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Fungus from cats to humans?!?!

onster
March 10th, 2009, 11:59 AM
My friend just called me and told me soemthing extremely strange.

She had what looked like a cold sore on her lip and then all of a sudden these spread and she has a few more on her body.

She went to the family doctor who asked her if she's been around pets. She said yes. The doctor asked cats/dogs? She said cats (mine) bout 2-3 weeks ago. The doctor said well its a fungus from cats!!!!

She told her that its on tail or something and its not harmful to the cats but it is to humans and now she has antifungul cream to use.

I have never ever heard of this. Anyone????

onster
March 10th, 2009, 12:03 PM
Ok I just googled it and the best I can figure out is that my cats have ringworm!!!!


:| OMG.

I cant believe this. My friend has only been in contact with my guys but my guys are clearly fine.

Maybe they are asymptomatic carriers??? But wouldnt I get ringworm then or my mom??

My friend told the doc that they were indoor only cats and the doc said that has nothing to do with it. She asked if it could be anything else and the doc said most likely not.

I have no idea what to do now?>??

Love4himies
March 10th, 2009, 12:06 PM
You would know if your cats had ringworm, their fur falls out and have red skin. It is very contagious so you and your mom would probably contract it too.

Love4himies
March 10th, 2009, 12:07 PM
BTW, I watched a show that a woman died from cold sores all over her body. Not to panic you but they can appear anywhere.

onster
March 10th, 2009, 12:14 PM
My friend thought it was just the cold sores spreading but then the doctor said they arent coldsores because cold sores dont grow in that pattern. Apparentlyt hey grow in a zigzag or something.

Ive read now that cats can have ringworm but show no symptoms???

But the doc told my friend that its harmless to cats so i guess it cant be ringworm.

Is there anyting else anyone knows of?

14+kitties
March 10th, 2009, 12:21 PM
Cold sores grow in a zig zag pattern? What the h*** has that doc been smokin'? I get coldsores al the time when I am under stress. Never had any grow in a zig zag.
Have you called your vet and asked them what it could be? I am sure it could be tested for. I would also tell your friend to find a different doc. Weird.

onster
March 10th, 2009, 12:27 PM
I know I had a freakout 14+.

My friend was hesitant to tell me she didnt want to upset me/get me offended.

I told her im not upset/offended but I sure am surprised/shocked/have never heard of this.

1) I want to know if my cats truly have something
2) I want to know for her if the doc is on crack and she might have something else which needs treatment

Good idea calling the vets..ill do that now.

14+kitties
March 10th, 2009, 12:37 PM
I can't see something she "got from your cats" incubating for 2 to 3 weeks. That in itself would be very strange. Maybe a week. :shrug:
Is she sure she hasn't got impetigo? That can spread rapidly. It is normally found on kids but I know adults that have had it too.
Here is a site that explains it...
http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/impetigo.html

Chris21711
March 10th, 2009, 12:52 PM
I've seen Ringworm on humans and it clearly was circle shaped, I was wondering whether it might be Scabies....just a thought

onster
March 10th, 2009, 12:53 PM
Ok the vet said if it was anything from cats to humans then my cats would need to have lesions for it to be infectious to humans.

I told her that the doc said it couldnt be cold sores because of the zig-zag pattern then she told me thats actually true - that sores can grow in a zig zag pattern. WHo knew :shrug:

For now my vet said not to worry but I can keep an eye on my kitties.

My friend called her doc who confirmed its ringworm. My vet said it could be from the environment or other vectors other than cats so since my cats seem ok looks like my friend got it from somewhere else.

Sorry for the premature freakout guys :o

Its just that her doc said its harmless to cats and she was like oh ok then it must be ure friends cats u know? She also said she could show symptoms after a month of being in contact with my guys!!

onster
March 10th, 2009, 12:55 PM
Oh and my friend saw pics on google of ringworm and she says hers looks like it but smaller..maybe she caught it earlier?

Scabies/impetigo ? thanks guys ill look it up. My friend says its itchy.

Chris21711
March 10th, 2009, 12:55 PM
Have you actually seen it Onster?

onster
March 10th, 2009, 12:56 PM
No i havent but we were supposed to meet tonight. She said it started developing on thursday and my friend whod already been to the walk in for her bad cold sore (and got meds) thought her cold sore was spreading and booked an appt with her family doc who told her its not a cold sore! My friend, on my request, called the doc back who said its ringworm.

Chris21711
March 10th, 2009, 01:13 PM
Hmmm...Pepe had it some years ago, way back, the Doc gave him a topical cream and it cleared up no problem. It was just after we came to Canada and we didn't have any pets yet, so it is not necessarily from your guys. His outbreak was localized to his one arm and clearly was round and scaly looking just like in the pics I have seen.....You say you are meeting tonight....keep an arms length (no pun intended).

Love4himies
March 10th, 2009, 02:37 PM
Cold sores grow in a zig zag pattern? What the h*** has that doc been smokin'? I get coldsores al the time when I am under stress. Never had any grow in a zig zag.
Have you called your vet and asked them what it could be? I am sure it could be tested for. I would also tell your friend to find a different doc. Weird.


Absolutly correct. I am a :evil: cold sore :evil: recipient too and they can grow in a straight line.

hazelrunpack
March 10th, 2009, 02:44 PM
Amazing that just by looking at it, the doctor could tell the ringworm was from animals! :rolleyes: Oh, that they could really be so astute! :laughing:

I wouldn't worry about it, onster, other than to not get too close to your friend until she heals up. Ringworm is fairly common in the environment and she could have gotten it almost anywhere. :shrug: You can catch it from animals, but then your family would have it, too. Also, animals can catch it from humans, so don't catch it from your friend or Onnie and Bunduk will have to get even when they're done itching :evil:

:p

onster
March 10th, 2009, 02:45 PM
yeah she got the cream and was told it should go away in 2-3 weeks. The doc said if it didnt they would need to start her on pills but she wants avoid that because shes too young and they may affect the liver?! She said they would need to run blood tests every month to check the status of her liver if she had to take those pills or something like that.

Seems a bit overly dramatic for ringworm no? I dunno.

lol maybe I should quarantine my cats from my friend :eek::rolleyes:

onster
March 10th, 2009, 02:50 PM
lol hazel u were thinking what I was thinking :p:crazy:

apparently my friend met a woman she knows after the visit with the doc and she was telling the woman what the doc said then the woman goes u know what my daughter has been getting something that sounds very like that and it only started since we got a cat.

greaaaaaaaat now we have another reason for people to 'get rid' of their cats :rolleyes:

Im annoyed that the doctor said that ringworm in cats is harmless and u cant even tell the animal has it but some humans can get it. Unless my friend misunderstood..but I mean thats kind of scaremongering no?

14+kitties
March 10th, 2009, 02:57 PM
lol maybe I should quarantine my cats from my friend :eek::rolleyes:

You may have said it in jest but not a bad idea.
Also, if she is coming to your home you may want to sterilize whatever she touches with an area the "ringworm" is. A few years back I touched a bandaid that covered ringworm on the neck of a child in the childcare I ran and ended up getting ringworm. Not pleasant.

hazelrunpack
March 10th, 2009, 03:20 PM
Yeah, onster, I dislike those generic all-encompassing statements by doctors about animals, too :frustrated: When they finally diagnosed me with asthma they told me point blank the dogs would have to go (even though I exhibited absolutely zero symptoms of any allergies).

I demanded allergy testing...and they finally conceded that my asthma is not mediated by allergies but by chemical irritants--I don't have any allergies at all except a very mild one to dust mites. :rolleyes:

Why is it that the first thing they seem to latch onto is that the family pets are the culprit? :shrug:

onster
March 10th, 2009, 07:07 PM
oh wow 14+ I didnt know it was that contagious! Thanks for the heads up. She volunteers at a school and teaches little kids..maybe thats how she got it??

Hazel I'm so glad you got allergy testing!!! wow.

ancientgirl
March 10th, 2009, 08:18 PM
A couple of years ago, I got something that looked like ringworm, but it wasn't. OMG it drove me nuts! It was itchy and scaly and for a while I thought I might have the chicken pox, which I'd had as a child.

I had these red blotchy spots on my torso, upper arms and thighs. My doctor said it was like a virus, but that it could have easily been stress related. He couldn't give me anything for it because he said it wasn't something antibiotics would help with. So I had to just let it run its course. It took almost a month:frustrated: This of course was way before I even thought about having a cat, so no animals in my apartment at the time.

ancientgirl
March 10th, 2009, 08:21 PM
Yeah, onster, I dislike those generic all-encompassing statements by doctors about animals, too :frustrated: When they finally diagnosed me with asthma they told me point blank the dogs would have to go (even though I exhibited absolutely zero symptoms of any allergies).

I demanded allergy testing...and they finally conceded that my asthma is not mediated by allergies but by chemical irritants--I don't have any allergies at all except a very mild one to dust mites. :rolleyes:

Why is it that the first thing they seem to latch onto is that the family pets are the culprit? :shrug:

Hazel, my doctor doesn't even bother talking to me about my cats anymore. When he told me I had asthma, he said that some people just develop it as they get older. LOL, I think he was afraid I'd bop him over the head if he'd suggested it was the cats.

14+kitties
March 15th, 2009, 07:56 AM
onster - How did the visit with your friend go?