Originally Posted by TatumsMom (Post 1659226)

Well, in our experience it's the area inside of the ring that is devoid of hair. Normally a ringworm spot is first just a red spot, then it turns into a red ring with no hair inside the ring. Then if it goes untreated, it can scab. Again, I'm not saying for sure that this is what Marty has...... it just really looks suspiciously like what I've seen before. It definitely still could be an allergy issue but like I said, I have had no experience with that.

And no, I don't fully believe the health thing you mentioned because both Tatum and Stormie (our Aust. Shep.) have always been very healthy - no vet visits ever except their vaccinations - and they both got the ringworm from the cats. Ringworm is extremely contagious..... I meant to ask if you and your husband have noticed any spots on yourselves. My daughters both got it years ago from some kittens that my MIL got from a friend. Those poor kittens had ringworm so horribly that my daughters got it from them after just playing with them a few times. Turns out the guy that she got the kittens from ending up telling her that his daughters had "this ringworm thing" and he had no idea that's what it was until she told him her grand daughters got it! Ugh!

I believe MyFairLacy said there is a blacklight test the vet can do..... have the vet do that for you and maybe the skin scraping also. I can't believe he's treating this like it's something in the inner ear. That sounds weird to me. After seeing those pictures, I would definitely assume that a vet would have scraped it or something.

Originally Posted by luv_my_yorkies (Post 1659250)

My vote is still allergies! Are your baby's ears warm to the touch and red? Is he rubbing them into the ground at all? Tino's ears went from just red to scabby, just like the pic you posted, overnight! I took him to the vet the next morning and sure enough, it was allergies. I had given both he and his yorkie sister boiled chicken that evening and turns out he was allergic! I had to keep the scabs moist and give him a baby-dose antihistamine...but it cleared it right up. He was miserable, but at least now we know.

Originally Posted by TatumsMom (Post 1659293)

I tried to edit my post to add more but waited too long. Here's what I tried to say...

So I went and looked at those pictures again and I think if it IS indeed ringworm, it has progressed to the point where you can't really see the "ring definition" so well..... does that make sense? With ringworm, once it scabs over it's hard to see the ring shape. But it does still look like there's no hair in the inside of the circle.

I would think that it would be much easier to specifically look for the ringworm and then if it's not, go with the allergy issue. Allergies can take a long time to pinpoint so why not get a definite answer regarding the ringworm and then work from there. A good vet should be able to tell if it's ringworm with specific simple tests. And yes, since ringworm is fungal, there are specific things that have to be used on it. We had a shampoo and a topical ointment specifically for fungal issues.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Originally Posted by AngieDoogles (Post 1659310)

Thanks so much for the advice! I will definitely keep you informed.

I feel like such a bad mommy if it's ringworm and I didn't notice it before it scabbed... :(

Originally Posted by AngieDoogles (Post 1659263)

Thanks for all the information! Now I get to call vets and decide which one to go to. I just hate doing that over the phone. I wish there was some way I could just know which one is the best... Wouldn't that make life easier? LOL

I was frustrated with the vet not doing more. She didn't even LOOK at the top of his ears as far as I could tell. She used to do such a good job... :(

Right now, Marty is taking two antibiotics/day and also has a medicated wash that we apply twice a day called Malaseb Flush. We've been doing this for about a week now and no improvement...which would make since if it's a fungus and not bacterial. :mad:

Originally Posted by YorkieRose (Post 1659538)

It is not ringworm..it is veyr contagiosu and to humans also...I would look for a vet who knows how to treat allergies...change his food and give the proper meds for allergies. best wishes

Originally Posted by Brennydoogles (Post 1665880)

We went to a new vet today, and did a few tests to find out what it could be. She did a culture (which will come back in 10 days), and also looked at his ears under the Blacklight. She is fairly certain that the problem is ringworm, since his ears glowed green under the blacklight, but we have a follow-up appointment Jan 25th. We were much more impressed with this vet. She made sure that we understood everything she was talking about, and was super nice. I think we have found our new vet.

Originally Posted by MyFairLacy (Post 1665918)

sorry...I think I posted my response late at night before I went to bed and didn't see this thread again until just now! I'm glad you found out it is most likely ringworm. Hopefully some antifungal medication will help and take care of it. On my cat that has broken out in it before, I had to use a combo of pills AND shampoos/creams. With Lacy got it once, she just had one scabby area...it started out round and scabbed over with hair around it..I put a little cream on it every day and it went away just fine.

Originally Posted by AngieDoogles (Post 1665995)

We have an antifungal cream now and also the wash that we've been using for the past week. The vet said we should see improvement fairly quickly IF it's ringworm. She also mentioned that she was worried because the scabs are bilateral (on both ears in the same location). She says ringworm is usually random and wouldn't show up in a pattern like that. We're hoping it's ringworm or we will have to do more extensive testing to find out if it could be a condition similar to lupus. I can't remember the name and tried doing a google search but couldn't find it. The disease she's concerned about is not as bad as lupus, but works similarly. I wish I could remember the name. We are hoping and praying that it's just ringworm or allergies. The next ten days will be difficult...

Another thing that's hard is that Marty and Maddie can't see my mom now for quite a while because of her chemo. She would be very susceptible to getting the ringworm (again, IF that's the problem). She doesn't need another thing to deal with on top of all her treatment. It's going to break her heart (and mine) to have to keep them away from her. :(

Oh, and Brendon said that the black light test glowed, but I don\'t think it did. It was very faint and I think it was supposed to be bright green if it was that type of ringworm.