Ear Mites
By Maureen Fleury
Last week, my son had just moved back home with his two cats, Lewis and Liam. His poor cats were licking and scratching non-stop. One of the cats had a bald spot behind his ear. I felt little scabs on the skin and in the fur of both cats. I figured they had a bad case of fleas so I took them to the vet. The vet looked at the cats and agreed they had fleas. The vet also looked in their ears and wiped a piece of cotton in their ears and showed us these tiny black specks. The cats have ear mites!
What are ear mites?
They are tiny parasites that infest the ears of cats and dogs, but especially young cats. They live inside the ear canal. If not treated, they can cause a big infection or loss of balance or deafness. They are passed from cat to cat. My son’s cats are indoor cats, but they were living in an apartment building, and most likely the mites were on other cats who live there.
What are the signs of ear mites?
The cat will do a lot of ear scratching and head shaking. The cat may develop bald spots around the ears due to all the scratching. If you look inside the ear, you will see these black specks. It is a buildup of wax and looks like coffee grounds. The cat’s ears may also swell. If you sniff the cat’s ears, they will have a foul smell. Quite often, if the cat has a flea problem, they may also have mites.
What to do about ear mites?
Take your cat to the vet for an examination and ear cleaning.
Although there is ear mite medicine available at pet stores, it is not as good as the medicine you get from a vet. For any medicine to work, the vet has to first clean the cat’s ears. The mites cannot be killed by just buying some medicine at the store and putting it in the infected ears.
My vet took each cat into another room and immediately cleaned their ears. She then put medicine in their ears. Because the cats had a bad case of fleas, she used this medicine that kills both ear mites and fleas. We were then given ear mite medicine to take home. We have to put it in the cats' ears every day. We also were given some of the flea medicine that we have to put on the back of the cats' necks in a month’s time.
There are several products that vets use, and it’s all a matter of the vet’s preference and the degree of infestation. In my situation, the vet had a medicine that kills both fleas and mites. Some medicines are for mites only.
What not to do:
Do not try to clean your cat’s ears at home. Using a cotton swab can pierce the cat’s eardrum if pushed down too far. If you try washing the cat’s ears, there are certain things you have to be careful with, such as not allowing the liquid to drain.
What to do:
Check your cat’s ears regularly. Look for a wax and black specks oozing out of the ear. If you live in a house where there is more than one cat, take every cat to the vet for an examination. It can be passed from cat to cat. I have cats of my own and I had to take them in. By luck they didn’t have mites.
My son’s two cats are doing well now. Within a day of having their ears washed and given the medicine for ear mites and fleas, they stopped their constant licking and scratching. They are starting to gain weight and their sores are healing and their hair is growing back in the bald areas. We are still giving them ear medicine every day, even though they don’t like it. Cats don’t always like what’s good for them, so that is why we sometimes have to fight with them to give them their medicine.
About the Author:
Maureen lives in Coquitlam which is a suburb of Vancouver BC Canada with her three boys. In addition to the "humans" in the household, there is a menagerie of 4 cats.
Maureen's interests are animals and computers (more like an obsession). She enjoys online publishing, and running around taking pictures with her digital camera.
Maureen may be contacted by email at mfleury@shaw.ca.
Article courtesy of Suite101.com.
