What is wrong with her ears?? Sores?

This is the mother cat for the litter of 6 kittens I am helping take care of. The babies are 12 weeks old tomorrow! :-)

So I saw these things that look like sores on her ears. I have no idea where they came from. She is an indoor-outdoor cat, allowed to enter and exit as she pleases. So she might have gotten in a fight, but I am not sure. If you have any ideas what it might be, even guesses, please share! :-)


(pics soon)

mites, or an allergy making her scratch her ears

I was thinking it might have been from scratching herself but I wasn't sure. Thanks!

What should I do for it?

Those sores are quite large. First, look inside her ears. Is there any chunky dark buildup? If so she likely has ear mites and needs to be treated for them or else she will keep scratching.

To treat the wounds. Use a little bit of diluted peroxide, dab this on there a couple of times and wipe it off with a damp cloth (or damp paper towel since that would be more sterile). Do you have any antibiotic ointment, like Neosporin? Put a thin layer of that over the sores and put some food down for her so she'll be distracted and won't immediately start trying to rub it off. Put some more on later.
Don't let her outside with any ointment on. She will attempt to rub it off by rolling in dirt or grass - it's what cats do .

Check her kittens ears for any signs of ear mites, too.

ok... these aren't my kitties, but I will check on her tomorrow when I go over. Do I need to bring her to a vet if she does have ear mites?

Probably, the medicines that help treat it are prescription only and most vets would want to double check to make sure it's not an infection or something else.
The only time any of us on here have a vet "take our word" on it is when we've used the vet for a while so that they know the person definitely recognizes (and is familiar) with ear mites.

ok I am about to go over to the house now and wash her ears off. I hope they don't sting too bad! Those are some nasty wounds!