I understand ringworm can be extremely frustrating in its persistence and reemergence. Wick’s first ringworm episode came in November 2017, and shortly after came a spree of reoccurring episodes. Notably, it became what I later discovered to be atypical syphilis (crusting and fur loss only around the mouth). I don’t know where the ringworm centers on your rabbit, but if that description matches, take a look online for atypical syphilis and see if it matches what you’ve been experiencing.

Wick had itraconazole for his oral antifungal, which sounds like itrafungal, so I wonder if they’re synonymous? From my experience, I found the topical treatments more effective than the oral, which didn’t seem to do much. We did all at once, so I can’t really separate what did what, but I always noticed a difference if I skipped topical or did a bad job.

Have you done topical treatments, or simply oral? For topical, we did a quick nolvasan scrub (to clean the area), then silver sulfadiazine to moisturize and protect the skin.

Can you give details on how the ringworm maneuvers and where? Dampness doesn’t help, so if there are ways to lessen both irritation and dampness in the area/s, that may be helpful.

In terms of recontamination, don’t feel guilty or get too strained — the bacteria can live on practically any surface for a long time. Even in humans, it’s notoriously difficult to get rid of. This may be my explanation of it and may not be scientifically sound, but I think the goal is to, through medication, weaken the ringworm on your rabbit to a point where your rabbit can fight it off on its own, barring something behind the scenes weakening the immune system.

I documented a lot of what I went through with Wick here:

https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/163981/Default.aspx

Medirabbit says this:

The best treatment for fungal dermatitis is oral administration of griseofulvin (25-50 mg/kg PO q24h or divided q12h). (Wear gloves while administering this drug). The treatment should continue two weeks after the disappearance of the clinical signs.

If the itraconazole didn’t work, I don’t see why the vet wouldn’t be open to trying something else.

I understand that cost is an issue, but I was under the impression that anti-fungal medications weren’t very expensive. Wick, can you speak to this? How much did the itraconzole cost?

Itraconazole, now that I’m looking, was the most expensive medication I had with Wick actually.

A half oz was $80, and a full ounce was $151.

A jar of silver sulfadiazine was $22, and they lasted a while.
Clotrimazole is an antifungal topical medication and that was $17.50. It was definitely effective (forgot to mention before), but strong and drying I found, so I alternated it with silvadine.
1oz of nolvasan scrub was $12.75
— so the topical trifecta was definitely cheaper than oral.

Again, it’s hard for me to differentiate when the ringworm became syphilis (though Wick’s other parent believes Wick never had ringworm and it was only syphilis; I disagree), but I know now that Wick doesn’t have aggressively traveling ringworm, despite me not moving him to new locations for contamination purposes. I was just very. Persistent.

How available are nonprescription pet medications in your country? Over-the-counter topical medications are cheaper in many situations, but you would have to apply it multiple times a day. I remember reading about people using things like tea tree oil and apple cider vinegar on themselves (and once, if I remember correctly, on their cat) with good results. I am hesitant to recommend this since I have not researched it myself, but since I am very uncomfortable with rabbits being euthanized over ringworm, I will mention it anyway. I think I recall someone saying they used some type of athletes foot cream or lotion on their cat or dog. Just do plenty of research if you decide not to use something made specifically for animals.

I wouldn’t use tea tree oil. Many essential oils are harmful to bunnies, including tea tree.

Medirabbit gives a list of possible anti-fungal treatments. Some are OTC creams, etc. http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Fungal/Fungal_en.htm

“I wouldn’t use tea tree oil. Many essential oils are harmful to bunnies, including tea tree.”

You are right. I read about tea tree oil and other “natural” remedies on people and heavily diluted solutions on pets. As I had these pets at the time (*or was an animal that I almost taken in 2 times), I remember you could it on animals like dogs, cats, fish, guinea pigs, and *ferrets but not to use rats, hamsters, and other small weight animals. I did not have a rabbit at the time so I paid little attention to any mention of them. Personally, I would never use essential oils at all for any of my pets, but only use prescription or over-the-counter medications. However, I took note because I realize that not everyone has easy access to affordable over-the-counter pet medications.

I also remember the mention of turmeric as paste on the skin for ringworm (and ingested for arthritis) for pets in that same article. This seems slightly messy, but might be another option. Is turmeric safe for rabbits?