Hey everyone! I'm reporting live from the SPORE LOUNGE!
Also known as the ringworm unit at Best Friends, Los Angeles.
(voiceover) This is a place specially designed to treat kittens and cats who have ringworm!
Ringworm is not a worm,
it is a fungal infection of the skin and the hair.
Ringworm is not a death sentence,
but unfortunately, many kittens who have ringworm
are euthanized in the United States because it is so contagious.
[Hannah offscreen] So today, I'm gonna take you guys inside the Best Friends Los Angeles spore lounge
and show you how they're saving the lives of ringworm kittens.
Hiiii!
Hiiiiiiii!
H: Oh, I see your spots. You got a very...
clear lesions.
H: Hi! I don't wanna touch everybody. ANDREW (offscreen): Yeah.
H: I will just love you with my face.
H (voiceover): To test if the kittens are positive for ringworm,
they do a fungal culture every two weeks.
They do that by taking a toothbrush
and rubbing the face, the fur,
any of the ringworm lesions,
and popping that into a fungal culture.
Takes about two weeks, and in two weeks if it's positive,
it's going to look red and a little bit moldy.
If it's negative, then they retest them after another two weeks.
After the kitten has two negative cultures,
they are good to go and they can be adopted.
To treat them, they use an antifungal called lime sulfur dip.
It's a little bit stinky, but it's very effective at killing ringworm.
[Hannah smells the mixture] Whew!
ANDREW: It's terrible.
WOMAN: I say it's the smell of healing.
H: Yeah.
W: Pump this to get the pressure...
[pump slamming up and down]
H: Wow.
W: And then it'll spray.
H: Wheeeew! A: Well that's cool!
W: And then just test it at the bottom... H: WHEEEEWWWW!
W: Rub it into the undercoat.
W: Make sure (unclear) the tail.
H: This is really, really smart. A: This is easier than what we do.
H: This IS easier than what we do. Less traumatic, for sure.
W: And you just have to make sure it gets to the undercoat.
W: Sometimes if they don't feel like it's enough, they'll... [implying using a lime sulfur bath]
H: How long have you guys been using that?
H: As a method... W: The sprayer? This little one, just since we've started here at (unclear).
H: So smart! W: But we have a bigger one that we use...
H: Really smart.
W: And then for the face, I just spray a sponge, get that pretty good...
H: So smart.
H (sarcasm): It's like you guys know what you're doing or something! [All laughing]
W: This is how we're teaching our fosters,
W: and that's how we're getting a lot more fosters for them too.
H: Right. That's awesome! A: And so you don't wash this off?
A: You just leave it on 'em? W: Nope. You leave it on.
W: Alright! And that's pretty much... (unclear) H (to kitten): Good job!
H: So, this is amazing.
H: Because Best Friends doesn't dunk their kittens, they actually use a garden sprayer...
H: to spray the lime dip onto them. I think this is much less traumatic for them.
H: I feel like I'm spray painting her.
H: Whooooo!
H: Lookin' yellow!
H: So, spray my sponge...
H (to kitten): I'm soooorry. I know!
H: I think this is such a good niche for someone, you know?
If you don't wanna do neonatal kittens,
if you don't wanna do moms and babies,
ringworm cats and kittens is such a huge need for shelters!
H: Right? You guys have a hard time... W: I've met a lot of people that once they get involved in ringworm,
W: become very obsessed with it.
H: Yeah. W: It's one of those weird clique things. That's kind of how I got...
W: I just started researching and got really obsessed with it.
H: I think because it's like once you realize...
H: animals die because of this but they don't HAVE to, it's so treatable,
H: Then yeah, I could see how you can become obsessive over wanting to treat this thing
that's not actually that hard to treat
because it like saves their life.
W: And it doesn't hurt them in any way. They don't even notice it happened.
W: It's not like scabies and that it's itchy. They don't really know any different.
H: Oh my god, the tongue. Look at the tongue!
H: A little blep.
I'm sorry! I wanna kiss your mouth so bad, but I know that this is not the right time for that.
H: They also use oral antifungal medication to help treat these kittens from the inside out.
(sarcasm) You might also notice my wonderful outfit! [laughing]
H: It's really important that you are protecting yourself
and also protecting all of the items in the environment
when you're working with ringworm kittens.
So lots of gloves, gowns, tying your hair up,
and there's A LOT of cleaning involved.
Thanks for watching, and many thanks to Best Friends Los Angeles
for your incredible work with ringworm kittens!