Ear mites?

katiescats · Jan 21, 2007

I have just taken in a pregnant stray cat and am keeping her confined in the bathroom, away from my own 2 cats. She has ear mites, and I will be putting her on Revolution later this week (I ordered it via mail, and it's set to arrive around Thursday). How soon after applying it can she be introduced to my cats? She's been cooped up in the bathroom for almost two weeks now, and she's miserable. She cries when we're not in there with her, and I feel so bad, but I canNOT let my cats get ear mites. Does anyone have any opinions on how soon the mites will be dead? Thanks for any advice you can offer; I've never had a cat with ear mites before!

KATIE

here is the cat, her name is Alice:

taterbug · Jan 22, 2007

She is a gorgeous girl! As far as the Revolution killing ear mites,my vet told me it took about 24 hrs. But you may want to talk with your vet about applying Revolution to a pregnant girl....if I remember correctly,it can do major harm to the kittens.

gailc · Jan 22, 2007

Its best to have a vet make sure its ear mites. I "assumed " that one of my cats had ear mites but when I brought him in-it was a bacterial infection instead (drainage out that ear). Have you cleaned her ears with a ear solution??

yosemite · Jan 22, 2007

Originally Posted by KatiesCats

I have just taken in a pregnant stray cat and am keeping her confined in the bathroom, away from my own 2 cats. She has ear mites, and I will be putting her on Revolution later this week (I ordered it via mail, and it's set to arrive around Thursday). How soon after applying it can she be introduced to my cats? She's been cooped up in the bathroom for almost two weeks now, and she's miserable. She cries when we're not in there with her, and I feel so bad, but I canNOT let my cats get ear mites. Does anyone have any opinions on how soon the mites will be dead? Thanks for any advice you can offer; I've never had a cat with ear mites before!

KATIE

here is the cat, her name is Alice:

Are you sure it's earmites? Before I put any over-the-counter medications on my cat (actually I would never put any over-the-counter meds on my kitties), you should be absolutely certain it is ear-mites.

Is there any reason you cannot take this cat to a vet to have her checked out? If she is pregnant and you suspect ear mites, she may well have other things that should be checked for by a vet and treated if necessary. She may be carrying some bacteria/disease you don't want to spread to your cats.

Just some thoughts.

katiescats · Jan 22, 2007

Oh, I did take her to the vet last Monday. Sorry I didn't mention that. She is FIV/FeLV negative, 10.6 pounds, 5 weeks pregnant (then, now she is 6 or so), about a year and a half old, and has good teeth and eyes. The only issue he found with her was the ear mites.
He recommended Revolution for use in pregnant cats, but I just didn't want to buy it through his office because it was so expensive. I work with a rescue group (Homeward Trails) and I knew they'd be footing the bill, and I wanted to save them some money. My rescue group usually uses Acarexx for ear mites, but it is not recommended for pregnant cats. Pfizer's website says that Revolution is safe in pregnant and nursing cats and dogs.
As for trying to clean her ears out: someone recommended I use a Q-Tip with a thick oil (olive/canola) on it to smother the mites. My boyfriend held the cat's hind legs and the scruff of her neck, while I held the Q-Tip and her head. She is quite the little hellion of a stray cat, however, and shook her head violently every time I got in her ear. I was afraid I would deafen her or something. I've tried cleaning out her ears but she is absolutely out of hand. I also have to say that I'm a little scared to hold her midsection too tightly because there are a lot of babies in there. I know that sounds like a copout, but it really isn't; the last thing I really feel like doing is putting a prescription drug on a pregnant cat, but that is what it has come down to.
So...thoughts? 24 hours sounds great, and I hope that is the case. Also: is Revolution applied to the shoulders because the animals can't lick it off? I'm guessing that's why it's put there.
Any advice on putting it on her? Is it a quick procedure? She's very feisty, so the quicker the better. There will be two people involved in it, so I'm hoping it won't be too hard.

yosemite · Jan 22, 2007

Just put the liquid between her shoulder blades at the base of the back of her head and try to get it on to the skin as much as possible, i.e., not so much on the hair. It should only take a couple seconds but it's good to have two of you doing it. Our daughter does our kitties by herself, but that's a whole different ball game.

panther pride · Feb 17, 2007

Hope everything goes well. Shes very lucky to have found you. Any idea on how many kittens she's carrying? You want to put her on a good quiality kitten food, Innova EVO is great and she can stay on it for the rest of her life too not when shes just carrying babies. Your going to have to get her spayed right away after birth. A cat can get pregant only a few days after giving birth.http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/ima...ilies/wink.gif

shorty14788 · Feb 17, 2007

Revolution is NOT a fast way to kill Mites. It can actually take up to 2 MONTHS to kill them. And do NOT put any kind of oil in your cats ear. This can cause an ear infection, then you'll have another problem to battle. You can clean the ears which will help speed things along. If you buy an over the counter ear cleaner, make SURE it says it is a cleansing and DRYING solution. If you leave anything wet in any animals ear it can cause an infection. If you want to try a homemade ear cleaner, you can use 50% white distilled vinegar and 50% alchohol. You have to make if fresh everytime you clean the ears because it goes bad rather quickly.
Your vet should have prescibed a medication to treat the ear mites other then the revolution. I would call him and ask him if something like... Tresaderm, or Aacarex (spelling?) is safe to use in a pregnant cat. They work a LOT faster then the revolution.

leesali · Feb 18, 2007

KatiesCats;1537773 said:

As for trying to clean her ears out: someone recommended I use a Q-Tip with a thick oil (olive/canola) on it to smother the mites. My boyfriend held the cat's hind legs and the scruff of her neck, while I held the Q-Tip and her head. She is quite the little hellion of a stray cat, however, and shook her head violently every time I got in her ear. I was afraid I would deafen her or something. I've tried cleaning out her ears but she is absolutely out of hand. I also have to say that I'm a little scared to hold her midsection too tightly because there are a lot of babies in there.

Click to expand...

KatiesCats;1537773 said:
Try having your boyfriend scruf her...she should go almost limp & be calm if this is done correctly...this way you won't be nervous about holding her mid-section.

For the actual ear mite problem, I have found great success with this recipe:

1-Olive oil Â½ ounce & 400 IU Vitamin E in a dropper bottle. Put Â½ dropper full in ear & massage. Clean out w/cotton swabs. Apply every other day for 6 days. Then let ears rest for 3 days. (The oil mixture will smother many of the mites and start a healing process.) Keep at room temp.
2-Yellow Dock tincture â€“ Treat ears once every 3 days for 4 weeks. (Yellow Dock tea infusion â€“ pour Â½ C. boiling water over 1 t. of dry yellow dock â€“ cool it down and use Â½ dropper full into ears 1-2 x daily.)

mamakitties · Feb 19, 2007

Originally Posted by Shorty14788

Revolution is NOT a fast way to kill Mites. It can actually take up to 2 MONTHS to kill them. And do NOT put any kind of oil in your cats ear. This can cause an ear infection, then you'll have another problem to battle. You can clean the ears which will help speed things along. If you buy an over the counter ear cleaner, make SURE it says it is a cleansing and DRYING solution. If you leave anything wet in any animals ear it can cause an infection. If you want to try a homemade ear cleaner, you can use 50% white distilled vinegar and 50% alchohol. You have to make if fresh everytime you clean the ears because it goes bad rather quickly.
Your vet should have prescibed a medication to treat the ear mites other then the revolution. I would call him and ask him if something like... Tresaderm, or Aacarex (spelling?) is safe to use in a pregnant cat. They work a LOT faster then the revolution.

I second on the tresaderm. You will need to clean her ears yourself or if you feel more comfortable, the vet can wash and clean the ear mites out and you can apply tresaderm. Try the burrito wrap if you want to clean her ears yourself. I remember giving my two kitties tresaderm twice a day for 21 days and it did help. Keeping her ears dry is important to avoid bacteria growth.

I'm not too thrill about revolution or any other top of the line flea medicines as some of the ingredients are carcinogenic and neurogenic. I don't really trust the pharm makers because the standard is set so low on animals products that practically anything and everything gets to the market. I just read a post earlier about a cat's hind leg trembling, shaking and weak after putting him on revolution. I wouldn't take the risk, especially on a pregnant cat.

Best of luck. She is very adorable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Atlanticgoer · May 17, 2017

katiescats said:
I have just taken in a pregnant stray cat and am keeping her confined in the bathroom, away from my own 2 cats. She has ear mites, and I will be putting her on Revolution later this week (I ordered it via mail, and it's set to arrive around Thursday). How soon after applying it can she be introduced to my cats? She's been cooped up in the bathroom for almost two weeks now, and she's miserable. She cries when we're not in there with her, and I feel so bad, but I canNOT let my cats get ear mites. Does anyone have any opinions on how soon the mites will be dead? Thanks for any advice you can offer; I've never had a cat with ear mites before!
I have been using Revolution on my cat for over 3 years now. It is a great product and I would definitely recommend it for fleas, ticks and ear mites. I have to clean my cats ears once a week because he loves to dig in the dirt. I take a q-tip and put a little peroxide on it and just go around in the ear. Before I do that, I actually get a wash cloth and get it wet with hot water. My cat loves me cleaning his ears with the wash cloth. He would sit there forever while i'm using the wash cloth on his ears. What he doesn't like is the Q-tip. I have to use it because the wash cloth does not get the dirt out of that little crease in his ear. Also, about the Revolution, I always put it on the back of his neck, right above the shoulders. I part his hair and squeeze it on. Do not rub it in. Let it dry by itself. He doesn't even know I put it on him. I hope this helps some cat owners.

KATIE

here is the cat, her name is Alice:

Carmine · May 17, 2017

RESPONSE TO EAR MITE PROPHYLAXIS:
The over the counter Hertz Ear Mite Treatment can also be used as a Prophylaxis on your
cats with no eat mites on the occasion you are mingling them until Revolution is delivered
and works....The product has midicide to kill any mites if they get in your other cats ear
canals...and the oily liquid to keep it active in their ears.. This sounds like a good idea since
I adopted my older cat Bucky 5 years ago...He was one of those " locked up cats" who spent
some years in a third bedroom with a small yapping doggie...Bucky now will always enjoy the
outdoors at my house !!! just like he wants !!!.

Nicolejolene · Sep 19, 2017

katiescats said:
I have just taken in a pregnant stray cat and am keeping her confined in the bathroom, away from my own 2 cats. She has ear mites, and I will be putting her on Revolution later this week (I ordered it via mail, and it's set to arrive around Thursday). How soon after applying it can she be introduced to my cats? She's been cooped up in the bathroom for almost two weeks now, and she's miserable. She cries when we're not in there with her, and I feel so bad, but I canNOT let my cats get ear mites. Does anyone have any opinions on how soon the mites will be dead? Thanks for any advice you can offer; I've never had a cat with ear mites before!

KATIE

here is the cat, her name is Alice:

God bless your heart.. I rescue too.

Nicolejolene · Sep 19, 2017

shorty14788 said:
Revolution is NOT a fast way to kill Mites. It can actually take up to 2 MONTHS to kill them. And do NOT put any kind of oil in your cats ear. This can cause an ear infection, then you'll have another problem to battle. You can clean the ears which will help speed things along. If you buy an over the counter ear cleaner, make SURE it says it is a cleansing and DRYING solution. If you leave anything wet in any animals ear it can cause an infection. If you want to try a homemade ear cleaner, you can use 50% white distilled vinegar and 50% alchohol. You have to make if fresh everytime you clean the ears because it goes bad rather quickly.
Your vet should have prescibed a medication to treat the ear mites other then the revolution. I would call him and ask him if something like... Tresaderm, or Aacarex (spelling?) is safe to use in a pregnant cat. They work a LOT faster then the revolution.

You are spot on! I found out the hard way

Ear mites?

katiescats

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taterbug

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gailc

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yosemite

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katiescats

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yosemite

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panther pride

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shorty14788

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leesali

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mamakitties

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Atlanticgoer

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Carmine

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Nicolejolene

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Nicolejolene

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