Ear mites in one ear only?

emanymton1

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I have a really wonderful cat who has had "ear mites" in one ear basically ever since I got her in August. I had her treated then and they eventually came back in one ear, but they didn't seem to bother her at all (none of the funny behavior) for the longest time, and they never spread to any of my FOUR other indoor cats. Two weeks ago I took her to the vet and she was treated for mites, and today the brown gunk is back with a vengeance in the same ear -- it's oozy, and it seems to be bothering her a lot. Also, today her nose is completely dry. Is it possible it's not ear mites and it's something else? Any ideas or recommendations? I'm taking her to the vet again tomorrow, but I fear that she'll just retreat her for mites.
 

hissy

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I put one drop of Frontline in the cats that come here with ear mites. Just one drop clears it right up and no messy gunk gets sprayed all over the room when the cat shakes her head, plus they don't do that massive scratching to their ears, the stuff works really good.
 

sandie

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Is the vet doing an ear cytology or are they just guessing? They need to take a swab and look for active mites. It may not be mites,but an ear infection. Putting mite medications could be doing more harm than good if this is the case.
 
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emanymton1

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Well, the vet still didn't look under a microscope, and still diagnosed ear mites, but said that there must be some infection too. Poor Noodles had also beaten up her ear by scratching at it. The vet cleaned the ear and gave me Tresaderm drops to put in her ear twice each day. The drops supposedly have antibiotics, steroids, and mite killer in them. They have to be kept refrigerated, which makes me feel sorry for the kitty when we put them in, but on the plus side, when we massage her head and ear for a little bit after using the drops the cat seems just fine and in good spirits. Here's hoping this treatment works! Thank you both so much for your responses.
 

sandie

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I really hope this works for her. If it doesn't please ask them to do an ear cytology. This way they know weather they are treating bacteria or yeast. I am really upset that they didn't even bother to check before giving her something. I know how painful an ear infection can be for them. I hope her ears are feeling better soon!
 

tnh121

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You can't treat ear mites with Frontline. Frontline is only for fleas and ticks. The only topical medication that will effectively treat ear mites is Revolution. Everything else for ear mites is drops.
 

jinx82

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You can't treat ear mites with Frontline. Frontline is only for fleas and ticks. The only topical medication that will effectively treat ear mites is Revolution. Everything else for ear mites is drops.
This thread is from 2003 lol, but anyways I have a story that relates, because I just had the same issue and had treated my cat for ear mites not long ago, but i ran out of solution the vet gave me and the mites came back in the one ear shortly after, and didn't seem to bother him, but it started to ooze and stink, so i found some home remedies online of people that prefer to stay away from medicine by using mineral oil and let me tell you it works amazingly.  All I did was clean the gunk with cotton and drop like 5 drops in per day and keep my eye on it.  His ear has only gotten better so I'm extremely thankful because I do not like my little guy in pain. I was skeptical at first using the mineral oil, but I use it in my ears to and seems to be very safe, plus i did some research first, and that all checked out. 
 
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