Cat moth – Contagion and treatment
If you’ve decided to have a cat as a pet, keep in mind that a little love and food isn’t enough to take care of it. Therefore, as responsible owners, we must, among other things, take responsibility for their health. For example, one of the most common skin diseases in cats is dermatophytosis or ringworm.
- When you suspect that your cat can have it.
- Do not think twice and go immediately to the veterinarian.
- To perform the appropriate tests as soon as possible.
- Since this skin disease caused by a fungus spreads very quickly through the body and is very contagious.
- Easily.
- Including people.
Continue reading this Animal Expert article in which you will find everything about ringworm in cats, its contagion and treatment. Discover also some tips and home remedies to help your faithful friend overcome this problem.
Ringworm or dermatophytosis is a fungal skin disease, a skin disease caused by a history. This health problem is highly contagious and contagious because it affects a lot of living things, including cats, dogs and humans, so when it is also transmitted to humans, it is a zoonotic and that is why we must emphasize even more importance. prevention and treatment if detected.
The fungus caused by this disease is Microsporum Canis, which affects the skin, hair and nails of the animals to which parasite, since it feeds on the keratin present in these parts of the body. When ringworm also affects our feline’s nails, it’s known as onychomycosis and we’ll know it’s acting on our cat if we see broken, brittle nails.
Since dermatophytes cannot live in swollen or hairy areas, we can observe that it falls on the areas of our cat’s body where the fungus lives. Hairless areas are one of the most characteristic symptoms of the disease.
Due to the great ease of contagion and reproduction of this disease, it is essential that if we detect it in one of our animals, let us start by treating it and isolating it from the rest of the animals that may be infected. For this reason, it is common to find cats with moths in places where many congregate, for example in animal shelters.
Ringworm will be more or less severe depending on the duration of the disease in the affected animal and also depending on the previous health of your cat. It is important to think that poor health promotes the appearance of opportunistic parasites and this is how fungi often develop.
As with any other disease, there are internal and external factors that promote it, that is, they help the disease spread to other animals and spread within the already infected body.
A domestic feline will be much more likely to get ringworm depending on your health and environment, for example, here are some factors that promote ringworm in cats:
Cats are the animals that have the easiest way to transmit ringworm and infect it. This disease, being fungal, uses fungal spores to spread in the environment and from one animal to another. Due to this type of fungal reproduction, cats that do not suffer from the disease can become infected very easily by interacting with another sick cat and when they come into contact with objects such as blankets, food, sand, toys, etc. an affected individual used, among other possibilities.
The environmental and health factors mentioned in the previous section are fundamental to the appearance of ringworm in cats and for its rapid spread in the body of the already infected cat. So, if we have a cat, we should try to make these factors that promote ringworm as normal as possible, but especially if our friend is already starting to show symptoms and thus prevent the situation from getting worse.
In the case of kittens, ringworm may appear, more normally, due to a poor diet that lowers its tusks in addition to bad or no deworming. On the contrary, in the case of adult cats, the presence of these fungi usually indicates something more serious than poor deworming or poor diet, because in these cats the most common causes of weakness of defenses are other diseases or health problems, whether a cold. Pneumonia. or a serious viral disease such as leukemia that greatly affects the feline immune system.
Symptoms begin to be visible 2 to 4 weeks after infection. Some of the most common symptoms in domestic cats with ringworm are:
É fundamental que o veterinário realize todos os exames necessários para se certificar que se trata de micose e sobretudo, para verificar que não existe uma doença de fundo que causou a micose. Estas doenças, como a leucemia felina e a imunodeficiência felina, costumam ser muito graves e enfraquecem o sistema imunológico do gato favorecendo o aparecimento de doenças e de parasitas secundários. Se quiser se informar sobre estas doenças, entre neste artigo sobre as doenças mais comuns nos gatos do Animal Expert e aprenda porque é fundamental o seguimento veterinário para o nosso companheiro felino.
Once the veterinarian has carried out tests such as crops, tricograms or used the Wood lamp, he will be able to confirm the presence of fungus of the ringworm, which will indicate the best treatment to offer to our cat. When the veterinarian decides on the proper treatment, he will take into account the age of our cat, other possible diseases and parasites, the state of his immune system and the risk of contagion to other animals, and from there he will indicate the most suitable. treatment for needs. Existing.
It should clean the affected areas with povidone iodine or a similar antiseptic, anti-infective and antifungal product, which is used to disinfect and cure our cat’s skin. After cleaning the area, the most common and main topical treatment, whether powdered, cream, ointment, emulsion or liquid, can be applied. There are oral treatments but they are much more aggressive and toxic to our feline’s body, so we always try to use topical treatments. However, if the moth persists for too long, you should opt for systemic treatment to completely eliminate the disease.
As this is a long treatment and you have to be very persistent, you have to have a lot of patience, but little by little you can see how your friend recovers until it is completely cured. It is essential that ringworm treatments are done exactly as your veterinarian tells you, as fungi need nothing to be able to spread quickly again.
Treatments should usually last between 1 and 3 months, but any treatment for ringworm should be done for 2 to 4 weeks, even if the cat appears to be cured, this is the only way to ensure treatment success. After this time, the veterinarian should repeat the tests to ensure that he has passed the disease.
Here are natural and homemade tips and remedies to complete veterinary treatment and allow your cat to more easily overcome ringworm:
Also read our article on home remedies for ringworm in dogs because you can apply the same treatments to your cat.
This article is for informational purposes only, in Animal Expert.com.br we cannot prescribe veterinary treatments or make any kind of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case of any type of condition or discomfort.
If you would like to read articles similar to, we recommend that you visit our Parasitic Diseases section.