I think this might be ringworm….

[Kirsty]

A few weeks ago I posted about my kitten who has ringworm. He had it all over his body. My boyfriend’s mom took him to treat him since she was the one who got him for us. Yesterday she said it is still really bad. I have been watching out for it on my rabbit and tonight I noticed this scabby patch on his ear. When I touched it to get a better look he scratched at it. Do you think it could be ringworm? The vet just closed so I have to call tomorrow. Do any of you know what kind of treatment is used for ringworm on rabbits?

[LBJ10]

It’s difficult to tell from the picture. I’m pretty sure ringworm is transmitted through contact though. Have your cat and bunny been interacting with each other? The spot almost looks like what happens when fur it pulled out (happens with over-grooming, humping, etc). You get a red, irritated looking spot like that. Is this your only bunny? I suppose it could be the early manifestation of ringworm, but a vet would have to make that determination.

This isn’t an emergency or anything. It can wait until the vet can get you in for an appointment.

[Kirsty]

Thank you for the reply!

 

The cat and rabbit did play together and the cat spent a lot of time in the same room my rabbit’s cage is in while he was here, so I am worried the chance of my rabbit getting it is pretty high.

I only have one bunny.

I am really hoping it’s not ringworm. What other kinds of things make rabbits want to scratch or groom too much? Could it be a nervous habit? He seems to be acting normal besides scratching his ear. I didn’t notice he was scratching it a lot until I saw the red marks. He is always pretty relaxed.

[LongEaredLions]

Bunnies may scratch their ears for a variety of reasons, including ear mites, or ear infections. It could be something else but its best just to let the vet determine that before you worry too much.  
Let us know what the vet says.

[Eepster]

It’s hard to tell just from the photo. It can even be hard to tell when looking at it directly (once had a vet be extremely doubtful at my guess that something was ringworm when he looked at it, but it was.) A positive diagnosis involves testing.

There are both topical shampoos and oral medications for treating ringworm. I don’t know which ones are safe for bunnies. My ringworm experience is from fancy mice and humans, and was a long time ago.

With any luck it won’t be too hard to treat. It can be hard to treat in kittens, b/c they are too young to take the more effective medications given to adult cats, hopefully the same isn’t true for bunnies.

Remember, humans can get ringworm too. Talk to your Dr about it, and keep a look out for rashes on yourself.

[Kirsty]

Hi again everyone! I took Sawyer to the vet today. His ear has gotten worse since Thursday. There is more hair loss and his skin is flaking a little. The vet checked with a blacklight, but nothing showed up, so she said he could have a culture test done, but that it would take 2-3 weeks I think. I decided not to for now. It would also cost $70. She decided it probably was ringworm and gave me miconozole to put on his ear two times a day for about month. I thought that was a little strange because the stuff they gave me can be bought at the store and is meant for humans. I guess in little amounts it’s okay?

Since ringworm spreads easily, I am trying to figure out the best way to clean his cage and am still having to worry about what to do about the house. If Sawyer’s treatment does work, I’m afraid he’ll just get infected again.

 I heard that apple cider vinegar may kill ringworm spores and that it is safe to use around rabbits. Is this true?

 

I’m furious at the animal shelter where the kitten came from. Yesterday I sent the county an e-mail telling them the animal shelter should have treated the situation differently. I think they should always thoroughly check their animals for stuff like ringworm before rushing them out of there for $5. They were very careless. The kitten was scheduled for a free neuter at the shelter two weeks after he was adopted and despite noticing his ringworm they neutered him anyway, making us have to postpone his ringworm treatment. They were also extremely rude to me when they were telling me about the ringworm. He is still badly infected with it after three weeks of treatment. If the shelter caught it earlier I think it would have been under control by now and my house wouldn’t be infested with ringworm… If they found his ringworm before he was adopted, we could have been warned and he could have either been treated there or have been quarantined in the bathroom while he was treated instead of being given free roam of the house for two weeks. $5 for a kitten seems like a great deal, but what about all the times the kittens bring home a disaster like this which ends up costing hundreds of dollars to fix? I’m going to have to rent cleaning supplies like special vacuums and steam cleaners to help get rid of this problem.

Poor Sawyer (if that really is ringworm) was also a victim of the shelter’s carelessness. 

Sorry about my rant. All of this is the animal shelter’s fault. I’d rather be dealing with fleas than ringworm…. I know there are a lot of people working at the shelter who do care a lot about all the animals and that there are so many to keep track of, but there are things they could have done differently.

 

Thanks for the advice! I’ll update another time on how Sawyer is doing. 

 

[LBJ10]

The stuff meant for humans is okay for dogs, but it isn’t a good idea to use on animals that groom themselves. There are creams that are formulated for veterinary use. You mean to say what the vet gave you is something they bought at Target or Walmart or fill in people store name here? That doesn’t seem right.

[LBJ10]

Are you able to shampoo the carpets? Then let them dry very well. They make anti-fungal solutions for shampooers. I would think that would be the only way to get rid of the spores. Vinegar of any kind is anti-fungal, but spores are very hard to kill.

[Eepster]

I know I’ve recommended prophylactic treatment, but that’s just b/c getting it is so icky, not b/c it is that contagious. It’s not so contagious that your house needs a major decontamination. My sister and I never caught it from our fancy mouse, and the only extra precaution we took was be very vigilant about hand washing when handling him. I also never caught it from my human friend who had it (a few years later, so totally unrelated to the mouse.) Surface cleaning should do the trick just fine.

Apple cider vinegar does kill mold, but so does any vinegar. Plain white vinegar is better for house hold cleaning. The apple cider vinegar is really good for hair in general though, so pouring it over yourself in the shower would be a great way to help prevent yourself fro getting it. The acidity not only kills fungus, but also smooths out the hair shaft closing the cuticles and neutralizes any lingering alkalinity from your shampoo. The smell will linger while your hair is wet, but disappears once it dries. I wouldn’t count on vinegar to treat an active ringworm infection, since it gets under the surface into the hair root where the vinegar can’t reach (it does work on more superficial fungal infections like athlete’s foot, just mix it with salt and soak.)

I’m surprised you vet needs so long to run the lab tests. I think we had results on our fancy mouse within 48 hrs, and that was about 30 years ago, you’d think it would be faster now.

[LBJ10]

I suggested shampooing the carpet for the bunny’s benefit. I doesn’t hurt to clean his area/room. I wasn’t suggesting cleaning the entire house. That probably isn’t necessary.

[Kirsty]

Yes. The vet gave me stuff for human treatment of jock itch… I didn’t see the stuff until after the appointment, so I didn’t get a chance to ask about it. Maybe since it’s on his ear where his tongue can’t reach and since I have to put such a tiny amount the vet figured it’s okay, but I am very skeptical.
I am going to get a second opinion from another vet about what to treat Sawyer with and also see how long their tests would take. Sawyer’s vet hospital is very confident about neutering and spaying rabbits and I really like it there. Everyone there is very nice and knowledgeable, but now I am not so sure about their way of treating ringworm on rabbits…

I’m going to shampoo the carpets as soon as I can in the room where Sawyer lives and also where my kitten spent most of his time. My boyfriend is sensitive to sound (it’s a strange condition), so the noises of vacuums and steam cleaners are too much for him. We live in a rental home and the owners left a trailer outside that he is going to stay in while the house is cleaned. If it is ringworm on Sawyer’s ear I feel guilty for not cleaning the house really well sooner. I’d be vacuuming many times a day if it weren’t for the sound.  Shampooing the carpets is a good idea.

 I am glad apple cider vinegar is good for fungus. I sprayed the carpets with it a little because I thought it might help and it does smell really bad for awhile until it dries. I never read anywhere that it would help kill ringworm on carpets though. I will get white vinegar to clean the house with.
Maybe I’ll try the apple cider vinegar on myself for all those good benefits. I especially don’t want to get ringworm on my head because I have really long hair and that would be terrible. It would be terrible either way of course!

When my kitten’s vet shined black light on him, his whole body lit up, revealing the ringworm. Sawyer’s ear didn’t glow, only the flakes of skin on his ear where his fur is falling out. The vet said the flakes of skin would glow a little and that ringworm might not show up, and it didn’t.

 Today I got a black light in the mail mostly for fun, but also to see if ringworm would show up. I was curious. Sawyer’s ear doesn’t glow under my light either and after the vet today I wasn’t expecting it to. So far I’ve found glowing spots all over the carpet. I wonder if it’s from the owners’ pets or if their kids just spilled stuff everywhere. It is kind of fun but also scary! haha With all the spots I really want to clean the carpets now, not just because of the ringworm.

If any ringworm is glowing, there is no way to tell the difference anyway. Another interesting thing about the black light is that we have little dime-sized scorpions living near us and they show up really well under the light. It’s going to be fun looking for them.

 

Thank you for the help! I’ll tell you what I find out from the other vet.

 

[LBJ10]

Urine will show up under a black light. So any old urine stains might show up if they weren’t cleaned properly. Some could definitely be from previous tenants. Like I said, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to clean things really well.

And yes, scorpions do glow under black lights. Their exoskeletons have beta-Carboline in them, which has fluorescent properties. I think it’s pretty cool, although I don’t know what the purpose is. I just remember the guy at the pet store housing scorpions under a black light to make people want to buy them. LOL

[Kirsty]

I’m definitely going to clean!

 

That’s funny about the scorpions. I wonder if people really wanted to buy them after that. 

 

 

I wanted to post an update of Sawyer’s ear. It looks so much worse and I feel so bad for him. I think he really needs to go back to a vet as soon as possible. It’s really red now and looks like it hurts. 

 

[LBJ10]

I think it did, but then they were disappointed when they got home and had a boring black scorpion. LOL

Hmm, that does look bad. Maybe the vet can shave the fur around it and clean it up a bit. Then make sure you get an ointment formulated for animals that groom themselves.

[Kirsty]

Haha! Yeah I bet scorpions aren’t very fun pets. I’d much rather have a bunny!

So here is another update on how Sawyer is doing. His ear is a lot more crusty and red. I took him to the other vet and told her about the human miconazole. The other vet said it was okay to use a little, but prescribed him griseofulvin to give him orally for 14 days. She said it might be a little rough on his stomach, but will help keep the ringworm from spreading. This time she also checked his ear with a black light. I think the one they have at this vet works a lot better. They turned the lights off and his ear lit up a lot! I still decided to get a culture done to be absolutely sure. It’s going to take about two weeks for the results to come back. I did a little research on griseofulvin and many websites said it was often used to treat rabbits. Only pregnant or nursing rabbits were not allowed to take it.
I had a difficult time giving it to him though. He loved the stuff I gave him after he was neutered, but he hates the taste of the new medicine. Next time I am going to put a little unsweetened applesauce on the syringe to see if he handles it better.

I have been keeping him in his cage all this time because I am afraid he will spread the ringworm around even more, but I don’t want to keep him locked up. Before the ringworm he would yank on his cage doors when he wanted out, but he hasn’t done that in awhile. I can tell he doesn’t feel very well. He is still eating and drinking just fine.

Most of our house is carpeted, but we have tile in our kitchen and a big area near our front door is also tiled. I vacuumed, but feel like the ringworm will never go away if I let Sawyer run around the room like I usually do. Tomorrow I think I will block off one of those tiled areas and let him out to play because he has been stuck in his cage for a week now. That isn’t good for him. I feel so sad about this. Tile will be much easier to clean while he recovers.

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