Earmites

my new kitty has ear mites. they vet told us to keep her away from our other cat until they are gone. so they haven't been around eachother, but we had been having them be in our family room at different times. so then i started thinking, maybe that's not good because they could transfer from the couch to the other cat...

so i called the vet and they said that was bad. to vaccuum the couch off and then keep them separated. so does this mean we can't let our new kitty out of her little bathroom AT ALL until she's better? i hate having her couped up there so long. and can we be transfering these earmites on our clothes? can you see them? i know they make black stuff in her ears, but is that what we'd be looking for or are they too small to see?

we've already had them both out there in that room...does that mean our older cat coudl very possibly get them?

Normally ear mites are transfered from cat to cat via close proximty sleeping.
I.E. heads touching.
Ear mites tend to not leave the ear and migrate around the body, but what happens is the cat scratches or shakes it's head and sometimes the mites can be dislodged.
I think they have a very tough time finding their way back to a host though.
They aren't like fleas, which jump on and off hosts all the time and can live in your upholstry and carpets for months without feeding.

If you're concerned, just treat the other cat as well. It's probably a good idea to do so, since they've had contact with the same areas.

I agree with Kia Bengals response. I introduced a cat that have really bad earmites to my clan. I am not sure what treatment you are using but I just the flea preventative Revolution, and it worked in one application. Was great not to have to continually clean and put drops in my already stressed new kitty's ears.

I did not have any problems with spreading.

Good luck!