Cat scratching

HalloweenJack

I've been left to look after my sister's cat for the next few weeks.

The cat keeps scratching the inside of his right ear with his right foot. Sometimes, he does it so roughly that it cuts his ear open and he starts bleeding.

I've dabbed Dettol on it the last time he cut himself and it's stop bleeding for now (last time he bled was last night). Is there any way to make sure he stops doing it?

carwash_2006

He probably has ear mites. Check inside the ear, if it's dirt then he has ear mites. It probably should be checked by the vet just to make sure there is no infection.

In the meantime you can clean it out yourself, get some Benzyl Benzoate from the chemist, drop a few drops into the ear and then swab around carefully with cotton wool. Don't go too deep into the ear. You can use a little sunflower oil, but if there is mites the Benzyl Benzoate will actually kill them and may clear up the problem entirely.

MsFifers

Or you could bring it to the vet who will probably be able to give you ear drops with a proper dropper which might be a bit easier to apply.

galah

HalloweenJack wrote: »

I've dabbed Dettol on it the last time he cut himself and it's stop bleeding for now (last time he bled was last night). Is there any way to make sure he stops doing it?

NEVER use Dettol on a cat! It's highly toxic to them, and it actually says on the bottle not to use it around cats!

Apart from that - sounds like it's ear mites - off to the vet! ;-)

HalloweenJack

Thanks for all the replies.

Don't think there's been any bad reaction to the Dettol.

He's stopped scratching his ear so I don't know what it was.