Myriad of kitten problems :(

[GervlJohnson]

Hello everyone

My husband and I adopted two kittens from a shelter on July 16. They are siblings, one male and one female, and they are about 5 months old.

When I first adopted them they had slight URIs which the shelter gave us antibiotics for and have since cleared up. We couldn't get their vaccines done because of the URI, and were told to come back one week after they've cleared up for their first round.

Now for the fun. When we first saw the male, we noticed a slight white, bald spot by his ear but I didn't think much of it because he was found outdoors under a house - figured it was an injury. Once we got him home it got worse, and shelter staff diagnosed it as ringworm. I'm in Hawaii (but Canadian )and apparently it's very common here. We treat it topically 2x a day with Miconosol, but it has since spread and spread. He has it on a front pad, 2 spots on a leg, and a small patch on the top of his head. His sister has also picked it up behind her ears. As well as the Miconosol I've been feeding them little chunks of coconut oil once a day. It is an anti-fungal/anti-bacterial food (also good for cooking with) and should help to heal them from the inside out.

As for her, she has three cracked pads. One of them is a rear big/plantar pad. It looks like a chunk of it has just split off. It's in an area with a normal dark colouring of her pad, but it is getting darker and discoloured. There is also dried, crustiness on it - blood? The other two pads are less severe. She shows no signs of pain when walking on them, but really doesn't like having them dipped in salt water.

I'm at a point where I'm at a loss with these guys. I love them to death and I don't want to give them back to the shelter at all (because I know these things will eventually pass) but I'm just looking for advice now. I've never had a cat with ringworm before so I feel totally out of control Besides these problems they are both active, healthy, playful and curious little ones.

1) Should I just take our kittens to the vet to get more aggressive with the ringworm? How much do ringworm treatments (pills/topical/shampoo) cost?

2) What can I do for our females pads? Vitamin A+D ointment? Is it safe if she ingests it? Bag Balm? What does the discolouration mean? What could be causing this?

Thank you for reading my novel... I'm open to anything at this point.

[pbpatti]

Wow, sounds like you have a few troubles with your furbabies. I do not know alot about kitties so I will give you a warm welcome and I am sure that a kitty knowledgeable person will be by shortly. Sure would like to see some pictures of these two little ones. patti