Ear Mites

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Stoph - 21 Apr 2004 16:43 GMT

My wife and I just inherited a cat from a friend of hers who unfortunately
fell in love and now intends to marry a man with major feline allergies.
She has ear mites in both ears and I was wondering what are the best meds to
use? Our cats have never had them. Will the mites get onto our other cats
if they aren't treated as well? Thanks in advance for the help. Our cats
have always been indoors and have always been really healthy, so I am new to
the ear mite world.

Stoph

"As long as there is space, I am going to stare off into it." -- Garfield

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M.C. Mullen - 21 Apr 2004 18:07 GMT

| My wife and I just inherited a cat from a friend of hers who unfortunately
| fell in love and now intends to marry a man with major feline allergies.
| She has ear mites in both ears and I was wondering what are the best meds to
| use?

Commiserations!
We have this most loving tom with the best personality you can think of. We
got him from the shelter last October, that's 6 mths ago. Well, he has had
ear mites right from the start, and this has been the treatment so far: five
bottles of Fucidine (ear lotion) from the vet, two injections (then the hair
on his ears fell out), two bottles of benzyl treatment from the vet, 5
treatments with Stronghold! ... And he still has them in one ear! :-((
Now, he is a difficult case, but the ear mites are too! :-(
At the moment I reject all advice and treat his ears with tea tree oil twice
a week, gently applied with an ear cotton stick.

| Our cats have never had them. Will the mites get onto our other cats
| if they aren't treated as well?

Unfortunately - yes! But only if the cats sleep close to each other or on
the same spot.

| Thanks in advance for the help. Our cats
| have always been indoors and have always been really healthy, so I am new to
| the ear mite world.

What I want to say with my posting is this: Get the ear mites treated and
don't give up until you've got the last one of them! The mean thing about
them is that they lay eggs which after three weeks produce new ear mites, so
you have to take this into account doing your treatment.

Good luck, win the battle ! :-)

Carola

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whayface - 22 Apr 2004 21:10 GMT

>Commiserations!
>We have this most loving tom with the best personality you can think of. We
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>At the moment I reject all advice and treat his ears with tea tree oil twice
>a week, gently applied with an ear cotton stick.

I would suggest trying a different vet!!

http://members.aol.com/larrystark/

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dd - 23 Apr 2004 13:36 GMT

<snip>

> Commiserations!
> We have this most loving tom with the best personality you can think of. We
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> At the moment I reject all advice and treat his ears with tea tree oil twice
> a week, gently applied with an ear cotton stick.

<snip>

Our first kitty was a stray with ear mites, and it was no picnic trying
to get rid of them. The vet gave her an initial exam and treatment, and
then we were supposed to follow up with drops in her ears. Every daily
treatment was more of a struggle. After about 10 days, we took her in
to get spayed. I asked the vet tech to get rid of the mites while kitty
was unconscious. She said, "no problem." When kitty came home, the
mites were gone.

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dd - 21 Apr 2004 18:47 GMT

Yes, your cats will get them too if they are around the new kitty. We
adopted a stray who had ear mites, and the vet gave me some drops to
put in her ears. NOT EASY. Cats don't like having stuff put in their
ears.

> My wife and I just inherited a cat from a friend of hers who unfortunately
> fell in love and now intends to marry a man with major feline allergies.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> "As long as there is space, I am going to stare off into it." -- Garfield

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whayface - 21 Apr 2004 20:17 GMT

First thing I would say is to take it to a vet so they can clean the ears and get the dirt
and eggs out. If you try putting drops in without cleaning chances are the drops will
drop make it all the way into the ear canal. My vet cleaned my babies them gave me
Tresaderm drops which you can get at PetMeds online but I would take the new one to vet.
The last one I took in had dirty eears and mites so the vet cleaned them and gave me drops
for it as well as the 3 I had at home.

One suggestion - my mother in laws vet gave her an ointment to treat her one cat with for
mites and it did not work worth beans because it did not get in the ear canal. If your
vet wants to give you an ointment insist on a liquid.

http://members.aol.com/larrystark/

>Yes, your cats will get them too if they are around the new kitty. We
>adopted a stray who had ear mites, and the vet gave me some drops to
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>> have always been indoors and have always been really healthy, so I am new to
>> the ear mite world.

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M.C. Mullen - 22 Apr 2004 01:01 GMT

| Yes, your cats will get them too if they are around the new kitty. We
| adopted a stray who had ear mites, and the vet gave me some drops to
| put in her ears. NOT EASY. Cats don't like having stuff put in their
| ears.

You could prevent the mites from getting onto your cats by applying a liquid
on their necks. It works for one month, by then you should have the kitten's
ears under control.

Carola

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me - 22 Apr 2004 00:35 GMT

Eww

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Tina and Shane - 22 Apr 2004 01:37 GMT

eww??? Please...like cats never get ear mites? Come on.
Anyhow...currently, I am treating both my cats for them because we got
frisco who had them. The girl said she had been fighting them off for a
while, but from what the vet tells me...frisko's are almost gone, after a
couple weeks doing the drops on monday wednesday and friday, and keeping his
ears exceptionally clean. You really have to irritate your cat to get rid
of these, but it will pay off in the long run, I promise. BTW...keep you
other cats ears cleaned as well. It's very important you do this.

> Eww
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> >
> > "As long as there is space, I am going to stare off into it." -- Garfield

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Amanda Jones - 03 May 2004 19:47 GMT

> My wife and I just inherited a cat from a friend of hers who
> unfortunately
> fell in love and now intends to marry a man with major feline allergies.
> She has ear mites in both ears and I was wondering what are the best
> meds to
> use? Our cats have never had them.

Our stray kitten had them - the vet cleaned his ears and gave us a bottle
of stuff to squirt into his ears once a day. He hates it - but it's
worked, we finished the bottle last night and he isn't scratching any
more.

Even with a 9 week old kitten, it took 2 of us, though, he really hates
it! And afterwards, he tends to walk off and look at us with a wounded
expression in his eyes (-:

Amanda

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M.C. Mullen - 03 May 2004 23:19 GMT

| > My wife and I just inherited a cat from a friend of hers who
| > unfortunately
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
|
| Amanda

On my "ear mite tom" I have used so far since last October:

7 bottles of this,
two bottles of that and
one bottle of another liquid for the ears.
Plus he got treated 5 times with a solution on his neck
and got two injections which didn't help, but according to the vet should
have and normally work in *all* cases.

:-((

Right, on the verge of getting demented, I took tom to another vet this
morning to get those shots once more.
He did, but what does the new vet say? It could be another thing than ear
mites. BUT WHAT?
The dirt of them is clearly there, tom scratches himself badly too, but the
vet did not see one single mite although they are meant to be seen easily.

:-(

She said it could be bacteria of some sort. I'm rather confused now. Well,
if the shots (two altogether within about 12 days) don't help she'll have
the stuff in the ear examined.

Just wish all "ear mite cat owners" good luck.

Carola

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~*Connie*~ - 03 May 2004 23:45 GMT

We use acarexx for ear mites. it is a one time treatment.. for bad
infestations, we repeat in 3 weeks.

> On my "ear mite tom" I have used so far since last October:
>
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>
> Carola

If it is not ear mites, it could be a yeast infection. My Eli has/had it.
Its pretty common.

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Cheryl - 04 May 2004 00:30 GMT

<snip>

>:-(
> She said it could be bacteria of some sort. I'm rather confused now.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Carola

Sounds like yeast. Shadow used to get gunky ears and had to have them
cleaned regularly at the vet. Nasty. Very similar to what you'd think is
earmites but like yours, no mites were seen. He even did the
head-shaking motion like you see with mites, and sometimes the gunk even
oozed out. His old vet used to prescribe drops that never seemed to help
at all. It was suggested by his new vet (after numerous cleanings) to
use an ear cleaner at home (Dubrox, but I couldn't find that in the
store) so I got some Visine ear cleaner solution and just wiped his ears
out regularly. At about the same time, it was suggested on another group
to try supplementing him with Vit B complex which is supposed to help
with too much yeast in the system, and low and behold I haven't had to
clean his ears out in probably 6 months, or more. And they look clean,
and no more head shaking.

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Cheryl

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