Hello, after years of debate we have finally decided to get a dog and have chosen this beautiful one year old chocolate rescue (hurricane). She is being treated for ringworms in the last two weeks for two lesions on her head and nose and looks and feels better according to the foster people. Should we wait until she is 100% clear to avoid any risk of infestation in our house and her future house or is the risk minimal? We are very new to pet ownership and are a bit nervous. We have had a few visits with the dog and are set on choosing her for adoption. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Hi and welcome to the forum Do you have any children, old people or immune-compromised people living in your house? If not, then it's unlikely that you'll have any problem with the ringworm. Our dog got ringworm when he was young (from a shelter dog that came to his first daycare place) but we didn't catch it from him despite not being particularly careful with cleaning everything. We basically just washed his bedding, harness and collar and him and tried to keep him off our bed (pretty unsuccessfully). When you read about ringworm on the internet it seems like you have to boil your entire household in pure bleach to avoid catching it but that wasn't our experience. We treated him with a cream (might've been miconazole based or terbinafine based - can't remember) and a few washes in malaseb shampoo. The ringworm spots started to look better fairly quickly I think but it took about a month or more till his fur started to grow back. I reckon that if it's started to look better on your new doggie and you're all healthy people then you should be fine.
Years ago, I had ringworm from a rescue cat. It's a bit unpleasant, sure, but it's not the end of the world if a healthy person does get it. The one thing I would think though is, would it potentially put you off wanting to be close to the dog? That might be more damaging than the actual ringworm itself. Depending on the dog, she might not be a cuddly sort, especially at first, but if she is and you "reject" her for fear of the cooties, that wouldn't be the best start.
Hi, thanks for your responses. Very good points. We are all healthy and my youngest is 15. We will probably be bringing it home this weekend. The information on the internet indeed is frightening. We already hadba visit with her two weeks ago at the height of her infection apparently and she licked us all lol. Sonwe might as well all have it. Thanks again for the great information.
