Mijoy Yorkies and Mijoy Biewers

The letter above is very sad, to think that a puppy Yorkie, lost its life as a result of having ringworm.

I answered this Ladies mails directly to her, I am not going into detail, suffice to say, People ask me if they should go back and tell the breeder they purchased these pups from????

Depending what you want to achieve by doing that? – Make them feel bad, or guilty, make them actually attempt to sort the problem they are sitting with out?  Do not waste your breath.  They are only too aware of the fact that those pups they are selling to the innocent public are infected with a skin disease which is both contagious to man and to other fur bearing animals.

The problem can be sorted and easily enough, but it takes effort and a repeated daily routine to get the better of this. I too was unfortunate enough to pick this problem up last year – from a breeder- it was not intentional – very luckily for me, I noticed the problem some eight days later when the first lesion appeared, I acted immediately and took preventative measures as well.  People do not take Ringworm as a serious problem, they underestimate what it takes to treat the problem.

It would appear that the vets that treated this dog (Readers letter) were unsure what they were dealing with.  Mites and what they refer to as omlope(ringworm).  This Lady was never given any info on Ringworm, and that it is a fungal infection of the skin and nothing to do with worms at all.

All a vet has to do is take a skin scraping and send it off to the laboratories, they will then do a culture, and there will be no mistaking what the problem is.

What does ringworm look like? Normally appears in a circle form, the fur falls out, the patch can be scaly but does not have to be. If you have a pet with this, DO NOT groom it, you will spread the infection through the coat. Seek professional help immediately.

Over the months, I have had a couple of other readers writing in with the self-same problem. The one poor Lady was at a stage, where the pup that had had the problem since she had purchased it, some six months prior to her contacting me, was so desperate. The vets again, were telling her various stories as to exactly what the problem was, that pup narrowly missed being put to sleep – the owner so desperate. This lady had been given the normal medication dispensed for the treatment of ringworm by one of the vets she consulted with, but this did nothing to improve the condition, it worsened in fact, and this resulted in her thinking this was not the problem her pup was sitting with.

 I have also had a mail from another reader, who bred her first litter of Yorkies – they were ready to be viewed for prospective new homes, two weeks prior to them being old enough to leave, she had placed an advert and had people calling on her to view the pups.  A very unfortunate situation arose, when the first person to view these pups, was someone who had visited an infected kennel prior to calling on her.  The person concerned told her she had a pup ordered from this kennel and when she went to collect it, the pup had bald patches on it and she refused to purchase the pup.  The breeder at no time told her this was infectious. She was however offered a discount?????? This Lady then found the new breeders advert in the paper and paid her a visit, straight from having been to the previous breeder. Neither the breeder or purchaser  were aware that what the first pups the purchaser had viewed, had an infectious skin problem, they had no idea it was ringworm, and in a lot of instances people are not aware of ringworm or what it is. The new breeders one pup became infected as a result of the purchaser handling it.  A matter of a week later. That particular pup had bald spots on it, and a few days following that, the other pups started showing signs of having the skin infection.

What do you do if this should happen to you??? Treat your puppies, adult dogs, all animals on your property that could be infected. It is time consuming, a lot of hard work, and the medication is given daily. It is also costly. Treating and eradicating ringworm is something that is not achieved overnight, it takes weeks roughly 4 -6 weeks to treat.  YOU will only overcome this problem if you stick to a daily routine, of sterilizing all possible infected areas, including bedding, furniture, carpets, floors etc and medicating ALL your pets that could be affected.  It is pretty useless only treating the infected animals, as the chances of the  untreated animals picking up the problem is extremely high. IF you do not treat and treat properly you are wasting your time.

It has become obvious to persons in the know, that the normal medication dispensed by vets in most cases, no longer cures the problem. It is thought that the ringworm in some instances, has been with the breeders for so long, that it has become resistant to the normal medications used.  It can only be assumed that this has happened, as a result of continuous attempts to eradicate the problem, and the ringworm no longer responds to the normal drugs used.

ANYONE sitting with this problem and wanting to eliminate it from their properties and animals, is more than welcome to contact me and I will advise you exactly what medication to use, to overcome this problem.

I was in the cat world for many years, and certain Breeders names were mentioned and in the same sentence so was ringworm.  This is now the case with some of the YORKIE breeders.

HI there,

I followed your advice and am so happy to be able to say that after a good few weeks of attempting to sort this problem with no improvement, and then switching to the treatment you advised the problem is now history.

I did pick up a problem from a member of the public however, they had seen the one pup originally, and paid for it etc, and when it was time to collect it, I told them what had happened, and I could not release this pup.  They were adamant that they would sort it out, even said their first yorkie many years before had also had the problem.  They took the pup on holiday with them, although I was not happy to release it.  On their return I received an abusive mail regarding the pup and the situation I had put them in and that their one child had become infected. They made all kinds of threats and I was concerned as I am a new breeder and do not need my name damaged before I have even started.

Any ideas????

Thanks again, I can breathe again.

Anonymous breeder….

Human nature once again. People will want their pup, they will say whatever it takes for you to release it, and then when they sit with a problem like these people did, it is your fault.  Quite normal. Don’t stress. I do not believe one person out there who has bred for many years irrespective of what they are breeding, and has in turn mixed with other breeders, appeared with their animals on show, etc, have not picked up ringworm along the line at one or other stage. If they have not they have been more than EXTREMELY FORTUNATE.

You can prove it is not the norm for you, all you need do is go to your vet and ask him to write you a letter. If he has been your vet for a good few years, he will be more than happy to oblige.  People can say what they like, the truth will out in the end. You cannot be blamed and your reputation tarnished over one incident that was totally out of your control. Yes, you could have refused to let them take the pup, but they did say they would handle the problem, they said so, their problem. If for whatever reason it caused them further problems, that is not your problem, you did advise them you did not want to release the puppy. In future GOD forbid this ever happens to you again, take all the necessary precautions possible – DO NOT release any pup, till you are totally happy with it and it has been vet cleared, if the prospective purchaser is not happy with this, refund him/her, her money.

I showed Persian cats for a good few years, and not one or two at any one show, quite a number. To show Persians is not the easiest thing, it takes a lot of hard work, especially the day prior to the show, the morning of the show, prior to you even getting in your car to go to the show. IF you worked at the show, which I used to do, steward etc, you are exhausted by the time the show closes at 5 and you take your cats out of the show cages, into their travelling boxes and home.  As mentioned above certain Persian cat breeders were known for ringworm. To avoid my cats being contaminated by ringworm, we would then proceed to bath our cats that had been on show with an anti-fungal shampoo, prior to them going anywhere near our other cats, for fear they had picked up infected hairs - spores(fur ) from other cats on show.  It took us a couple of days to recover, but something we did religiously, as we would not want to risk our animals picking up ringworm.

RINGWORM in my eyes is one of the worst things you can ever have. If you have one or two pets that is manageable to treat and overcome, no train smash but to a breeder – a total train smash.

If you knowingly have ringworm please do not go near other breeders, or friends with pets, do not take your animals near Doggie Parlours –Ringworm is easily transmitted via the infected animal’s fur that has spores attached to it.

YES, there are medications available that will sort out ringworm, irrespective how desperate you have become…… and how often you have tried to sort this problem, it is curable.

A readers response - below.....

  18-04-2010

  HI Mijoy

I read your latest mail on the blog, and can relate to this poor woman’s situation. We purchased two Yorkies some years back from whom we believed to be a good breeder. Both had ringworm, and in the end my vet took control of the situation and kept them isolated at his clinic, until they were over the ringworm. We in the meantime cleaned everything we could in and around our home. We fortunately never saw it again. I have to tell you, if my vet had not taken over at that stage, I think I may have had a breakdown of sorts.  It was a very bad experience.  I too became desperate when nothing seemed to be working.

I cannot but wonder why the breeders with this problem do not sort it out. Any ideas?

Hello Julie

I am pretty sure no breeder be it a cat or dog breeder is happy to sit with this situation and I am sure they will have tried on numerous occasions to overcome the problem.  It is not easy as you yourself know and you had two dogs, imagine some of these breeders have a lot of dogs/cats, and to treat those every single day and disinfect every single day, and sterilise all the bedding??? The mind boggles. 

I do not want to be drawn into this problem some breeders have, it is none of my business, and we are not a gossip column.

Thanks for your mail. I know exactly how you felt, the reason this new mail has been put onto my site and the main motivation to put it on my site, that some little pup, lost its life, as a result of not receiving the correct treatment and the owner of that pup, having no real idea what the problem with the pup was.   He could have been cured in four to six weeks, had the owner only known the procedure to follow. As I mentioned before RINGWORM is not taken seriously enough, be it by some vets and “POSSIBLY” by some Breeders. Only people that have been in your situation, you and the writer of the mail you are responding to, would know just how desperate one becomes when there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel.