ring worm question

[stajbs]

Okay, just looking for input from others who have had perhaps a similar experience. I've never had ring worm (to the best of my knowledge of course). Tomorrow I am off to the doctor to confirm what I suspect is ringworm. Just gross and disgusting, and for a few moments till I got onto google I had forgotten it is a fungus. I was almost sure I didn't have a worm growing in me but had to be reassured. I'd like to blame that on hubby because he watches all those shows about parasites in people. lol

I went crazy doing extra laundry today and making sure things were cleaner than my OCD husband usually keeps things, bless his soul.

My questions are can I transfer this to my dogs? I mean obviously yes if I am not careful, but is it almost a given? I understand I could have gotten it from one of my dogs as well is this correct? My boy has a spot on his elbow which he does not lick, has lost hair and per the vet is not a result of a bite, more likely the result of his age and my paranoia about putting pads in the dogs crates. Sorry for that but I have had one too many friends whose dogs ate their crate pad stuffing and required surgery. So, he now has a pad, that is stuffingless. lol The dogs spend max about 6 hours out of 24 in their crates so we have total peace of mind while sleeping. This bald spot has not responded to my usual use of Eqyss Mega tek which has usually accelerated hair re-growth for me when a hot spot has healed or when I got a rescue with callouses on their elbow. The stuff is wonderful at sloughing off dead skin cells, and in about two weeks worth of application I have always had hair re-growth. The spot does not look sore, crusty or infected in any way, I just can't get the hair to re-grow. He is not licking himself anywhere to be honest.

So I am wonderng if perhaps he could have ringworm and I guess the vet could confirm that. Tomorrow, I will get checked, get treatment and then discuss with the vet, but just thought about seeking others experiences if anyone has any info.

Our humble 1.3 acres is cleaned of dog dirt faithfully twice a day, but we do live in the country and other wildlife does cross through our yard. For all these years I have always felt we exercised good hygiene practices with dogs, ourselves and our home, so I am just finding this hard to swallow I guess.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

[wags]

Read this article!

Dog Ringworm: Symptoms and Treatments

[chowder]

Our chow/husky cross has something in his crate you might consider since you don't like pads with stuffing. He has a water bed pad. It is the exact size of his crate, is very thick rubber, and the inside is filled with a solid piece of foam that you them fill with water which the foam soaks up. We actually made a cover for it out of a piece of denim jeans material but you don't have to do that. He loves it because it keeps him very cool and he's never even tried to chew it, even when he was a little puppy. The manufacture says it is amost chew proof and it came with a guarantee. In fact, when a seam seperated, they sent me an entire new one for free and it was years later.

Just an alternative to regular fluffy pads and he's never developed elbow callus's of any sort. This is our second dog on it so it is 6 years old already and going strong.

[stajbs]

Thank you both for the replies. This is so...mortifying.....really bugs me.

I appreciate the link about canine ringworm, I had seen that one, and looked at a few others. Now that I got over being freaked I could read it and the other information a bit more analytically. I called our vet and she will re-check Blaze tomorrow night too.

So, I have my treatment and he will have his if needed.

Thanks for the info on the crate pad chowder, he is currently on 1 inch black rubber matting but this appears worth looking into. Even more padding for him. What he has now is one of the mats we had in the dog houses outside. The OCD husband scrubbed it and thoroughly disinfected it before it was brought into the house.

Guess this goes to show you keep on learning as you get older.
Thanks!!

[bdb5853]

I know you said you were going to the doctor, but you could try tinactin or similar athletes foot cream/ointment on the spot and see if it helps. If it does, then yes - it is probably the ringworm fungus. It is pretty easy to get rid of if you use the over the counter athletes foot/jock itch creams liberally over a few days.

[luvMyBRT]

^^^Yes. About a year ago my brother got ring worm. My mom bought him some Tinactin. He used it every day for a week or two (can't remember exactly how long) and it went away in no time....

[stajbs]

Thanks everyone. Yup, I learned that essentially ring worm is athlete's foot, jock itch etc. I learned that you do not use any powder with corn starch because the starch feeds the yeast. All this learning about ringworm and I had to be nearly 50 to encounter it myself, I had seen it crop up in kids when I worked in some foster homes over the years, but I never really bothered to learn about it. That was just dumb, sure would have saved myself a lot of worrry. I will definitely do the OTC thing if it ever crops up again though.

Thanks to all!!