My cat has ringworm. Should I brush out her patchy hair from treatment?

If you are giving oral medication as well then hopefully hair will stop Falling out soon. However, it can take a few weeks to really slow ringworm down, and then a few more weeks to really get rid of it. If in 2 weeks new spots are still forming then I would have a follow up appointment with your veterinarian. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

While it may clear up in a week or so, it’s not uncommon to be a bit of a longer battle for some, and sometimes difficult to clear. I would recommend that you take her back to the vet to have them re-evaluate. Medicated baths and/or oral medication may be helpful. Thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Poor kitty. Treatment for ringworm can certainly damage their relationship with their owners. Try to spend some time with her playing that doesn't involve treatments and medications to help your bond. There is not usually much of the fungus left after 4 lime dips, so I usually re-evaluate my patients at that time. After 4 weeks of treatment I would have Sierra re-examined by your vet to see if she is still infective. By this time she shouldn't be losing any more hair and you might even see some regrowth in her areas of hair loss.

Once the patches of hair loss decrease in size and hair begins to grow back in typically indicates that treatment is successful. If the lotion you are using does not help, I have used Malacetic Conditioning spray, which can be found online. This can be applied twice daily until resolved. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. If the ringworm does not improve or it worsens, I would recommend having a veterinarian take a look at Fosters.

They can definitely look worse right before they get better. This happens when the body pushes out the old/diseased skin and hair while the new/healthy skin and hair grows in. Oral medication is very effective for ringworm and not prone to resistance like some bacterial infections, so I doubt it's getting worse. It's also a good sign if it's just the existing lesions that look worse; rather than there being new lesions. If new lesions are seen, then this would indicate that the treatment is not working and would require a recheck by your veterinarian. I hope that helps and Buttercup gets better soon.

Hair loss/pulling out hair can be caused by bacterial, parasitic or fungal infection (like ringworm), dietary or environmental allergies or sensitivities, immune system disorders, stress, or a combination of the above. If you can safely contain and transport the feral cat, I recommend making an appointment to have the affected puppies seen by your veterinarian to help determine the cause of the hair loss/ pulling as soon as you can. The vet will likely want to look at a sample from the area (taken by a procedure known as a skin scraping) and examined under the microscope to determine what kind(s) of infection may be present and to figure out what medication is appropriate for treatment. Good luck!

I've found that if you wash your hands after handling Sierra and do not have any open wounds it is uncommon to catch this from her. Since you've treated her and are giving the medicated baths she should be even less likely to spread Ringworm. Follow your veterinarian's advice on treatment but if she's been treated now for two weeks or more she should be safe to handle. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Sierra.