Diagnosis and treatment of dermatophytosis in dogs and cats.

Abstract

Background – Dermatophytosis is a superficial fungal skin disease of cats and dogs. The most common pathogens of small animals belong to the genera Microsporum and Trichophyton . It is an important skin disease because it is contagious, infectious and can be transmitted to people. Objectives – The objective of this document is to review the existing literature and provide consensus recommendations for veterinary clinicians and lay people on the diagnosis and treatment of dermatophytosis in cats and dogs. Conclusions – No one diagnostic test was identified as the gold standard. Successful treatment requires concurrent use of systemic oral antifungals and topical disinfection of the hair coat. Wood's lamp and direct examinations have good positive and negative predictability, systemic antifungal drugs have a wide margin of safety and physical cleaning is most important for decontamination of the exposed environments. Finally, serious complications of animal–human transmission are exceedingly rare.