Ringworm

I am so stressed lately. I've been working 64 hour weeks due to staffing issues at work. I leave the house at 7 and get home at 10 five nights a week. I deal with grumpy, nasty, mean humans all day. I come home and just crash. Have had barely any time with my husband, the cats, or my baby birds. Thankfully my husband has been taking care of them for me

Anyway, as you might know from previous posts, I have a boatload of cats. Well, six. But it feels like a boatload. The other day I noticed the back of Figaro's ears were almost completely bald! There are no scabs, no lesions, no ulcers, and it doesn't seem itchy. So weird! He's had an allergic reaction to a mysterious something before, so we decided to just keep an eye on it.

A few days later, another cat, Darcy, has baldness on her ears, too! She is a Maine Coon so her ears are normally fluffy teddy bear ears. Again, no itching, not scabs, no nothing except missing hair.

We immediately checked all the cats, and two more, Jonesy and Benny, are also missing hair. My Himalayan, Eva, lives primarily in our bedroom because she's goofy. Her ears are fine. We also have a short hair black cat that was feral when we found him who is still, 6 years later, only semi-tame. We haven't really had a chance to inspect his ears up close (he can tell when something's up) but his appear from a distance to be totally fine.

Anyway. My husband took Figaro to the vet and she was stumped. She said it's not ear mites (our initial thought). Fig did have some bacteria and yeast in his ears so they cleaned them. (We have checked all the other cats' ears and they are all spotless). The vet wants to check for ringworm because it's the only other thing she can think of.

I know how awful ringworm can be, and I am seriously panicking over this. Again, they don't have ANY other symptoms other than their ears have just gone bald on the backs. I really hope this is not the case, I don't know if I can handle it right now. I have no idea how they would have gotten it... They are all 100% indoor cats.

Anyway, my question to you all is... Has anyone ever heard of ringworm in birds? I asked my Avian vet, and she said ringworm typically affects mammals. She has never heard of ringworm in a bird. While I completely trust her and she is an excellent vet, I can't help but worry. Anyone heard of it in birds before? Obviously I'm taking precautions just in case. We don't get the culture results for 3-5 days.

Ugh I don't really know what to say regarding the birds.
I will say when I was 9 or 10 I got ringworm from a horse we had bought at an auction. So humans can get it- be careful. It sucked.

Yep, wifey caught it digging plants, (deleted) doctor misdiagnosed it for over a month and it got into her blood stream. Major antibiotic to knock out, and a reaction to the fungi being killed, oh yes, fun!

Sorry to hear you are dealing with that. Ringworm is no fun and I've been seeing it frequently at our clinic lately. I have also never heard of ringworm in birds, so I wouldn't be too concerned about that. As for your cats, unfortunately, the ears and head are the most commonly affected areas seen in ringworm cases so I would be suspicious of it as well. Are any of your cats relatively new additions? Ringworm spores are very hardy and can survive for over a year and kittens and longhaired cats are more susceptible. I know it's stressful waiting for culture results, but if you want to be proactive, you can use Lamisil, Lotrimin or Minconazole topically on yourself and your cats to help keep it under control until the results are in.