter. We really liked the name Cooter when we named him until we found out it was slang for something else. (If you don't know, and really want to, google it.) So it has been modified to Cootie. Cootie is a big gray and black striped tabby. He was acquired from the county animal control.
Back on story.
So Ruby is feeling better these days, but she still has scaly skin and a poor coat. Her hair is slow to grow back and is coming in "patchy".
A few weeks back I was reading on another web site about a guy who had to bathe his cat as it had ringworm. This got me to thinking maybe Ruby does too. But I tell myself to quit being paranoid.
Then a few days later one of our other cats, Ozzy developed a scab on it's nose. It was just there all of a sudden. So off to the vet he goes. The vet walks in, picks the scab and cleans the wound. At this point Candy asked him if it was possibly ringworm. He grabbed his UV light and checked the now disinfected wound to see if it would fluoresce green. It didn't. He gave the wound a topical liquid to treat ringworm anyway, and gave us some to take home.
This is when my wife bought a flashlight! Well kind of, anyway. She bought the "Stink Free, Stink Finder" light at Petsmart. I think it was under twenty bucks. It features a 5-inch florescent tube black light on the side and an incandescent lamp on the end. The switch allows you to select the tube or the lamp. It runs on 4 AA batteries.
The output from the florescent tube is weak. It will fluoresce normally invisible spots on our carpet, toilet, and etc. from a maximum distance of about 18 inches or so. The incandescent light is actually pretty bright. It easily lights up a room, but the beam is really ugly.
We checked out all the critters and thankfully, no one was fluorescing.
Fast-forward a week. Ozzy's nose now looks fine. But now the other cat, Cootie has a suddenly appearing scab on his ear. We checked it with the "Stink Finder." Uh-oh, it fluoresces bright green. We treat it with stuff the Doctor gave us.
So now we are freaked out about ringworm. Research on the web tells us that it isn't actually a worm, but a fungus similar to Athlete's Foot. OK, that's a lot less gross. It apparently can be difficult to get rid of. Dip's and internal medicines are available, though they list some pretty bad side effects. Humans can contract it, though not that easily with proper hygiene. I now shower like I'm going on a first date.
This all started shortly after we brought Ruby in. Though she doesn't fluoresce under the stink light, with her skin and coat problems we are sure she is the carrier and at the root of this ringworm problem. So off to the vet she goes.
After examining her, doctor says that she does not have ringworm, that the other cats may have it, but they didn't get it from her. He thinks the timing is just a coincidence. He feels her skin and coat problems are due to her prior lack of nutrition. He said that ringworm usually shows up on the ear and nose as it did on the others and generally not all over the entire body.
So I apologized to Ruby for calling her "Ringworm Ruby". She took it well.
Fishing license, fuel, and vet bills well over $500.00.
New friend…Priceless.
I have to go check my head in the mirror now.
