Animal Welfare Professionals

Is there a specific disinfectant that can be used to clean the cages in a catroom plagued by ringworm?

We use RESCUE to clean the cages.  You just have to let it sit for the longest allowed time for it to work.

I've also used Rescue (formerly Accel) when dealing with foster kittens with ringworm. ASPCA Pro has a handy chart that I have posted in my laundry room listing which disinfectants work for various pathogens https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-health-disease-management/shelter-disinfectant-quick-reference

This might be helpful: https://www.uwsheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/ringworm/environmental-decontamination

I use Rescue "Ready to Use" disinfectant. If you go to virox (mfg) website, you can confirm it is a reliable disinfectant for many things including ringworm and Parvo, with only a short amount of wet time required, and no rinsing required.

I'm a bit concerned that you are asking about cleaning the cages...and not treatment of animals, too? Hopefully you/your shelter are successfully treating the ringworm cases? Would love to hear your treatment protocol & meds used.

I realize the following is more information than you were asking for - hoping it may be helpful to you or others struggling with ringworm.....For what it's worth, several years ago my shelter was eu-ing for ringworm other than a few favored cats, (which I was fortunate enough to foster/treat and get adopted out).

During that time, I searched for a treatment that would hopefully be more user friendly for the shelter environment, vs what they were using, miconazole (sp?) cream 2-3x a day (when they bothered to try to treat ringworm)....needless to say it takes a long time to treat/see results and in shelter setting they do not have luxury of time nor staff/resources to treat 2-3 times a day for several weeks.

I came across Foot Rot and Ringworm Spray (agrilabs)...it is very inexpensive and only has to be applied once a day. Over the last several years of fostering cats/kittens I have found it to be very effective in treating ringworm...seeing results in only a couple weeks. I have only had a couple of cases that were very stubborn and I had to add medicated baths to treatment. The only drawback to this treatment is the red dye - it does stain the white hair pink...and it stays pink for quite some time after treatment making conversations about adoption interesting, although most people inquiring are not bothered by it and find it to be cute. ;)

I provided my shelter with several spray bottles of the Hoof Rot and Ringworm spray along with instructions for use - I'm not convinced that my shelter is treating all they can but I think they are making an effort.

Couple of other resources about how to tackle ringworm I've found helpful/inspirational:

https://www.maddiesfund.org/mcc-fighting-fungus-with-facts.htm

https://www.aspcapro.org/webinar-series-beating-ringworm

All the best! 

So I'm a little late on this but- 

We use Rescue (formerly Accel) at a dilution ration of 1 cup to 1 gallon (1:16). We allow a minimum contact time of 5 minutes. Our protocol for things like ringworm and parvovirus is to spray down the affected areas 3x with the 1:16 dilution. Not strictly necessary but it does help ensure that all affected areas are properly covered and receive the 5 minute soak time. An important point that often gets missed: a 5 minute soak time means that the area is WET with the rescue for the full 5 minutes. If it dries before the 5 minutes is up, it isn't getting disinfected because the rescue isn't really working anymore. So it actually has to be saturated pretty heavily to stay wet for the full 5 minutes. Letting it air dry is preferable but if you need it right away, drying it off is fine. And no need to rinse the kennels afterwards. 

On another note, I'm not sure what you mean by plagued but I'll take a wild guess that it's repeated ringworm diagnosis cropping up in cats from that room. My thought is that while your disinfectant might be an issue, you could also be missing some crucial cleaning areas. You'd be surprised at somethings that can get missed, simply because they're typical things that get overlooked. If you haven't already, my recommendations:  the entire room should be thoroughly cleaned, not just the kennels. Spray down the walls, doors, floors, the inside and outside of every cabinet, shelf, drawer, and garbage can. Clean everything. Wash all towels, blankets, toys, dishes, etc. that are currently in the room. Throw away everything in the room that can't be COMPLETELY cleaned. That includes fabric cat towers, boxes of exam gloves, whatever.  Ringworm spores travel and get on everything. Ideally, you could deep clean this room 3x to ensure everything was fully disinfected, but one good soaking should help tremendously.

As for protocols to treating ringworm (if you're interested), here's our process:

For treating ringworm, we use the anti-fungal medication Terbinafine; it comes in both liquid and tablet forms. Once a day for 28 days along with twice weekly baths in a lime-sulfur dip. Really young kittens get a sponge bath. They aren't towel dried; to be effective, the dip has to air dry onto the fur to kill the ringworm spores. 

Our kennels are double sided, so each day the cats are sealed into one side of their kennel. The other side is completely stripped and sprayed down with accel.  Anything made of cloth material (blankets, toys, whatever) is removed and replaced. Dishes, plastic toys and litter pans are returned to the kennels. We  are hoping to reach the point where we can replace and wash everything everyday or at the very least on bathing days. Haven't quite gotten there yet but hopefully someday!