So the piggies may have ringworm according to the vet, only some tiny specks on their ears. After reading the ringworm guide, I wanted to check how often the cage should be fully cleaned/disinfected. I'm using bath mats and fleece, with a plastic tub for their hay. How frequently should I be washing the baths mats and fleece? Thank you
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Ringworm cage cleaning
- Thread starter Qpigs
- Start date
Clean your cage as normal or with F10 (your preference) during treatment and rinse well (mechanical removal) but wash any fabrics at 60 C to take care so that no spores hanging around in it can cause a new infections weeks or months later - up to around two years. Especially bath mats are a great place for spores to get stuck in.
Secondary ringworm patches from shed spores typically appear 10-14 days later around the genitalia (picked up during scent marking) or on the sides of the body (sleeping) or on the back when being mounted by a companion... You do not want those!
I recommend an initial deep clean of the cage to minimise the risk of infection from already shed spores and then a crucial deep clean of the cage and all furnishing at the end of any treatment in combination with a piggy bath in order to minimise the risk of spores causing later out outbreaks, whether they are sitting in the coat, in huts or in the bedding.
Oral treatment is great but it has got one large blind spot - it cannot reach any spores that are not in direct contact with the skin. For those, mechanical removal with a bath and a deep clean of the surroundings is necessary.
The vet didn't mention about this, do I need to use a particular product for this?
For a one-off bath at the end of treatment you do not need a special anti-fungal product in order to wash out any potential loosely sitting spores but if you happen to have a human anti-dandruff shampoo at home, then you can use that as an extra layer of security. It is pretty harsh on piggy skin but OK for a one-off bath (or even for a whole course if you really haven't got any alternatives to just creaming where you live).
Most vets are unfortunately not aware of how crucial cutting off all transmission angles of spores (and what those exactly are); they are only concerned with the medical aspect of ringworm but not necessarily with how central total hygiene is in combatting it. Our Ringworm Hygiene guide has come out of bad experiences and hard practical lessons on this forum.