Persistent feline ear mites :( Kitty won't let me clean ears. Professionally cleaning safe?

Ear mites are usually easily treated with a variety of medications, and awake, PROPER ear cleanings by a veterinarian. If the infection recurs, you need to figure out how your cat is getting them. (Does it go outside? If so, then maybe you should ask your vet about revolution - a once montly topical medication that kills all fleas, ear mites, many intestinal parasites, and heartworm.)

One problem I sometimes see is that owners think their cat or dog has ear mites, and it is really not MITES at all, it is actually an ear infection with BACTERIA and/or YEAST. The medications used to treat mites will not get rid of the bacteria or yeast. These organisms require different topical ear medications and frequent cleanings to resolve.

Occasionally, it IS required to anesthetize a patient to clean and flush its ears out. This is usually only done in severe cases, in which the infection has been very difficult to treat and has not cleared. In addition, in young cats with recurrent ear infections, there is a possibility that an ear polyp is deep inside the ear (which cannot be seen on a normal physical exam), and the polyp may be causing damage, and therefore infection. So, if your kitty does have a severe ear infection, it would not be a bad idea to have his ears cleaned and flushed under anesthesia, and at the same time the vet can look deep into the ears to see if there is anything like a polyp (or a piece of foreign material) inside the ear canal.

You really should call your vet and talk to him/her more about this, and whether they think your kitty has a severe case of actual ear mites, or whether this is just an infection with bacteria/yeast. They can do an ear swab, stain it, and look under the microscope to tell the difference.

Your vet can try an ear flush without anesthesia by using a sedative to relax the cat so he wont fight so much for the cleaning, allowing for a more thorough job and then applying Acarexx suspension to the ears. It works with the first application in most cats. The ears do not have to be cleaned first, but if there is excessive debris it will make it harder for the meds to get down into the canal. Severe ear mite infections can also lead to bacterial infections in the ears, which will need to be addressed once the mites are gone.

See info below:

Acarexx Otic Suspension:

+ Easy one-step application

+ Water-based, non-oily

+ Don't have to clean ears before application

+ Safe even for 4-week-old kittens

+ FDA Approved

+ See quick results after just one treatment

+ Contains no irritating solvents which can cause hypersensitivity

+ Pre-measured vials

+ Not a pesticide

+ Proven efficacy

+ Prescription product sold only through veterinarians

Other products:

- Most require multiple steps

- Most are oil-based, leaving the ears matted and oily which attracts dirt

- Most require ears to be cleaned before application

- Can't be used to treat ear mites in kittens 4-weeks-old

- Most do not have FDA approval

- Some products can take weeks before seeing results

- Most contain solvents such as propylene glycol or glycerol formal which can cause irritation or hypersensitivity

- Accurate dosing can be difficult

- Many products are pesticides

- Efficacy data lacking on many products

*This information was provided by Blue Ridge Pharmaceuticals*

Just cleaning the ears is not going to kill the mites. You need to go to the vet to get ear mite MEDICATION. The mites are just not going to go away on their own. The vet will intially clean the ears, but all you will have to do for follow up is put the ear drops in the ear 2 times a day or so unitl the mites are gone. No use in stressing your cat out unneccessarily by constantly cleaning it's ears when they don't need to be cleaned.

If ear mite cleaning is done by a vet yes, it is very safe... If done by a groomer it's not as safe... If done by you It could damage his eardrums. At your local vet s/he should have ear drops that will clean the ears and remove all mites without any sedation. your cat may need to have the drops administered for a few weeks to make sure but they are very affective. Mita Clear, Eradimite, and Acarexx, are some by prescription ear mite removers and work very well. Good luck, and I hope this helped!!!

Well i did my work experience in a vets and want to be one and the vet doesn't put the cats to sleep at all. Its really simple to do and the vet nurses did it to a kitten in the checkup room not the operating theater.

They put some sticky liquid in the cats ear and squidgy it about. The cat feels great after because the itching is gone. the nurse even got some out and showed me them under a microscope.

Chances are the vet just wants to get extra money out of you for an unnecessary operation or you are mixed up and your cat has something more serious than just ear mites.

Good luck

xx

Have you tried using regular ear mite medicine they sell at the store next to the worm medicine? It's a pack of three and it takes two people to apply it. Only one pack a week until they disappear

try having someone hold your cat up to there chest with the back of your cat up next to them,he won't be able to move and you can clean his ears a lot better and you will have to clean them once a week from then on.if you don't have someone to help you out then taking him to the vet is the best bet.

everything that you've done could have ONLY made it WORSE. What is wrong with you? Get your cat to a VET before YOU kill it or it becomes deaf from the ear mites!

They do not put them under for this type of thing (and if he's neutered, then he's already been under anesthesia), they use a prescription ear drop to get rid of them, which in turn gets rid of the "gunkiness".......

geeeezzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeee

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