Recurring ear problems

My 2 1/2 year old cat had ear mites when she was a few weeks old. She was treated and they cleared up. She later developed an ear infection that the vet believed was caused by the ear mites. This also cleared up when it was treated with some ear drops. Off and on for about a ear she would get a lot of black stuff in her left ear, eventually this stuff was pretty much always in her ear and had to be cleaned at least once a week. A couple months ago her right ear,which was always clean, started getting the black stuff in it too so we took her back to the vet. We again took her back to the vet and he checked her for ear mites again but she did not have them. We were given a cleaner called cerumene to clean her ears out with. We used the cerumene three times but stopped because it made her ears turn blood red and inflamed. The vet the gave us some hydrocortisone ointment to put in her ears which helped clear up the redness and stop the scratching. The doctor said her problem was probably a skin irritation so he gave her a hydrocortisone shot two months ago. Shortly after we stopped putting the ointment in her ears they started getting dirty again. She scratches them all the time and digs sores. They are red off and on and when I checked them today they had big chunks of black stuff in them.
Has anyone else had this problem with their cat?
I've read that it could be a yeast infection, diabetes FIV or FLV. My cat was tested for FIV and FLV when she was six weeks old and the results were negative. She was a stray when I found her at two weeks old and she did have runny eye and nose and sneezed a lot but the doctor never said anything about it and it eventually cleared up and did not return.
Thanks for your help.

I can't really offer to much advice.
Just wanted to let you know that our Annabelle had a lot of black gunk in her ears...it turned out to be a yeast infection...she too was a stray.

The Vet gave us ear drops and it cleared right up and has never reoccured...but sadly I can't remember the name of the drops.

I had a girl cat once (she's been gone for over ten years now) that had this re occurring gunk. I spent (well, my mom spent) a lot of money at the vet for tests, drops, cremes....and nothing seemed to work without causing her(the cat) inflamation. My cousin who lives on a dairy farm told me to put three to four drops of olive oil in the cat's ears every other day. I tried it, and within about a week and half she wasn't picking/itching at her ears and within three weeks, her ears were less gunk-y. I went to doing the olive oil once a week and then once a month until she passed away (she was hit by a car, nothing to do with her ears.)

I've been putting olive oil on a q-tip and cleaning her ears out with it once a week for about three weeks or so but this hasn't helped. Maybe it hasn't been getting deep enough into her ears. I'll try putting drops of olive oil in it and see if it works better.
I'm always concerned about my cat because she has had a few health problems. She almost died of from pyometra before she was a year old. And she used to pant a lot even when it wasn't hot but that has stopped now.

I've been through this with my older cat, Callie. Her problem was a yeast infection triggered by seasonal allergies. We finally got it cleared up just over a year ago. While she was under for her annual teeth cleaning, I asked the vet to thoroughly clean her ears again, which he did. He then put in this thick goopy medicine which is designed to treat yeast infections. The goopy medicine gradually treats the infection and it takes about 2 weeks to dissolve and be absorbed in the ear canal. We did 2 treatments about 4 weeks apart and she's been yeast infection free since. I've also been giving her lysine once a day and that's also helped.

If you'd like me to find the name of the ear medication, let me know and I'll look back in her records.

Stephanie

what are you feeding???

Originally Posted by stephanietx

I've been through this with my older cat, Callie. Her problem was a yeast infection triggered by seasonal allergies. We finally got it cleared up just over a year ago. While she was under for her annual teeth cleaning, I asked the vet to thoroughly clean her ears again, which he did. He then put in this thick goopy medicine which is designed to treat yeast infections. The goopy medicine gradually treats the infection and it takes about 2 weeks to dissolve and be absorbed in the ear canal. We did 2 treatments about 4 weeks apart and she's been yeast infection free since. I've also been giving her lysine once a day and that's also helped.

If you'd like me to find the name of the ear medication, let me know and I'll look back in her records.

Stephanie

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Yes I would like to know the name of the ear medication. Thank you.

Originally Posted by sharky

what are you feeding???

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She eats Purina Indoor dry food mostly but she also eats a little wet Fancy Feast & Elegant Medleys every day.

Originally Posted by Crystal_

She eats Purina Indoor dry food mostly but she also eats a little wet Fancy Feast & Elegant Medleys every day.

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Likely it is what she is eating... LOTS of CORN Soy Wheat ... these three are YEAST enablers ie they feed yeast... animal by products... plus food coloring

I've also fed her Science Diet, Authority, 9 Lives & Friskies and she had the same problem with all of them. What is a good alternative that might help?

GRAIN free ...

EVO
CORE
Raw Insticts
Orijen
Call of the wild
or

Big box avail( have some yeast causers but they are nt as high )

Nutro natural choice
Natural balence
Blue spa

I'll check them out. Any idea what they cost? I have three cats and it usually cost me around a hundred bucks a month to feed them. lol But it's worth it because they're my babies. My youngest is named Wednesday(she's the one with the ear problem) and she's a picky eater.

Nutro and Natural balance are about the same as SD but they have buy 10 get one free in many stores and have coupons

blue IMHO is pricy

CORE and EVO run about 3$ a lb

Raw insticts has buy one get one offers alot ... other wise runs 2.50 to 3 $ a lb

Thanks! I'll check them out.

Sorry it took me so long to reply. It's been crazy around here and I had to locate Callie's records. This is what it says on my receipt:

Ear Flushing-Medrx (this was the actual removal of the gunk in her ear)
BNT Ear medication (the goopy med they put in)

I found this online about the BNT, but I don't know how accurate it is.

http://www.bcpvetpharm.com/news_bcpbnt.html

Hope this helps!
Stephanie

Originally Posted by stephanietx

Sorry it took me so long to reply. It's been crazy around here and I had to locate Callie's records. This is what it says on my receipt:

Ear Flushing-Medrx (this was the actual removal of the gunk in her ear)
BNT Ear medication (the goopy med they put in)

I found this online about the BNT, but I don't know how accurate it is.

http://www.bcpvetpharm.com/news_bcpbnt.html

Hope this helps!
Stephanie

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Thanks! I'll check them out.

I would try changing the food. My dog kept getting reocurring yeast infections in her ears and they didn't go away until I switched to a better quality food.

Has anyone ever seen nodules in their cat's ears? My Lili has one in each ear - small, maybe less than 1 cm, and gray. Otherwise the ear is pink, no crud. They don't seem to bother her - she just scratches her ears once in a while. They certainly don't keep her from sleeping 19 hours a day.

my patchy has that prob, but its food allergies. she refuses to eat prescription food so i take care of it with qtips for cats. they have a snap off end with witchhazel and other ingredients. the vet also said to mix peroxide and water 1:1 and drop in her ear. then mix vinegar and water 1:1 and put in her eas to prevent fungus/yeast. shes kind of a b1tchy kitty so i stick with the qtips LOL

Originally Posted by courtney_ou

my patchy has that prob, but its food allergies. she refuses to eat prescription food so i take care of it with qtips for cats. they have a snap off end with witchhazel and other ingredients. the vet also said to mix peroxide and water 1:1 and drop in her ear. then mix vinegar and water 1:1 and put in her eas to prevent fungus/yeast. shes kind of a b1tchy kitty so i stick with the qtips LOL

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Have you tried OTC allergy diets??? what have you tried...