Been through this with a foster and a resident cat, so this is the version I wish someone had given me on day one.
It takes six weeks minimum and usually more, and you will be tempted to stop at three. The lesions clear long before the cat stops shedding spores. Stopping early is why it comes back, every time.
Treat the cat:
- Whatever your vet prescribes, applied to a margin well beyond the visible patch. The fungus is active at the edges and beyond, not in the middle. Treating only the bald circle is treating where it has already been.
- Medicated baths, usually twice a week. Miserable for everyone. Do it anyway.
- Oral medication for anything widespread — and this is one where you need the vet to weigh the cat properly, it is not a guess-the-dose drug.
Treat the house, which is the half people skip and the reason it recurs:
- Spores survive 18 months in the environment. Not weeks. Months.
- Hard floors: mop with dilute bleach where the surface allows it.
- Soft furnishings: vacuum daily and throw the bag or empty it outside immediately. The vacuum is doing most of the work here.
- Bedding, blankets, soft toys: hot wash, twice through. Anything that cannot be hot-washed, bin it. I threw away two cat beds and a rug and I do not regret it.
- Brushes and combs: bleach them or replace them. A comb is a perfect spore delivery device and I re-infected my second cat this exact way.
Confining the cat: yes, and it is worth the guilt. One room, hard floor if possible, no carpet, that you can clean daily. Three weeks minimum. The alternative is decontaminating your entire house repeatedly.
Protecting yourself: gloves, long sleeves, wash your forearms after handling. Children and anyone on immunosuppressants should not handle the cat at all during treatment. In humans it is a ring with a raised scaly edge and a clearer middle, usually on the forearms — go to a doctor rather than a chemist, because a steroid cream makes it dramatically worse and that is what people get handed.
Cost, Karachi: consultation and culture about Rs 4,000; six weeks of topical and oral about Rs 8,000; medicated shampoo Rs 1,800. So call it Rs 14,000 plus whatever you throw away.
And do not panic-rehome. It is a fungal skin infection. It is contagious and it is tedious and it is not dangerous, and cats get dumped over it every year.
