And can you get it from dogs??
Wrestle in high school. You’ll get it.
Okay, what I really want to know is (and google articles aren’t telling me) if I catch ringworm from a dog, will the dog have evidence of it too? or Could a dog spread ringworm but not have any of the ring lesions itself?
Short answer is yes, you can catch ringworm from a dog, and no, the dog doesn’t have to look like it’s got ringworm to have it.
Ringworm lesions don’t always look like the classic round, bare patch. And from memory, the bare patch isn’t the bit which harbours the fungus, it’s the surrounding hair. By the time the hair falls out, the fungus has finished up and moved beyond that spot to the next lot of follicles. This is why, when you treat an animal for ringworm, you need to extend the ointment out beyond the lesion into the surrounding hair/fur
The lesions can also be quite hard to see in a dog with a thick coat.
Sooner or later the dog will probably show evidence of it, but you can pick it up before there are clear signs.
It’s not that hard to treat with a bit of persistence, but it can be annoying. If you think it’s ringworm, a trip to the vet for the dog and a trip to the chemist for you is probably in order.
thanks for that.
I continually get it on both of my wrists and I thought it was from my watch strap.
I treat it with teatree oil which is great stuff for other things too. It is only recently that I started to think that I might be getting it from the dog, but she has no signs of any kind of lesion or marking and she is not a very hairy dog.
Usually but not necessarily.
Yep, carriers without lesions do occur. It is more common in bunnies.
Sometimes a culture taken by brushing a sterile brush through the coat is needed. The nail bed is another area that many people do not look at.
Are you sure you’re not allergic to tea-tree oil? I say this because a few years ago I got ringworm from a rescue kitten. I developed what I thought was the mother of all ringworms (ring-dinosaurs), huge, incredibly itchy patches which just kept getting bigger.
Eventually I worked out that I was actually allergic to whatever cream it was that the pharmacist gave me to treat the ringworm, so I switched to tea-tree oil and things cleared up very rapidly. I know some people are allergic to tea-tree oil, so it might be worth thinking about.
Ringworm spores can live in the environment for quite some time, up to 12 months or so in a dry environment, so it’s also possible that you are being reinfected from your surroundings.
I’m pretty sure I’m not allergic to teatree oil. I only ever get the patches on the inner wrist area - they start out itchy and just a bit of dry skin, then they get bigger and the ring bit starts. The biggest it gets is 3cm across. There is only ever one on each wrist. I wasn’t so sure it was ring worm, but it sure looks like it.
The tea tree dries it out and it dissappears in a about 5 or 6 days of applying it.