Help with cats ears

grinder23

Hi

Hope someone can help me out i have 3 indoor cats and recently 1 has been very irritated with his ears the problem seems to be worse when he's sleeping he wakes abruptly shaking his head and scratching his ear like he's trying to get inside it almost

I brought him to my vet(who i've recently lost confidence with due to treatment of a siblings cat) who just looked at him briefly and was given a spot on which i do anyway he said it was probably mites as he could see black spots deep in his ear

Just wondering is it possible that spot on could work on 1 cat but not another as my other 2 are fine and also if there is any alternatives to this treatment for mites

None of my cats have ever had mites/fleas before(maybe due to spot on) does anyone know what causes them as they never go outside or interact with any other animals bar each other

Sorry for so many questions but im currently seeking a different vet just thought someone might know something i could try in the meantime

Thanks for any replies

MsFifers

The black spots sound like mites alright - one of mine got a bad infestation when she was a kitten, even though she had been given a spot on, and she developed a bad inner ear infection because of it. It was really horrible - her ears were bleeding and discharging - yuk. It must have really hurt her.

I had to get a special ear drop medicine for the mites (which I can't remember the name of sorry) and apply that into her ear canal a couple of times a day - which was a battle!

Try going to another vet - untreated ear mites can end up with your cat going deaf or its balanced being affected.

lostinnappies

it is mites, go to another vet who knows what they are doing
drop ons are for flees, worms and skin mites. Not for ear mites. You need ear drops to treat them. If its happening more when he is lying on his bed the mites may have infested his bedding. If you can boil wash it once you start treatment it will prevent a re-infection. if you cant, get a new one once you have started treatment.

carwash_2006

Stronghold and Advocate both kill ear mites too, but If they are still having a problem after using this then some more direct treatment will be necessary. Go back to your vet.

MsFifers

The Advocate spot on didn't work for my cat's ear mite problem - although it has seemed to stop any re-infections. I think once they are in there, you need the ear drops to sort it out.

carwash_2006

I didn't find the Advocate as good as the Stronghold myself. But it is quite effective in many cases, I do find though that you need to give the ears a good clean every day for a few days while they are dying.

Benzyl Benzoate is very effective too for treating mites, but if you are unsure it is always best to go to a vet. Also if you do use anything like that and it isn't having a noticeable effect within a day or two always go back to your vet.

Lostinnappies, you really shouldn't be telling people to get a new vet on the basis of one piece of information that you actually are in error over, always double check something like that before you tell someone their vet doesn't know what they are talking about. A quick google would have been sufficient in this case.

lostinnappies

carwash_2006 wrote: »

Lostinnappies, you really shouldn't be telling people to get a new vet on the basis of one piece of information that you actually are in error over, always double check something like that before you tell someone their vet doesn't know what they are talking about. A quick google would have been sufficient in this case.

First off, OP had already stated that " i've recently lost confidence with due to treatment of a siblings cat", and for a lay person to have lost confidence in a professional like this means that they are often correct in their assumptions. Having not wanted to get into a techical argie bargie and wanting to keep things simple and to the point i said that they didnt work in ear mite because from having had considerable experience working in the Vets and having treated cats/dogs with earmites I have found that the spot on was not good enough to rectify the mite infestation nor the infection which usually followed. A direct application to the ear of a treatment would have saved the OP time, money and worry. Any competent Vet with more then a couple of years experience should already know this. And i know that you are going to say that sometimes flea allergies will sometimes cause ear problems and that is why he treated with flea spot on. Again any Vet worth your precious money will also know that it doesnt cause these kind of syptoms.

And lastley, not every vet is a good vet just because they have spent the same amount of time in uni as all the others, believe me i have seen some vets with a vast amount of years experience KILL a pet because of ignorance, I have also been responsible for preventing some vets killing an animal. So having ACTUAL experience both of the above condition being treated in mulitple ways and of bad vets, i hold to my opinion stated in the previous post .. get rid of him.

bullets

Cant remember the name of the drops we used before for our cats
that had the same issue. They smelt like those Cola Bottle sweets
and you needed to massage them into the ear canal.

I'll check what the name of the drops are when I get home from work.

Handy vid here you may need to wrap your cat up in a towel if he
struggles. (Ours didnt as he's pure thick)
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-give-your-cat-ear-drops
~B

grinder23

Firstly thanks to everyone who replied

I got to my vet at lunchtime to tell him the spot on didn't clear it up it just eased it a bit but it's as bad as ever now and is there anything else he could suggest but he told me the spot on is adequate and i mustn't of put it on correctly which i promptly replied YOU put it on when i brought him in


He suggested getting another one(spot on) or bringing him back in but i thought that seeing as he was only in a few weeks ago that he might give me something different to try instead of me having to fork out another 50+ quid although i would pay anything if it sorted the problem

Thanks again everyone think ill check around for other vets just to see their response/remedy

lostinnappies

grinder23 wrote: »

Firstly thanks to everyone who replied

I got to my vet at lunchtime to tell him the spot on didn't clear it up it just eased it a bit but it's as bad as ever now and is there anything else he could suggest but he told me the spot on is adequate and i mustn't of put it on correctly which i promptly replied YOU put it on when i brought him in


He suggested getting another one(spot on) or bringing him back in but i thought that seeing as he was only in a few weeks ago that he might give me something different to try instead of me having to fork out another 50+ quid although i would pay anything if it sorted the problem

Thanks again everyone think ill check around for other vets just to see their response/remedy

Im glad you are sensible enough not to have gone with another spot on. Having another one would be an overdose and can cause seziures. excuse my spelling im in a rush. I mean it should have been on his records to begin with that you had a spot on put on while you were last there. Run away run far away from him.