Material around Each Cat Claw Might be Ringworm

by Margaret

My female cat 5 years old has a problem with her claws. Material forms around each claw with pus in the nail-bed. We have taken her to a specialist in addition to our family vet. Every night we give her an antibiotic (Zeniquin 25 mg) and clean each nail (Vetericyn VF) and put a cream (Mupirocin usp 2%) on the nail-beds. She also has outbreaks of a weeping sore that resembles feline acne on her chin and has also occured on her back near her tail. She has been very patient with the nightly treatment even though at times when there are bad flare ups I know it is very painful.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Suggestion from our Veterinarian Regarding Material Forming around a Cat Claw

Hi Margaret,

The first thing that comes to mind regarding your cat’s condition is ringworm; it has a predilection for the nail beds and is a common disease in cats. Has your cat been thoroughly evaluated for ringworm? This could involve multiple fungal cultures and maybe even tissue biopsies before I would rule it out completely.

It sounds like your cat needs a complete dermatological work up, which in addition to the fungal cultures and tissue biopsies, could include skin scrapings to look for microscopic parasites (and possibly even some empiric treatment for the types that can be hard to find on scrapings), skin cytology to rule out infection, bacterial cultures, and allergy testing if all else fails.

Best of luck,

Jennifer Coates, DVM