Gunk In Ears...

We took Zoe to the vet yesterday; she was vaccinated for Feline Lukemia, dewormed, and treated for her ear mites with Ivomec (sp?). She is sue back at the vet in 3 weeks for her rabies shot and a booster for the Feline Lukemia. I think the Ivomec worked, and the vet may administer another dose at her next appointment, but the black gunk is still in there... Should I (very carefully) swab out the gunk with a cotton ball? Should I apply anything to the swab? Any advice appreciated!

if she was treated for earmites, I would think the vet should have gotten everything he could see out of the ears before applying the Ivomec...

If not though, maybe give it another day and then swab it out of there. You want to get that black gunk out, but make sure the medication has done it's job. You can just use warm water unless you have just a general ear cleaner like OtiCalm or something.

No, he didn't. All he did was take out 5-6 ticks and then apply the medication. But tomorrow evening I'll dip a cotton ball in warm water and then gently swipe that stuff out. Thanks for your response!

Yes, I think swabbing its ear would be good, I've done that before. Just be careful, the cats ear is made of very intricate parts!

Here's what you do....

The Ivomec causes more of the gunk to come out from the ear canal. So, get some baby oil (mineral oil) and put a few drops on a cotton ball. If you dare, put a couple of drops of oil into each ear. With 1 cotton ball for each ear carefully wipe the ear as far as you can go making sure you get into all the crevices of the ear. Repeat daily or once every two days to ensure your baby's ears are clean.

Thanks Abymummy! I dampened a cotton ball and got some of the gunk out, but it was hard because her ears are so tiny! We have some baby oil, I'll try it again tomorrow. Thanks again!

My doubts that the vet did anything but administer the treatment, most vets do little grooming except shaving animals badly matted. My cat had ear mites very badly one summer and has left him with chronic ear infections ever since, so yeah that black nasty ear gunk definitely needs to come out. Give your vet a call or read the bottle of any ear drops he gave you, a lot of them say not to clean the ears for a certain amount of time, so it can to fully work through and kill the ear mites.. It will take more than a days work to be able to get out all the gunk, and usually the ears will become sore or irritated if cleaned every single day, so try every other day.. Cotton balls work great but its hard to work around really well, especially dry. My best recommendation would be plain old pre-moistened ear wipes. They are very cheap and come in packs with pretty good numbers, they are easy to get around the ears, and pick up more in less time with less irritation. That way kitty might not think its such a bad thing lol. Good luck though I hope your kitty gets to feeling better.