Ear mites

forestfruits

My cat has tiny little black bugs on his ears- think they are ear mites - he tends to go off wandering when the weather is dry, down the fields and comes back with an earful of the things! I use a spot on flea and tic stuff and he has a flea collar. The inside of his ears are clean and he is in no discomfort, just the odd twitch of the ear. Any simple method of getting rid of them without picking them off myself!

I know if it gets bad Ill have to go get the drops from the vet but is there anything else to do in the meantime?

Noopti

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure ear mites are extremely small, and difficult to see without magnification. I also think that if there are ear mites you will also get what looks like specs of dirt in the ear.

Again, not 100% sure.

Toulouse

Ear mites live in the ear canal of a cat so if the inside of his ears are clean then I doubt it's ear mites. They are also white but infected animals have large amounts of brown matter in their ears so again I don't think we are talking about ear mites here as you say they're black and on his ear?

Are you sure these bugs are just on his ears? Have you gone through his coat? Are there anymore there?

Also you say your cat is treated with spot-on and also wears a flea-collar. I'd just stick to the spot on if I were you unless the collar is a tea-tree oil one or something. Both together can be pretty hard on your cat.

forestfruits

The collar is a herbal one, so hopefully not to hard on him. Ive checked right through his fur and there is no sign of anything else just these tiny black bugs on the edges of his ears.

Sigma Force

Flea collars are not great for getting rid of creepy crawlies.

What drops are you using, just be careful not to use too many different treatments. Something like Advantage should work, if it's fleas they should be gone within 12 to 24 hours.

What do the bugs look like?

Ear mites are microscopic methinks so the only sign of them you will see is black/brown type gunk in their ear.

If you google parasites on cats you should get a pic of them.

If the flea drops don't work then a trip to the vet is in order, not sure if there are such things as black ticks.

forestfruits

the drops are also herbal cant remember the name, its def not fleas - he had fleas before, they are about 4mm long black and shiny. Thinking of rubbing a little flea powder into the back of his ears and neck and taking off the collar for a while? They have always just gone away after a few days before, but would like to make sure they dont come back.

carwash_2006

I would be very careful about messing around with too many different remedies if what you are using is not working. It might be best to take a trip to the vet, even if you don't take the cat just get a proper treatment that will work.

Be careful of some of the herbal treatments. For instance I would be reluctant to use a tea tree flea collar on a cat as tea tree can be lethal to some cats.

forestfruits

Thanks for the tip! never knew that about the tea tree- used to use frontline so might just go back to that - going to pick them off myself as I used to do- just using a tissue and a glass of water for dunking them into when they are off! Worked in the past but was hoping I wouldnt have to do it!!

Ah well

MsFifers

My cats got ear mite infestations when they were kittens which lead to one of them getting a really bad inner ear infection which was horrible. Came home from work one day to find her bed covered in blood and discharge from her ears, she could have gone deaf and had her balance affected. So - don't wait for it to get worse - go to the vet.

The black specks aren't the mites - just the ear's response to the mites. Its like a waxy discharge. So even if you remove that the mites will still be there. You can only see the mites with a microscope.

Flea treatments won't work on the mites - you have to get a special ear drop to clear the infection, can't remember the name of it, sorry. But its not expensive and its available from vets only.

You should also discard the herbal treatments for now and get a good strong spot on like Advocat which would treat all parasites. Again, check with your vet as you will need to check that there won't be a reaction between the various treatments.

Good luck! It is great fun getting your cat to stay still while you put in the ear drops! :rolleyes:

anniehoo

forestfruits wrote: »

My cat has tiny little black bugs on his ears- think they are ear mites - he tends to go off wandering when the weather is dry, down the fields and comes back with an earful of the things! ?

They might be ticks rather than ear mites..as previous posters have said you cant see mites unless under a microscope! Can you see little pin prick size dark bulges on the ear or is it flaky/waxy stuff?

forestfruits

definately bugs, I did a monkey job on it last night and picked them off dunking them into a jar of water, gave his ears a bit of a wipe out just in case.

then the thankful little feline headed straight for the door to pick up some more!!

Jules

Bring the bugs to the vet and ask if they can check them under the microscope for ya.

forestfruits

Glad to report he is now bug free! with clean ears! still no idea what they were, but as soon as one shows up again ill have to go to the vets! (with cat of course)