# my new odd-eyed white kitten (pics) and ringworm



## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Here's the odd-eyed kitten (I'm pretty sure he is odd-eyed by now) soon to be adopted by us humans and Gatito, Chikis and Rulos. This has to be the last cat we adopt. 

The problem: Dad (Sun's brother) is infected with ringworm, as well as mom. Dad is under treatment, but mom is not since she's nursing (nor the kittens). Kittens will be 8 weeks on July 13th. Supposedly, I was bringing him home around that day.

But know I don't really know what to do. I'm very scared of bringing the little one home and infecting the whole household. Every time I go see the little ones at their (infected) house, I change all my clothes and wash them, take a shower and change in a different place before I go home to my cats. I hope that has been enough. 

What do you think...it is pretty obvious that little ones are infected too, even if they are not showing signs.

With one of his bros (front) who also has heterochromia











playing soccer 























































mom, dad and all of the kittens. Poor dad.


















hugs!


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## Fyreflie (Mar 5, 2011)

Our kitten had ringworm and we just only caught it when we were supposed to be bringing him home--he had to stay another four weeks until he'd been treated and none of the hairs were fluorescing anymore. I know it sucks, but I think the best option is to keep him where he is if you can! Either that, or, he gets a separate room when he gets home and he stays there until he's been treated, nobody touches him except maybe you for that entire time and then you vacuum/disinfect the entire room once his treatment is finished. Ringworm in humans can be a disaster for pregnant women, small children and someone who is immune compromised, plus you'd have to pay for treatment for everyone who was infected if it happened! Honestly if I didn't work with pregnant women all the time I wouldn't have minded but I don't have to pay when I go to the doctor, either--I don't know how that works in Chile!


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## Fyreflie (Mar 5, 2011)

PS he's freaking adorable!


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## its.alice (Jun 15, 2011)

Well you can take the kitten to the vets as soon as you get him and get some dewormer meds from the vet and give it to him. Then keep him in your bathroom just to prevent any spread while Sun still has worms.


BTW they are adorable!!!!


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Yeah...I have an extra empty room where I could keep the little one. Or wait another 4 weeks until dad (He's called "Papelito", he is the brother of Sun, my beloved cat that passed away 7 months ago...) gets better, but the owner is not treating mom or the kittens, mom because she's nursing, kittens because they are kittens, so it seems to me that the whole ringworm infection will never be over at that house (I think she -the owner- is making a mistake) because if dad gets better then he will re-infect from mom and kittens. Gosh so complicated...

So I guess one of the options is keeping the white little one in that separate room, avoiding contact as much as we can until he gets better? Because I don't think he will get better in his original home with dad, mom and 4 other kittens all of them infected. 

Unless I wait a lot more...2 months or 3 months until the owner treats them all.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Ringworm is highly contagious. If the kitten is infected, which is likely, he may shed ringworm fungus spores on every surface he touches, and those spores can survive for a year or longer in your household environment. Separating him in his own room won't protect your other cats or yourself from contracting ringworm. If the other cats enter his room at any time within the next year or longer, they can still become infected. Of course you can try to disinfect every square inch of the room and everything in it (good luck with that), but you still run an extremely high risk of infection of you, your other cats, and any other animals (human or otherwise) who enter your household.

Have you checked the kitten's hearing? A high proportion of blue-eyed white cats are deaf. Since your kitten appears to have only one blue eye, it's possible that he's deaf only in the ear on the same side as the blue eye.

You should discuss both of these issues at length with your vet before making any final decisions.

Laurie


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## Fyreflie (Mar 5, 2011)

She really should be treating all of them in the same space, and doing a lot of vacuuming and cleaning--my kitten was treated at 12 weeks of age but they would have done it earlier if needed. 

If you have a separation room that doesn't have any rug or anything that would be the best, easiest to clean those rooms with a bleach solution afterwards. Even though what laurie says is true about the amt of time it can live, I think a good cleaning should take care of the problem--our shelter here had a ringworm outbreak and they managed to successfully treat, quarantine and prevent re-infection of more than 20 animals, and those animals were in the same room! So it's definitely possible to prevent spread and contamination and clean properly as long as you're diligent! 

I really think that if the owner of the cats isn't treating the kittens, the possibility of recurring infections in the kittens and Mom is really high if you leave your little one there.....but it really depends on your comfort level. 

Worst case scenario would be all of your cats at home getting it too, and needing treatment--good idea to price out the cost of treating all of them if that happened, and deciding if you'd be able to afford it!


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Thank you all for your advice 

Well if anything happen to my cats, I would pay as much as it's needed to get them well. I can afford that. But money issues aside, I can't risk infecting them with that fungus, they are all healthy and two of them are just kittens (Chikis is 9 months old and Rulos is just 4). And long haired.

I'm taking the little one (I still have no name for him) to the vet as soon as I can book an appointment, hopefully before Friday, for a full check-up, including FIV and leukemia since my cats are all negative. And of course, ringworm tests and I'll discuss possible courses of action with the vet in case he is infected (most likely he is).

It seems to me the owner won't be treating the kittens before rehoming them (all of them have families waiting for them even before they were born), so it is either I treat him in an isolated place, or I can't adopt him. It is such a complicated situation.

I'll keep you posted, thanks so much for all your help!


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## Craigsnedeker (Jul 3, 2011)

Aw, they are so cute!


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

I am absolutely in love. <3 And jealous! I don't have any tiny baby pictures of Nito as I adopted him at 4 months. He is gonna be fabulous. I just know it!


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

Simone developed some ringworm spots at about 9 weeks old (brought him home at 8 weeks from the shelter), and my vet just gave me some pills for him to take. She told me that the ringworm is unsightly, but not all that serious. She sort of advised me against separating my cats/going on a huge house cleaning spree. The vet basically said that if my other cat gets it (Pumpkin) then she gets it; cleaning or separating the cats doesn't necessarily prevent the ringworm from spreading since you can't see the spores. Also, you won't know if a cat got ringworm or not until a week or two after exposure. Pumpkin did get a very small ringworm about 3 weeks later, but the pills cleared it up within 3 days. I never had a problem with them getting ringworm since then.


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## champagne1962 (May 21, 2011)

I ended up with a 4-5 week old kitten that had a severe case of ringworm. She lost all hair on her head, belly and several spots on her body. She was kept separate from my 2 adult cats and was treated twice a day with cream and once a week she had a betadine/iodine bath. She ended up with a skin infection on her belly from scratching so also had an antibiotic. She is now perfect, all hair has grown back and is now playing with the other cats. She was so happy to be able to leave her room. We washed her bedding every day and vacuumed her room every day. we would change our clothes when we left the room and had a separate place for them. I also had sanitizer dispensers put up in the room and wash room ( I work in a hospital so was able to get them for free). She was too young for any pills. However, the 3 adults still contracted ringworm even with all our precautions but no other cat did. We used the Lotrimin and was gone within 2 weeks. All is OK now.


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Thank you for sharing! I've read all of your comments.

I KNOW RACH isn't he adorable? Oh my I can't wait to see him again!

I have an appointment with the vet this Friday, and I'll see how it goes. Anyway, I believe the best option is taking that kitten out of his house as soon as possible, otherwise he will never get better. I'm preparing the room, sanitizer dispensers are a great idea, I'm just trying to figure it out how to do it with clothing (there will be a lot of walks naked around my apartment with so many clothes changing hahaha, I'll keep the curtains closed all this time!).

Any other ideas are welcomed. I know that the best thing to do is not to bring an infected kitten to my house, but on the other hand I AM adopting this kitten, and I don't think he'll ever get better in that house. I am still pretty scared about my other cats getting infected. I will wait for the doctor's opinion and decide what to do from there. 

Hugs!!


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## champagne1962 (May 21, 2011)

Yup, there were a few naked moments through the hallway. LOLOLOL


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

> http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i325/Lenkolas/endofjunecats096.jpg


<3 this. SO excited for you!


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## amuck10 (Jan 13, 2004)

Aww he is super cute (so is thw whole litter)  good luck, ringworm is really not so bad but it is highly contagious (i think i was the only employee at the animal shelter i worked at who had not had it themselves at least once) but it is easily treatable. I, personally, would keep the new kitten in a separate room that was tiled and void of most furniture myself. keep in mind very few cleaners are effective against ringworm (pretty much in needs to contain no less than 10% bleach) and you have to get ever hair, every spot etc to be sure, but even if you others do catch it, itraconazole is highly effective. and he doesn't have ringworm yet, he has just been exposed to it. oh and there is a ringworm vaccine, though not wildly used as if doesn't actually prevent anything, it just helps the cats body develop an immunity to it, so symptoms do not occur when exposed. 

Anyway good luck and i am sure whatever you do will be what is best.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

First of all: ringworm is a fungus, not a worm! It's athlete's foot on other parts of the body.

I volunteer at the cat sanctuary, there's over 600 cats, it's bound that some have ringworm. I got ringworm after I was scratched by a leukemia cat; two lesions developed on different locations on my body within two weeks. As soon as I realised I had it I began washing my hands several times a day, I washed my clothes every day, applied an OTC cream (Canesten) and never touched the spots except when I was applying the cream, it took a month but it went away. In this household there's two cats (one sleeps on my bed), three other people and two dogs (always in my face), as well as everyone I visit outside of this home and their animals. No one else got it. Now sure, it could come back, but I've read this is far more likely if you have a compromised immune system. I believe the reason I got mine was because I was scratched, it developed at the site of the scratch - when you have a wound it can get in and start easier.

Anyway, instead of spending a ton at the vet to determine if it's ringworm (if you see patchy skin, etc.), 10 dollar cream from the drug store works the same way as whatever pricey stuff the vet may give you, and forgoes expensive testing to see if it's in fact ringworm. If you think it's ringworm just apply the cream, it's not going to hurt the kitten if you're wrong.

If you get the kitten, keep it separate for two or three weeks to make sure it doesn't develop ringworm. Although, some cats can be carriers of ringworm, they don't present any outward signs.

Here's something I just grabbed online to share:

Ringworm fungus does not penetrate normal skin. The fungus spores are passed into a scratch or scrape on the same or different animal. The usual source is a carrier pet that shows no signs of the disease. Not all pets in a household that are exposed to ringworm develop the disease. Some pets never become infected while others do become infected but develop no overt signs of the disease. Some of these animals go on to become silent carriers that spread the disease to others. Another common method of transmission is contaminated grooming supplies and electric hair clippers. Almost all dogs and cats that become infected with ringworm eventually cure themselves even if left untreated. Some cases, however, are persistent and do need medical treatment.


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## Nessibean (Mar 31, 2011)

First of all those are ADORABLE kittens! It might just be a silly rumor but I have heard that white kittens with different colored eyes are prone to deafness. Any sign of that? 

Anyways ringworm isn't usually serious. I brought home a kitten who was covered with it and he gave it to the entire family (humans and cats alike) but so long as everyone has normal immune systems it will just be a nuisance. Wash your hands.. etc.. Also look into colloidal silver as a preventative measure as well as a cure for your kitties. It is a powerful antifungal safe for humans and cats and is available in most vitamin shops.


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Thank you so much to all of you for your posts. This forum is amazing, y’all. 

swimkris, your Pumpkin is awesome, as well as Simone! 

Rach, Magneto is gorgeous…oh wait, I think we have discussed this before… :crazy:catsm

Champagne, LOL! I’m not really looking forward to the naked moments, it’s winter here and we have some very cold mornings…but little one deserves the sacrifice!  

Thanks Amuck, I’m gonna ask the vet about that vaccine. And those itraconazole pills sound wonderful, I will ask the vet about that too. 

Thank you Carmel for the clarification! I’m sure people confuse ringworm with a worm because of the name you have for it in English. In Spanish we call it “tiña” or just dermatofitosis, so I’ve always known it is not a worm. // Thanks so much for your advice. I’ll see what happens at the vet on Friday, she is kind of exaggerated (actually she advised not to have 4 cats since “studies have demonstrated that a maximum of three cats were blah blah blah”… Maybe she is right, but I’m adopting this kitten anyway). So my guess is that she will recommend not to bring the kitten home. 

Thank you Nessi, I’ll research that colloidal silver you mention. About deafness, I ran some tests (hahaha, silly me, clapping and acting like a clown running tests with five kittens) but honestly I have no idea. One of his brothers, who also has heterochromia (odd eyed) acts a little bit strange. His blue eye is a deep tone of blue, pretty amazing. Maybe he is actually deaf, but the fact he (the brother) was not responding to me does not necessarily mean he’s deaf…

Hugs! Day is coming!!! :mrgreen: My three cats have no idea...



_Chikis: Oh my... a new little brother...I'll have to take care of another one of these...
Rulos: yaaay curtain-strings-play-play-play-fun-fun...!_


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

About deafness: white cats (pure white, no other color present even a few hairs of a different color makes the difference) and blue eyed cats are often deaf, it's genetic. A cat with two eyes may be deaf on the side of their blue eye, and sometimes both, I think. Basically, try dropping something REALLY loud. If they don't respond, thir ears don't even twitch, then they're deaf.

My aunt once owned a blue eyed white cat, shed had it for a week or two an didn't even know it was deaf! My dad walked in ad immeiatly could tell it wasn't responding properly, he dropped a large piece of plywood while the cat wasnt paying attention and the cat didn't respond... Stone deaf. He liked to ride on the vacuum... But he hated men and was very nasty if approached from behind.


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Carmel said:


> About deafness: white cats (pure white, no other color present even a few hairs of a different color makes the difference) and blue eyed cats are often deaf, it's genetic.


He has some black hairs on his head. All of the three white brothers do. Actually we call them "uno", "dos" and "tres" because one of them has one tiny spot of white hair, the other has two spots, and the other one has three.... my kitten is three.

So I guess they are not deaf?


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Proof of the black hairs (spots): Birth day, May 13th

I cropped the first one to reduce the grose factor.



















:love2 (brings tears to my eyes to remember that day)


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

I'm back from the vet. Little one behaved just great. He was a little scared since this was the first time he was separated from his brothers and sister. Luckily, mom also went to the vet with her owner, so he was not alone in the cage.

So...little one is very healthy, but the vet Dr. Lina strongly suggested to run some tests first, before bringing him home. Since dad is cured from ringworm, and mom presents no signs, then she said there's a possibility little one is not infected at all, which would be great. They took hair samples. We'll get the results in one more week  so I'll have to wait. That's sad, but it's ok. I can wait one more week.

Some pics taken today (not really good ones, they never stay still). They have gotten so big! They will be 8 weeks old on July 13th. 



With brother and sister, brother is called "coraje" (courage) and he is also odd-eyed. Torti sister has no name yet.



















My little one alone. He's so cute...he is not really comfortable around me yet. One of his white brothers ("dos", with two green eyes), on the other hand, bit my hands and my shoes and played with my zipper. If I could I would adopt them all...





























At the vet in my arms :love2, listening to what the doctor had to say. _Oh my they are talking about me?_









So....one more week! :crying


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

OMG *dies* I love him so much! :-D He's so cute!


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## neko13_3 (Jul 4, 2011)

First off, he's adorable. Gosh, I love kittens.

Second, ringworm is really pretty much a non-issue. Annoying, yes, itchy, yeah. Generally not a big deal though, unless they scratch the area a lot and it gets infected (which I've never heard of happening in the circles I run in). I had a kitten with it on the tip of his tail, another with it on her ear. The two never interacted. The boy was in a closet with his mom and bro, and the girl had general run of the house. None of my other cats ever got it, including the boy's brother and mother, and the girls littermates. I put Tinactin on the spots and it cleared up pretty quickly. No people caught it either. 

About a year or two later, my little sister got a ringworm spot on her face by her nose. Same treatment. The school nurse simply sent her home with a note saying 'we think your kid has ringworm'. No 'please stay home until this clears' or anything. She got it at school we're sure, none of my cats have had it since those two (and they were both adopted out, they were foster kittens), or had it before then. Not sure how they got it.


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## def kitty (Mar 1, 2011)

Lenkolas said:


> So....one more week! :crying


Aww what an adorable kitten! But please, for his sake, make it longer than a week - please read this article, it was an eye opener for me

FBRL: Resources: How young is too young?


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

He looks more than old enough to be ready to go home, in my opinion. A number of weeks is not so much important as a healthy weight, and being weaned and tolerant of solid food.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

RachandNito said:


> He looks more than old enough to be ready to go home, in my opinion. A number of weeks is not so much important as a healthy weight, and being weaned and tolerant of solid food.


That may be true, physically speaking, but early weaning (weaning before the age of 8-12 weeks) can have serious lifelong effects on the feline's social development and behavior. Those first 2-3 mos of life are when many of the critical social and behavioral lessons are taught by the mother and littermates. Kittens who are deprived of that period of socialization and learning sometimes develop into overly aloof or overly dependent individuals, sometimes with problematic behaviors toward other animals and/or humans. That's not to say that all early weaned kittens will have social and/or behavioral problems as adults, but there's no reason to tip the scales in that direction unnecessarily.

Laurie


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Thanks for your advice everybody 

Mom is refusing to nurse kittens anymore. She is showing signs of exhaustion and she is losing weigh (she is very thin already). The owner went to the vet with me so she (the vet) could diagnose her too. The vet said 5 kittens for such a small mom cat (she is just 11 months old) was too much for her. Her nipples were all bitten. There is a possibility she has ringworm too, even tho she shows no signs. She has had diarrhea for 2 weeks now. Also, the vet said a second FIV test is advisable, even if she got negative results 5 months ago (she said false negatives were a possibility). And to make things worse, she has to be fixed as soon as possible!

Anyways the vet said weaning is the mother cat's responsibility, and it was clear that mom is refusing to nurse the kittens because she just can't do it anymore; she's exhausted. Kittens are all around 1 and 1.2 kilos (pounds=2.2 and 2.6? am I right?) and eating solid food since they were 5 weeks. Also, the owner is keeping 2 kittens, maybe 3 (that's what she said), so mom will still have to take care of two of her offspring who will resist weaning even until they are 5 or 6 months old.

In addition, there's the ringworm problem. Dad it is still under treatment just in case. If it happens that little one is not infected, I'm taking him home right away next Friday.

I am aware of all the mistakes the owner did. Poor mom, she's just a kitten. But it is what it is. I agree that the longer you can keep a baby with his mom cat the better, but circumstances are special here.

Hugs everybody! Thank you Rach! I'm having a hard time fighting the word Magneto when I see my little one hahahaha.... (Lenka sees little one = Magneto comes to her mind = X-Men song in the background)

:smiles


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

Lenkolas said:


> Kittens are all around 1 and 1.2 kilos (pounds=2.2 and 2.6? am I right?)


1 kg=2.21 lbs
1.2 kg=2.65 lbs

I have a calculator function on my cell phone that also has a metric converter function. I just plugged in your numbers and selected kilograms to pounds and selected calculate.


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

When I look at my Magneto, I can't think of him being named anything else. I would have never thought Magneto was a cat name before him


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## KittieLover (May 2, 2011)

Awww, what darlings! I'm not sure if Catty and Kitty have worms; will find out when they have their check-up in August.


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Thank you Kittie! 

Ringworm is not a worm, it's a skin condition caused by fungi. The name can be deceiving...

Still waiting for the results. I'll go visit my baby tomorrow. Can't wait!:love2

Hugs!


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