Good evening Dr. Tobin,
This post is in regards to treating cats for long-term mold exposure. I was wondering if you have ever treated cats for this problem and or fungal infections?
I have been dealing with my landlord and the health department about this lately because the mold from the ceiling, tiles, and such has never been fixed properly. Because of mold reappearing, both my cats and myself have had abnormal hair loss, by the roots and other symptoms.
I want to give you some background to give you an idea of the environment my cats have been exposed to. Six months ago when the landlord "fixed" the ceiling in my bedroom, he did not vacuum, causing all sorts of health issues in my cats and I. The night he scraped the mold off the ceiling in my bedroom, my smaller cat could not stop sneezing when she went in there, and she started having a very fast heart rate, panting and some breathing problems. Both of my cats have had some wheezing problems and a watery eye once in awhile. In this room, there was a flap of paint on the ceiling, where the mold had broken out, and was hanging from the ceiling, releasing pollyfilla coated mold spores for a long time. Incidentally, this flap of the ceiling had been directly above the right side of my computer where my right eye has been affected. For about a year now, my right eye has had problems with itchiness, irritation, and leakage.
Therefore, I was just wondering if you can suggest anything for my cats internally to help get rid of the mold or fungus infection and something to help their immune system fight it off. For instance, is Vitamin C safe for cats and what is the dose you would use?
In addition, externally is there anything that you would suggest, for the hair loss, and itchiness? I have bought Tea tree essential oil but I have read that too much of it, if licked off the fur by a pet is toxic. So I am wondering how many drops would you suggest I could put in 100ml of organic shampoo?
And my smaller cat does not like to be touched too often, especially bathed, so therefore, what type of organic product would you suggest that is anti-fungal and can also be used internally, in case I don't get the chance to totally rinse it off?
A few products I have found that can be used as an anti-fungal for humans are Calendula, Pau D'Arco tincture, Propolis tincture, and Echinacea tincture. I know we have talked before in prior posts about Echinacea but what about the other three tinctures. What would you suggest?
Thank you for your help in advance.
Leah
