Ear Mites

My wife and I recently took in a pregnant stray(Cleo). She had her babies Alexander, Pumpkin, and Spice. They all are healthy fixed and vaccinated. Except for there ears. We have cleaned them time and again to no avail. Now all of my other kitties have ear infections. Two are on Baytril. The vet has been having me flush there ears once a day and treat the ears once a week. Are there any other suggestions. I would greatly appreciate it.

It sounds like you are already working with the vet and doing what was prescribed. I know that sometimes ear infections can be quite difficult to clear up and this does sound more like an infection than mites.

I hope your babies ears are all cleaned up with no further problems soon.

BTW.... Welcome to TCS!

I've had cats that had mites before and the medicine worked great...Good luck!

Oh yes, mites can be hard to get rid of. What mite medication has your vet given you? Usually the one-time Ivermectin works great, but I had to use the twice-daily stuff to fix my kittens' ear mite problems for good. Also make sure you treat the environment. Your vet could probably advise you on the best stuff to treat the carpets and furniture with.

You might also want to ask about Revolution, one of the once-a-month parasite treatments. I don't know if it can be given at the same time, but it can help get rid of or prevent mites. Maybe it would prevent reinfection? Your vet would know best, and you can only get it from vets anyway.

I have had great success in treating mites with Neem Oil.

What is neem oil you ask? Neem oil is a very powerful antifungal & antiparasitic herb derived from the Neem tree...used greatly in Ayurvedic medicine. The big plus with Neem is that it is non-toxic!! I have used Neem for fleas, parasites (internal & external), mites and overall general health.

We've been flushing their ears daily with T8 Keeto which is antibacterial/anti-fungal cleaner. We have been using Mita-Clear once a week as well. They seem to be improving, it is just going to take a while. Thanks for helpful hints!

When I first got Tuffy home he had ear mites real bad, along with many other problems. We had a heck of a time getting rid of them. The vet treated him twice with some stuff that they rubbed on the skin on the back of his head and I had to clean them out the best I could with Qtips and pour small amounts of baby oil in them every couple days. He had it so bad he would dig in his ears with his paw and shake his head and pieces of black junk would fly all over, and when I held him his ears even smelled bad. But he never scratched his ears raw so he never got any kind of other infection in them.

The vet is sure that it is mites. My senior Ox I thought had mites but turns out he had a bacterial infection (the clue was drainage stuff drying on the fur by his ears). Yrs ago Grizzly had ear mites bad-it took several months to clear up-thankfully she never passed them to the other cats. Consistency on the treatment is the key.