Mysterious Symmetrical Rash On Piggy/fungal

[Dilly's Piggies]

I'm very sure Dolly has a fungal infection and appears to have ringworm on her nose, it came up 4 days ago and I've been using athletes foot cream, clotrimazole 1%.

She has always had extremely dry, flaky skin on her ears, so I used the cream there too and also on her back feet, this cream has worked wonders so she has probably had a fungal infection this entire time, I have no idea why it didn't progress into scabs and bleeding... I took her to the vet about it and they said it's nothing to worry about.

With the bald patch on her nose, it looks to be slowly getting better also and I can see some hair growing back already. However now she has come up with this strange rash, it's on both sides behind her ears, where the coat starts. It's like a red ring around the coat line and there are raised red bumps in the middle.

I don't know if this is a reaction to the cream on her ears, or the fungal is spreading? Her ears, nose and feet don't have any discolouration so I'm not entirely sure if it is a reaction.

Can I have some opinions on this? Can this be a general fungal infection and not ringworm?

 

[Wiebke]

Have it checked for potential ringworm. The pink edge on pale skin is very distinctive for it. She can have easily transferred spored through scratching with her back leg.

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

Have it checked for potential ringworm. The pink edge on pale skin is very distinctive for it. She can have easily transferred spored through scratching with her back leg.

Damn it. Will the fact I've used cream on her already change the results of a skin test? I haven't put it on her ears or this rash since it came up 2 days ago.

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

My vet isn't open until Monday, should I keep using the cream or stop until she has seen the vet?

 

[Wiebke]

Damn it. Will the fact I've used cream on her already change the results of a skin test? I haven't put it on her ears or this rash since it came up 2 days ago.

If you have used cream on that spot (which it looks like to me), then it is going to make a diagnosis more difficult. Treating before seeing a vet is as effective as cleaning a crime scene before the arrival of police - and as welcome!

Please follow the advice in our guide carefully; just cream only treats an affected spot, but not its surroundings and it is also not preventing your ringworm piggy and their companions from developing more affected areas due to spores being spread around. The hygiene tips in our guide work because they are the result of finding out the hard way in just how many ways the infection can be transferred. The danger with ringworm is not that it kills (which it doesn't with any quality treatment - and sorry, just a bit of cream ain't that), but in the fact that it takes A LOT to get on top of the spores and eradicate transmission. That is the reason why pet shops and breeders are struggling so badly with ringworm.
Make sure that you, too, have an all body nizoral shampoo wash in order to not come down with it in within the next two weeks.
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

If you have used cream on that spot (which it looks like to me), then it is going to make a diagnosis more difficult. Treating before seeing a vet is as effective as cleaning a crime scene before the arrival of police - and as welcome!

Please follow the advice in our guide carefully; just cream only treats an affected spot, but not its surroundings and it is also not preventing your ringworm piggy and their companions from developing more affected areas due to spores being spread around. The hygiene tips in our guide work because they are the result of finding out the hard way in just how many ways the infection can be transferred. The danger with ringworm is not that it kills (which it doesn't with any quality treatment - and sorry, just a bit of cream ain't that), but in the fact that it takes A LOT to get on top of the spores and eradicate transmission. That is the reason why pet shops and breeders are struggling so badly with ringworm.
Make sure that you, too, have an all body nizoral shampoo wash in order to not come down with it in within the next two weeks.
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

I'm already following that guide, it's very useful, been going a bit nuts with the F10. I have Nizoral also, how often do I wash myself with that? I also have Malaseb I can use on Dolly, do I bathe her and what about the other pigs, bath them in it too?

 

[Wiebke]

I'm already following that guide, it's very useful, been going a bit nuts with the F10. I have Nizoral also, how often do I wash myself with that? I also have Malaseb I can use on Dolly, do I bathe her and what about the other pigs, bath them in it too?

I would recommend that you give yourself a top to bottom nizoral shower now (give it some time to work on your skin before rinsing off) and again at the end of treatment to prevent yourself from developing ringworm. should take care of any infection and also wash away any spores. Nizoral is quite harsh on the skin.

Please give all piggies a malaseb bath to prevent them from coming down with more ringworm. Treat Dolly with malaseb every three days, for at least 3-4 times. Then assess whether the fungal is not coming back; if does come back, see your vet.
Give all piggies and yourself another bath if the ringworm is not coming back and also deep clean their cage, all their bedding and housing again, replace anything that you cannot deep clean in order to prevent any spores from being carried on - basically everything they have been in contact with. The more you can remove spores mechanically by washing or replacing, the less of a risk of recurrance there is. Don't forget the area around the cage and your own clothing; wash that frequently.