CINCINNATI -- It was small, cute and furry, and 7-year-old Pam Dixon fell in love.

"It's got a little black nose," she said.

So when Pam and her older sister found the limping kitten outside, they brought it home, hoping to nurse it back to health.

However, Pam and her siblings would soon need the nursing, WLWT in Cincinnati reported.

A week after taking in the kitten, the two girls developed an itchy rash all over their bodies. Eventually, five of the six Dixon children got the rash.

"My middle daughter, Kimmy, she never got better, ended up having to go to the hospital and get intravenous antibiotics," James Dixon said. "We discovered it was from a fungus that the cat had."

A veterinarian informed the Dixons that the cat had microsporum gypsum, a form of ringworm.

Since then, every day has been a struggle at the Dixon home.

"It's been day to day, sanitizing everything everybody touches, treating hundreds of spots on the kids, twice a day, every day," Dixon said.

His two youngest children have still not been allowed to return to school and may not for several more days.

Dixon said his family's mistake should be a caution to others who might take in a stray animal.

"Find out if there's anything wrong with them before you let your kids play all over the floor with them, because they scatter their germs everywhere," he said.