? Advice Needed: Shorshe - Upcoming Dental Surgery but Skin Issue?

S

Shorshe’s Mum

Member
Hi All,

Shorshe's BG has been on the higher end (sorry I haven't had time to update the sheets) because she had to stay at the vet hospital for a week at the end of october when I was travelling, They didn't manage her BG very well, possibly because their measurement of the doses was off. I asked them to give her 1.75U but she went to 59 one day which I think is hardly possible, and they skipped a dose twice when she went under 100. She was also very stressed the first 2 days and was not responding to the staff or eating though she gradually became her usual friendly self over 6 days.
Anyway now she is back home and is supposed to have the extraction of her two canines and one molar all with abscesses and cleaning of tartar and detection of any other teeth in need of extraction through dental x-rays. Her surgery got postponed in September because my other cat got acute pancreatitis 3 weeks after receiving a solensia shot which Shorshe also received (and I discontinued the shotss for both of them).

The issue is she developed some skin lesions near her ear after coming back home from the vets, and it has also been an unusually wet and cold post-monsoon here in Chiang Mai. While we don't yet have a positive culture, skin cytology showed fungal stuff (hyphae?). The skin culture will take another 7 days. We are presuming it's ring worm. The vet said I would have to take a decision about the surgery. Because there is a possibility post surgery the fungal infection might spread more as she becomes more immunocompromised. However, clearing the fungal infection will take at least a month if not more. I decided to go ahead with the surgery because I think she must be in so much pain and I think the abscesses are responsible for her increasingly high insulin dose (she is now at 2.5U) But now I am second guessing myself. I have started treating her with lime sulphur dip from today and secondary skin barrier sprays like Dermacore COS Spray (DermaCore COS Spray for Cleaning & Moistening Pet Skin 100ml – Petzo) and Allerderm spot on (Allerderm Spot-On). I am also giving her vitamin B complex and she is on supplements like Antinol (EPA), Samylin (SAM-e), zyrtec (cetrizine for itchiness), pregabalin (for pain).

What do you guys think? I will try and update her charts by tonight (ICT timezone). And please wish my girl the best of wishes.

Thanks!
 
If this is ringworm, it is miserable to treat. Not only do you need to bathe your cat, you need to very thoroughly clean your home, especially places where Shorshe spends time, thoroughly. Using an antifungal (e.g., miconazole or similar products) is helpful. This happened to Gabby -- she was at the veterinary ICU with a lot of dogs in the lobby and she came home with ringworm. She was not amused by being bathed in the sulphur and lime and I was not amused by deep cleaning my home on a weekly basis until the ringworm was gone. I had my sofa and areas rugs professionally cleaned.

I'm actually surprised that the vet will do surgery if your cat has ringworm. They need to disinfect any area where Shorshe has been. It's highly contagious to other animals and humans.
 
Yes my other cat had ringworm last year and i did a complete separation and constant cleaning. However, none of my other cats got it despite she was undetected for weeks. And i find generally ringworm in both humans and animals are treated less seriously in India and Thailand, possibly because we don't have insulated homes and a lot of extremely strong sunshine. But I will double check with them. Generally the consensus is animals get it here only if they are immunocompromised as its pretty endemic with hot humid weather so most animals will develop immunity. I am unable to do that level of cleaning at this point because I have a serious wrist injury in my right wrist which needs its own surgery after shorshe recovers. I will double check with the vets if they will do the surgery. the vets here also do not recommend lime sulphur dips but I got some from India last time I went home and have given Shorshe her first thorough wetting. She was not amused. But she enjoyed being outside in the sunny balcony so she stopped grumbling soon and started sunning herself.
 
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Update: The vet said that Shorshe's fungal culture will only be ready the day of the operation. The dermatologist feels strongly the stress of surgery might worsen the infection so her advice is to postpone. I will go and speak in person to the internal medicine doctor a day before the surgery (she is my cat's regular vet since 2020, except for the 2 years I was in Bangkok). Since they are all masters students or professors they are much more cursory over phone. The small animal dentist surgeon is very senior so hard to reach. get a feeling I might have to postpone. I am just worried that her glucose being high is also making her immunocompromised and the high glucose is in a significant part due to the teeth abscesses. Fingers crossed and hope for the best.


Also found this study from the veterinary hospital I go to at the Chiang Mai University which shows a moderate amount of healthy cats coming to the hospital also harbour M.Canis without showing any lesions or symptoms in Thailand. And they conclude that therefore cats can develop clinical infection only when they are ill, weak, or immunocompromised. https://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/9/1/21
This makes me think that cleaning the whole house everyday with strong cleaners and bleach, and doing humoungous amounts of laundry, like I did last year when my long haired cat tested positive for ringworm without showing any scabbing just a microscopic circular lesion on one of her ears, was probably overkill. Another study b/w short and long-haired indoor-only pet cats in Thailand (Bangkok) revealed that long-haired cats have more chances of having trapped fungal spores and can be carriers or have subclinical infection without showing any symptoms (lesions): Comparison of subclinical dermatophyte infection in short- and long-haired cats - PMC

This is giving me some hope that maybe one thorough cleaning all over and stricter cleaning for Shorshe's room might contain the infection. #famouslastwords #fingerscrossed
 
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