Wordless Wednesday
Tooth be told, this is one of our toughest questions so far… What can your foster families use this for?
P.S. Please don’t give this one the brush-off–leave your response in the comment box! Looking for the answer to last week’s Wordless Wednesday? It’s our policy to include it right here.
Update, August 29: Don’t look now, but there’s a fungus among us! Click through to the comment box to find out how you can use this high-tech tool to screen cats for ringworm BEFORE they go out for foster.
Related links:
Sign Up Now: Webinar Series—Beating Ringworm
Foster Care on ASPCApro.org
UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program on Facebook
Tags: Shelter Health, webinars
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Nancy Clark Says:
Let’s see…brushing teeth of course, cleaning & scrubbing small places and spaces in carriers, rooms, crates, etc., cleaning gunk from between toes, cleaning bars of dog crates, removing hair from fabrics before washing. I keep old toothbrushes handy and new ones in different shapes and sizes and levels of hardness for getting stuff out of places I cannot reach otherwise. They are also good for grooming small kittens, kind of like mum’s rough tongue.
Pune Dracker, Editor, Shelters' Edge Says:
Nancy, you could give MacGyver a run for his money! We knew this one was gonna be tough to answer, and we have to admit we kinda asked it with an ulterior (though noble) motive—to beat ringworm!
Says Sandra Newbury, DVM, National Shelter Medicine Extension Veterinarian, Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, “This handy tool can be used to HELP screen cats for ringworm before they go to foster care, or any other time cats might be moving to a location where ringworm spores in the environment would be a particularly bad thing. The toothbrush is used to brush the cat from nose to toes to tip of tail. Most cats love it! Brushing the cat with the toothbrush collects fungal spores that may have been present on the cat’s fur. The toothbrush is then used to transfer any spores onto a fungal culture plate.”
“The reason HELP is in capitals,” explains Dr. Newbury, “is because that high-tech tool (the toothbrush!), used in conjunction with Dermatophyte Test Media for a fungal culture, can only give you the answers you need after about 5-10 days. A thorough visual screening (otherwise known as a check for skin lesions) that includes the use of a Wood’s Lamp can help you get answers right away. That helps prevent contamination of foster homes and helps kitties get the treatment they need sooner.”
Want to learn more in the fight against the fungus? Check out our three-part webinar series on tackling ringworm: http://www.aspcapro.org/webinar-series-beating-ringworm.php. The first session will be held on September 25—sign up now so you don’t miss it!
Nancy Clark Says:
Having just been through ringworm testing…this should have come to mind , but didn’t…thanks for this!