fungus like growth??

[KushielsTart]

Our male sphynx Anubis had this brownish/blackish fungus that would grow on his nose. The vet never figured it out, and because we were slowly losing him to HCM we never focused too much on it. He had so many other health problems, and it didn't seem too important. You could scrape it off his nose, and the hair underneath would be missing, and the skin would be slightly red. We tried Lotrimin on it, and then a zinc based gel from the vet. Neither showed any sign of fixing it, so we just left it alone. He's been gone almost three months now, and all of the sudden one of my females has the same thing in spot a little smaller than a dime on her forehead above one eye. It showed up last Thursday, and it looked like a scratched red spot; we just assumed she had played a little rough with one of the other cats. It slowly darkened, and just like with Anubis, you can scratch it off and it grows right back. I have no clue what this is, and it worries us. Has anyone else had experience with something like this?

 

[susi794]

I haven't--but hope someone here can help you. Sorry to hear about your Anubis.

 

[holly_savage]

Sorry, can't be of any help to you...I hope you can figure it out...maybe try a different vet? Some times what one hasn't seen before may be common to another vet?

 

[MissMySphynxBoys]

So sorry to hear about Anubis.

I don't have a clue about the funny spot. Maybe it is more of a yeast than a fungus. I agree with Holly Savage. Another vet could have a different approach to identifying and treating it.

 

[ckutkuhn7]

Sorry to hear about Anubis. As far as your other kitties skin condition, was she ever tested for common fungal infections? To me it sounds a lot like ring worm and with our Sphynx and how grubby they can get the lesions could be black just from dirt. Is the substance you scrape off fuzzy or crusty? Just curious. I would try another vet since the 1st one couldnt really pinpoint it. Maybe he didnt run the test since you were batteling HCM.
With ring worm tho the lesions may or may not be itchy and they don't always show a round effect to the area of infection. I could be 100% wrong but just a thought. Goodluck and keep us posted.

 

[KushielsTart]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I appreciate it.

@ckutkuhn7 - When you scrape the gunk off, it kind of like a scab when its still a little damp. Its squishy, and you can see little fuzz in it, though whether that's growth or hair that it pulled up, I'm not sure. She hasn't had a scraping - I'm going to take her in for one tomorrow. She got her vaccinations last week and I had the vet take a look, but he was the dog vet and not the normal cat vet we see, and he said he didn't know what it was and to come back if it doesn't go away. Back again I guess.

My other female has a rash that I was thinking might be ringworm - but again when I showed dog vet the pics, he said it looked like it was healing, and to give it a week and see what happens. Lesson learned is always make sure I'm seeing my regular vet, even if it is something simple. Maybe it's ringworm and it's showing up differently on the two cats? How very strange. When it rains it pours it seems. I've been to the vet more over the last three or four months than I've been to my own doctor, and I have Fibromyalgia! I just want everyone to be healthy. How nice would it be if we could find vets that specialized in sphynxes?? There are no breeders here in Austin, so not a lot of knowledgeable vets on sphynx-centric conditions.

 

[ckutkuhn7]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I appreciate it.

@ckutkuhn7 - When you scrape the gunk off, it kind of like a scab when its still a little damp. Its squishy, and you can see little fuzz in it, though whether that's growth or hair that it pulled up, I'm not sure. She hasn't had a scraping - I'm going to take her in for one tomorrow. She got her vaccinations last week and I had the vet take a look, but he was the dog vet and not the normal cat vet we see, and he said he didn't know what it was and to come back if it doesn't go away. Back again I guess.

My other female has a rash that I was thinking might be ringworm - but again when I showed dog vet the pics, he said it looked like it was healing, and to give it a week and see what happens. Lesson learned is always make sure I'm seeing my regular vet, even if it is something simple. Maybe it's ringworm and it's showing up differently on the two cats? How very strange. When it rains it pours it seems. I've been to the vet more over the last three or four months than I've been to my own doctor, and I have Fibromyalgia! I just want everyone to be healthy. How nice would it be if we could find vets that specialized in sphynxes?? There are no breeders here in Austin, so not a lot of knowledgeable vets on sphynx-centric conditions.

Not sure if you've tried this or not but I googled "fungus growth in cats" and found several sites that go over several different types and they show photos. I read thru them to refresh my memory some and it sounded like ringworm mostly but there was another that sounded like what your other kitty may have. Then again it could all be a fluke and they might just need a food change. I would visit your normal kitty vet and have them run a few test and see what occurs. I hope it turns out to be something easily treated. I'm no vet and I don't always know what Im talking about but maybe doing some home research prior to your visit will help you during your visit and you may see something that you could mention to the vet that they can rule out or as possibility. I'm a constant googler (is that a word?) for everything! lol

 

[KushielsTart]

I've done quite a few web searches, and nothing looks quite like what we are seeing here. I'll let you guys know once I find out though, maybe it will help someone in the future.

 

[admin]

Hi KushielsTart,
good luck with your vet visit. It would help if you shared pictures of the area of concern. If the vet does not have a good answer, please share some photos of the area and we may be able to shed a bit more light on the matter.
Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[ilovemysphynx]

Best of luck to you, and just remember most fungus and ringworm is contagious to humans.

 

[KushielsTart]

fungus like growth?? - Pictures

This one is the sore on Akasha's head - it's hard to get a good picture of it.


Since then, these smaller sores have cropped up in 4 or 5 spots on her torso:


And these are the sores/rash on my other female, Zuul that look nothing like the sores on Akasha:



We have an appointment at the vet this afternoon.

 

[MissMySphynxBoys]

The pictures look ringwormish to me, but I'm no expert. Hopefully when you see your regular vet this afternoon he will do a scrapping or look at it with a Wood's lamp.

Good luck!

 

[Fester]

A wood's lamp(blacklight) is not 100% -- as not all ringworm fluoresces, but looks a lot like ringworm to me-- if it is, you'll most likely get it as well...my sympathies

 

[ckutkuhn7]

I can't see the photos

I hope the vet visit goes well tho and you get some answers!

 

[KushielsTart]

Ok guys, I made two albums so everyone can see the pics of the skin infection.

http://www.sphynxlair.com/members/kushielstart/albums/bacterial-infection-most-likely-staph/

http://www.sphynxlair.com/members/kushielstart/albums/ringworm/

Doc confirmed it - the larger dark spot on Akasha's forehead is a bacterial infection, most likely staph. She isn't going to send it out for further analysis because she said that it will be the same antibiotic no matter which way it goes. Akasha also has ringworm, which are the small spots, and Zuul has it as well. That's the large oval spot. There is also some small rash along side it.

I'm going to re-post this in it's own thread because I think it will be helpful for everyone to see. The few pictures I found of Sphynxes with skin infections were quite severe, and I think it's beneficial to see what it looks like at the beginning so we can all get on top of it.

 

[KushielsTart]

Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

**Re-post from another thread**

Ok guys, I made two albums so everyone can see the pics of the skin infection.

http://www.sphynxlair.com/members/kushielstart/albums/bacterial-infection-most-likely-staph/

http://www.sphynxlair.com/members/kushielstart/albums/ringworm/

Doc confirmed it - the larger dark spot on Akasha's forehead is a bacterial infection, most likely staph. She isn't going to send it out for further analysis because she said that it will be the same antibiotic no matter which way it goes. Akasha also has ringworm, which are the small spots, and Zuul has it as well. That's the large oval spot. There is also some small rash along side it. The large dark spot didn't fluoresce under black light, but all the other spots did.

I'm going to re-post this in it's own thread because I think it will be helpful for everyone to see. The few pictures I found of Sphynxes with skin infections were quite severe, and I think it's beneficial to see what it looks like at the beginning so we can all get on top of it.

 

[ckutkuhn7]

Re: Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

Thanks for reposting the photos. I'm glad you got some answers and hope they do well on the road to recovery! xoxo

 

[holly_savage]

Re: Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

Thank you for the information....and I am sure you aren't thrilled it's staph and ringworm, but at least you know what it is and they are both treatable so YAY!

 

[KushielsTart]

Re: Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

Yeah, it's good to know, but sucks we got it. I think I know where it came from too. We went to Petsmart last week, and there was a woman there with shelter kitties, and she was petting Akasha. At least, that's the only thing I can think of, because we haven't had anyone that has pets at our house recently.

 

[holly_savage]

Re: Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

sounds plausible, but just FYI ringworm can also be transmitted through dirt / earth as well as= other sources...have you been gardening lately? Or the cats outside? It doesn't take much, but atg least it isn't anything too serious. I hope you get it all cleared up quickly, and make sure you keep an eye out for yourself and any family in the house as well, very easily transmitted infection,

 

[Mews2much]

Re: Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

I agree be careful it can transmit easy.
I hope the cat feels better.

 

[KushielsTart]

Re: Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

Nope, no gardening, and the cats never go in dirt. They are allowed to go on the porch and sidewalk for their daily roll in the sunshine, but they don't like the grass on their feet, and there isn't any dirt.

Dr. Jill gave us three products to use. One is called Pure Oxygen which is an "accelerated hydrogen peroxide" which we were told to wash all the cats with (even the one without infections) once a week. She said this stuff works wonders - we will see. She said she'd much rather use that than anti-fungal pills since they are hard on the liver. The second is Resi-Keto Chlor, and is for dabbing on the individual spots. The third is Baytril which is the antibiotic for the staph infection.

 

[Mews2much]

Re: Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

I use Keto Chlor and it works well.
The vet gave it to me for a problem Wrinkles had.
Baytril is a great antibiotic and should work well also.
In the future bring sanitizer with you when you go to the pet store.
If someone wants to pet your cat make them use the sanitizer.
I do that with my cats.

 

[Nofuratu]

Re: Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

I use Keto Chlor and it works well.
The vet gave it to me for a problem Wrinkles had.
Baytril is a great antibiotic and should work well also.
In the future bring sanitizer with you when you go to the pet store.
If someone wants to pet your cat make them use the sanitizer.
I do that with my cats.

The hand sanitizer is a good idea to travel with, and I am going to start carrying it with Nofuratu's travel kit. whenever we go somewhere he is petted by dozens of people, and although I make people use sanitizer at cat shows, it never occured to me to bring it around on Nofuratu's daily errands!!
Im a little paranoid now because my spouse and I volunteer a lot, usually in a thrift store, donation sorting enviroment and he contracted scabies on his hands and arms!! Probably from helping move matresses, sofas etc. Not only is it gross but the treatment is not covered by our insurance and costs $80 a bottle. He's on his 2nd bottle and it has finally cleared up. I was worried Nofuratu would catch it...but we were lucky!

 

[Mews2much]

Re: Bacterial Infection and Ringworm Pics

I carry the small hand sanitizers in my purse.
There are just so many germs around.