Medication causing infections

Getting straight to the point. I have 3 cats. My mom has 3 cats. My brother has 1, and we all live together so there are 7 cats total. My three (in order: a black female 3 year old named Rika, a 2 year old grey tabby girl named Aeryn, and a 11 month old Siamese girl named Phoebe), seem to be completely different but my point being.. we have ear mites. What I dont get, is the two grey tabbies of the 7 dont ever have mites. Neither does my mothers boy siamese or her little calico kitten.

My siamese, black cat, and my brothers cat got ear mites. God only knows from where, they all used to be so clean. But it spread. Walmart has this ear mite droplets you put in, and it says "4-5 drops per 15 pounds, per day, per cat" with instructions on how to do it. So I do it. It seems the mites are going away in my black cat, but a trip to the vet and he says she has an ear infection! I got some medicine for it, and he says she has no mites whatsoever. My siamese got an ear infection before and I hadnt put two and two together, nwo she has an ear infection so bad that her ear is red and I have to use the medicine on her as well.

My question being, is there some easier way to get rid of ear mites? Because it seems the medication you can buy is giving my cats severe ear infections.. and if it comes to either them having mites or an ear infection, I chose the mites.. Also, I wonder if just cleaning their ears out with say a q-tip would work?

None of our cats have ever had ear mites. All I know is that flea collars sold over-the-counter (at supermarkets and pet stores) have been known to kill cats and should be avoided at all costs. Medicine to de-worm cats sold over-the-counter doesn't kill the parasites, it merely expels them, and the cats easily get re-infested by just using the litter box again. Also, the life cycle of parasites, not explained on any of those medications, is such that even medication provided by the vet needs to be administered again in 3 weeks.

My point is that any medication you can purchase at a supermarket or pet store that I've ever had dealings with are at best not helpful and at worst harmful to cats.

The best thing to do is when there is any problem, rely on the advice and the medicine of a vet.

Laurie

Thanks.. the only problem is, the only vet available in our area, recently declawed our cat and he said ther ewere "complications" but basically he must have messed up because she was the first cat we got declawed that her paws were covered in blood. Also, this vet seems to ignore if they have ear mites. He doesnt say a thing about it, bus he is oh so interested in (every time we go there) explaining the life cycle of tape worms, heart worms, and that we should buy his most expensive flea repellant even if we already have some at home.

I don't like that the OTC medicine said dose every day...
For ear mites, one effective medicine you can get from your vet is Acarexx. This is used in two doses, the initial dose then a follow up 21 days later.
Acarexx is 0.01% Ivermectin, a pesticide that's used in prescription flea treatments as well (though in a different percentage).

The reason you need to do a follow up treatment 21 days later is because that's how long it takes for any remaining eggs to hatch. First dose kills the adults and any nymphs, second dose gets anything may hatch later.

It's possible, that the OTC stuff was too harsh and messed up the PH in your kitty's ear. That would make it possible for an infection to set in. Your vet probably didn't listen because it's not that common for cats to get ear infections.

As for why some of the cats in the household have ear mites and why others don't, maybe the cats that don't have them do not groom and sleep with the infected cats? There's also the possiblity, that like in people, some animals can be more resistant to infections/infestation. Cat's usually get ear mites from being outside and in contact with other infested animals.

Originally Posted by Kurama333

the only problem is, the only vet available in our area, recently declawed our cat and he said ther ewere "complications" but basically he must have messed up because she was the first cat we got declawed that her paws were covered in blood.

Click to expand...

It's not a minor surgery, they remove the tips of your cat's toes. It will bleed, and if the cat is in pain it will lick and bite at the wounds.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I don't like that the OTC medicine said dose every day...
For ear mites, one effective medicine you can get from your vet is Acarexx. This is used in two doses, the initial dose then a follow up 21 days later.
Acarexx is 0.01% Ivermectin, a pesticide that's used in prescription flea treatments as well (though in a different percentage).

The reason you need to do a follow up treatment 21 days later is because that's how long it takes for any remaining eggs to hatch. First dose kills the adults and any nymphs, second dose gets anything may hatch later.

It's possible, that the OTC stuff was too harsh and messed up the PH in your kitty's ear. That would make it possible for an infection to set in. Your vet probably didn't listen because it's not that common for cats to get ear infections.

As for why some of the cats in the household have ear mites and why others don't, maybe the cats that don't have them do not groom and sleep with the infected cats? There's also the possiblity, that like in people, some animals can be more resistant to infections/infestation. Cat's usually get ear mites from being outside and in contact with other infested animals.
It's not a minor surgery, they remove the tips of your cat's toes. It will bleed, and if the cat is in pain it will lick and bite at the wounds.

Click to expand...

Ah I understand thanks. I figured that as much. THen again, when I read the instructions to the ear mite stuff that was abotu a year ago. All I remember is "every day" and "4-5 drops" per the size of my cat, which my cats are all about 10-15 pounds so it was the same, I remember, for all on the back of th thing. I was goign to check and see if it said "every day" again like las tmonth but my brother threw the package away before I had a chance.

Well, about the ear infections, if they arent common, then our vet must be in the rarity. He just shrugs it off, perscribes this stuff that makes their ears completely disgucting, and goes off. He wont even tell me which ear it is. He just says to put it on both, which I understand, but he wont tell me which one it is so that I, THE OWNER, may watch it, observe it, and understand what the difference is so that I can notice it sooner at a later time should it return. And honestly, it does work, but the stuff only seems to fill their ears with so much goop that all the other cats want to lick it out just because it makes the sickening sucking noise.

And for the ear mites.. funny thing is, two of the cats with the cleanest, loveliest ears, clean the cat who has possibly the worst ear mite-ed ears in the house, and they still dont get them.

And.. I hate my ear mite stuff. Honestly. If its similar to the other stuiff at all, say twice with 20 days in between, but it doesnt work when done everyday (it seems.. only the cat that got the ear infection has lost the mites BECAUSE of the ear infection), but it seems it doesnt even work when done everyday anyway.


Thanks, you all, for everything, this has allowed me to understand the situation more than I would have had I trie elsewhere or even asked my vet.