Scratches/Scabs near ears (pics)

I have no idea what is wrong with my cat. She has these scabs under each ear (angling towards her eye) and they won't go away, she is also loosing a little hair too. We were thinking that my other cat scratched her and they started to itch and her scratching them just made them worse, but now I am not sure. She isn't scratching anywere else, and we haven't really even seen her scratch her ears/scabs. We just notice that they are more "fresh" looking in the morning (tend to be bleeding a little then). I hope these pictures help so you can see what I am talking about.

She might have ear mites. Mites can migrate, so cats can have mites on their face and other parts of their body. The itching, especially so near the ears makes me thing of mites.

I would suggest contacting your Vet as soon as possible as it appears either ear mites or ringworm. If either they can get the medication to treat them. If both go untreated it will continue to get worse and be miserable for your kitty. Good Luck and let us know! Les

i think we can rule out ear mites just for the fact that i can see pretty much down the cats ear and it doesnt look like she has any coffee grind looking stuff in her ears.

she could be scratching herself at nite or the other cat could be scratching her, but also do a flea check, clean those with some peroxide and just keep an eye on them.

sorry i cant help more.

I don't know if the same exactly applies to cats, but I think it would ^^^ In my EMT training they said, a fresh wound you clean with hydrogen-peroxide and a dry wound you clean with betadine so I guess if the wound isn't fresh, clean with betadine.

However, I see no point in cleaning the wound with out discovering the source of the trauma... you can clean, and then the cats rolls over the ground and then the wound site is contaminated again... and if tissue is constantly traumatized over a long period of time... such as this, where the wound is not closing or getting a chance to heal... the chance of infection increase ten fold... so please try and find out the source of this trauma and eliminate it.


See a Vet!

Your cat has either allergies or more likely a fungal infection. My Gizmo had both on a smaller scale than your girl's ears, but she also lost fur and developed scabs from scratching.

Your vet will prescribe special shampoo (I didn't use it since Gizmo's problem was so minor.) You will probably need it and the cat will need to be washed with a washcloth. Do not ever get its head soaking wet! The vet will also prescribe a cream to put on the bald bits. They may also take a culture from the hairs to determine which problem it is. Either way, you must take the kitty to the vet.

Good luck.

My Callie-cat gets these periodically from scratching her ears. She has some allergies, especially when the weather/seasons change. I just put some Neosporin on them until they go away, which is usually a couple of days. I also make sure to trim her nails!

Stephanie

I don't think it is fleas, as our other cat and our puppy don't have them. Would allergies come on so quickly like this? This literally just started about a week and a half ago. We have had her for almost 4 yrs and she has never had problems like this before. We haven't brought anything new in the house (including shampoo, soaps, etc...).

Also my other cat is being treated for UTI/bacterial infection (I am confused on this one), and doesn't like to be held down for her meds. She tends to take out her anger on Coca (the cat in the pictures), always has. But since we have been giving her meds for the last month (on and off) she has become worse (as in fighting with Coca more that usual). Could the scratches/hair loss be worse because of stress?

I am just trying to avoid the vet if possible as we are in a bad money situation at this time. We have just about maxed our CC's out because of the other cat's problem. Obviously if I HAVE to take her in we will, but that is gonna mean taking back our kid's X-mas presents to pay for it. I was really hoping that I could put something on it to make it stop itching so bad so maybe it would heal. Doesn't sound like that is gonna happen though.

Thank for the advice. Hopefully we can figure this out soon, I just feel so bad for her. She has become a very sweet kitty though, as she loves it when we rub her scabs (she will purrr like crazy when we start).

Do you have a blacklight? You can shine a blacklight on the spots & if they glow, it is ringworm. However, only something like 50-60% of ringworm glows under a blacklight. It might not glow & it could still be ringworm!

In my opinion, it looks like the ringworm spots my Damita has now. Is there any way your vet would be willing to work out a payment plan with you?