Ear Mites

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Jim Foyle - 02 Sep 2003 17:52 GMT

I just got a cat, less than 1 yr old. My daughter who knows
more about cats than me tells me that he may have ear mites
because he shakes his head as if something were irritating him.

How do I know if a cat has ear mites, and what should one
do about them? There is ear mite ointments at pet shops,
are they good enough?

Thanks,

Jim

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Bill - 02 Sep 2003 18:27 GMT

>"Jim Foyle" <jfoyle@dhc.net> wrote in message

news:bj2hrt$em36d$1@ID-119381.news.uni-berlin.de...

> I just got a cat, less than 1 yr old. My daughter who knows
> more about cats than me tells me that he may have ear mites
> because he shakes his head as if something were irritating him.
>
> How do I know if a cat has ear mites, and what should one
> do about them? There is ear mite ointments at pet shops,> are they good

enough?

> Thanks,
>
> Jim

One of my cats had ear mites a couple of years ago, so I've been though
this.

Ear mites are extremely small, so it take the specialized instruments vets
have to examine the cat's ear to determine if ear mites are present. There
could be other reasons the cat is shaking his head.

There's a product call Revolution that's applied to the cat's skin (not
inside the ear) that eliminates various parasites including fleas, ticks,
and ear mites.

There are also solutions you can get from the vet to put inside the cat's
ear to eliminate ear mites. Naturally cats hate this, and you usually have
to do it more than once.

After you've gotten rid of the ear mites, the cat's ears may tend to be waxy
or dirty. If this turns out to be the case, you may need to clean them or
have them cleaned.

It's my understanding the over-the-counter treatments aren't as good.

Bill

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William Hamblen - 03 Sep 2003 01:08 GMT

>I just got a cat, less than 1 yr old. My daughter who knows
>more about cats than me tells me that he may have ear mites
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>do about them? There is ear mite ointments at pet shops,
>are they good enough?

Head shaking and scratching are obvious clues. The cat needs
immunizations, deworming, neutering, etc. if not already done, and the
vet can check the ears when the other work is done. I've never had
much trouble with ear mites in my cats and I don't know anything about
pet store ear mite remedies. Usually the remedies you can buy at a
pet store aren't much good.

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