Ear mites - treating them and preventing the spread of them

Hi all,

As I posted in another thread, I have another kitten coming home with me tomorrow. He's a sweetie, but unfortunately has ear mites. I looked in his ear while at the humane society after they told me and sure enough I could see the coffee ground looking debris left behind by them.

The humane society only had him for 4 days, which is not long enough to treat ear mites obviously, so it will be up to me.

Ear mites are resistant these days to the older treatments. Ivermectin on the other hand - works.

While I'm sure the humane society will tell me what they recommend I do, I will also seek the opinion of a vet after I take him home.

Ally is already on Revolution, but I'm wondering if that's enough to prevent the spread of them to her. Theoretically it should be, but do you think I should apply ivermectin topical cream to her ear canal anyways just to be safe?

Also, my dog takes ivermectin orally to prevent against heart worms. Is that enough protection for him?

As for the new kitten, I plan to put him on Revolution immediately and get ivermectin cream for him. My only concern with the Revolution with both Ally and the new kitten is that with them being so young and their fur so short, it's tough to get the Revolution tube to actually be against bare skin, and I end up getting about 30% on Ally's fur. Does that still get absorbed? Is there an oral supplement I can put them both on until their fur grows out a little more and I know that I'm getting the Revolution 100% on the skin?

One vet I went to told me I can put liquid Ivermectin into their ears (I didn't know there was an Ivermectin cream!). So if your dog gets ear mites you can try that. I don't think the tiny amount of Ivermectin your dog takes for heartworm prevention will prevent ear mites.

Revolution has always worked for me to get rid of ear mites.

Another good option is Tresaderm (under prescription from the vet). With Revolution, you might need to take the kitten to the vet for a ear cleaning, to remove the wax and all the debris after the treatment.
I like Tresaderm because as it treats, it cleans the ears, and also takes care of the inflammation caused by the mites; no vet visit for ear cleaning. It's also a great idea to have it home at all times, as it is an antibiotic, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory ointment, that can be used for scrapes, cuts, insect bite, ringworm, and other different pet first aid needs - think about a pet's beefed up neosporing
ETA: Some info that might be helpful: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=664

I just checked online about Frontline Plus and ear mites. It appears that it doesn't protect against them either. My dog is also on that.

He won't be anywhere near the kittens, but to be on the safe side, I will try to get some Ivermectin cream for him too.

I'll just have to be careful to watch for neurotoxicity leading to ataxia since he's and old guy (17).

Tresaderm. Interesting. I will inquire about that too. One of the nice thing about the adoption program is that I get 14 days of free veterinary care at the local VCA Animal Clinic for the new kitten, so I'll take full advantage of it. I'll get him his shots, and any prescriptions he needs for the ear mites.

Poor guy. I wish I had him right now so I could start treating him and get him out of itching.

Also, on a sidenote, I'm glad Ally didn't end up needing all of her opiate pain meds. My new guy's getting his testicles removed tomorrow and I'm going to try to make sure he doesn't suffer too much. As a guy myself, I can't tell you all how much I sympathize. I wish it wasn't necessary, but it is.

Lawguy - you are going to be such a great dad! I have a feeling the three of you will have a lifetime of fun together!

Most guys (cat guys, that is) recover pretty quickly from neutering. I've seen them be a little sore for a day or two, and I've seen some come from the vet and hit the ground at a bounce and be off and running, like it never happened.

We also had a guy two weeks ago who got infected and was in pretty bad shape. Bleeding, both incisions open, lots of redness, etc. But he was a white cat, so it showed up. He's gone through 10 days of antibiotics. I hope he's back out front today.

The main problem we've had is bringing them home still sleepy from the anesthetic. We put them in a box with high sides, so they couldn't build up any speed and hit a wall.

We put them in a box with high sides, so they couldn't build up any speed and hit a wall.

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Talk about bringing new meaning to the expression, "Balls to the wall."

Originally Posted by LawGuy

Talk about bringing new meaning to the expression, "Balls to the wall."

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Just as a trivia note, do you know where that expressions comes from? Nothing like we might imagine. It's a WWII expression among bomber pilots, who put the four throttles, which have a ball on the top of each one, all the way forward (balls to the wall!). In other word, as fast as it will go.

I had a feeling it had some unexpected origin, but never knew what it was until now. Thanks for the information.

I just got off the phone with the humane society. They're going to clean out the kitten's ears today while he's in surgery for neutering.

After that, I'll have him on Revolution just like Ally which does treat ear mites. They said that if he gets another buildup of debris from the mites, that it's ok to bring him in one time directly to the humane society for a second cleaning because the VCA free care he gets for 2 weeks doesn't cover ear-mites, just vaccinations and wellness checks.

My only concern now is that when I put Revolution on Ally, some of it gets on her fur instead of on her skin. I just hope that enough of it got on the skin that she's got enough selamectin in her blood to give her immunity from ear mite infection. I guess worst case scenario, I give her a little more and waste part of 1 tube of Revolution.

Ear mites are not that much of an issue for a healthy pet. I wouldn't really be concerned about Ally, and especially your dog, and certainly wouldn't be treating the dog as a preventive.

As soon as you begin treatments, the mites will be weakened and the chance of spread are even more minimal than they were originally.

At our house, almost every pet we've brought in (we're rescuers) have come with mites and we just treated that animal. We never had a spread to one of our resident pets.

Cally

Originally Posted by LawGuy

My only concern now is that when I put Revolution on Ally, some of it gets on her fur instead of on her skin. I just hope that enough of it got on the skin that she's got enough selamectin in her blood to give her immunity from ear mite infection. I guess worst case scenario, I give her a little more and waste part of 1 tube of Revolution.

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When I put it on he girls, it tends to run down the side of their neck a bit (this is when they were on the little viles, so it seemed like a lot for the amount we put on). My vet said it's fine and that it will still work. I wouldn't bohter putting any extra on, unless you completely miss and none gets to the skin.

Someone gave me a tip that the key to getting it on the skin is to make sure that you put the tube right against the skin and don't move it until it is empty. It's natural to lift up a bit when you are trying to squeeze it, or to make sure it's all out, but you just have to keep it tight against the skin. This improved the results for me!

This is what our vet uses. It's a one time treatment. Life cycle of the ear mite is 3 weeks, I think. This is just one application in each ear. Ask the vet about it. Acarexx prescription.

http://www.acarexx.com/Pharmaceutica...xx/Acarexx.jsp