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Ear wax problem.

post #1 of 16
12/2/10 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
Midnight has always had a problem with ear wax. He goes to the vet a lot to have his ears cleaned. I know people can have ear wax problems. I've had my ears flushed a couple of times. I didn't know a cat could have this problem. He gets a build up of it at least once a month. What's causing this? I know it annoys him, he's always itching his ears, and shaking his head. There's so much of it that it even falls out of his ears on to his face. Both vets he's seen, just said that cats sometimes just produce more wax than others just like people. But this can't be normal right?
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post #2 of 16
12/2/10 at 1:18pm
They've cultured it, right? It's possible that he has food allergy as it can sometimes cause waxy ears. Did either vet mention that to you?
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post #3 of 16
12/2/10 at 3:29pm
Thread Starter 
Yes both vets did take a culture of it, also to make sure it wasn't ear mites. He had ear mites when he came here at 3 weeks old. But he hasn't had ear mites since. Each time it's just been wax. And no neither vet told me that this could be a reaction to food. They only said that just like people some cats produce more wax than others.

As for Midnight's food, we changed his food a few times, because he's also gassy less now than when he was tiny.
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post #4 of 16
12/2/10 at 4:54pm
It definitely warrants more investigation. But since neither vet mentioned the allergy possibility I'm not sure how much help they would be for trying to rule that out.
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post #5 of 16
12/2/10 at 5:07pm
I have 4 cats and 1 out of the 4 is like that. Her ears are constantly waxy and her vets tell me the same thing. Some cats produce more wax than others. I clean them with a q tip every couple weeks or 1 of the other cats clean them.
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post #6 of 16
12/4/10 at 10:53am
I have two cats and one of them produces more ear wax than the other.
It was really bad at one point and after the vet ruled out earmites he prescribed some ear drops to help clear it up.
How old is Midnight? My cat's wax problem seems to have lessened as she's got older. She's three now.
I still have to clean her ears occasionally though.
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post #7 of 16
12/4/10 at 2:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by chinacat View Post
I have two cats and one of them produces more ear wax than the other.
It was really bad at one point and after the vet ruled out earmites he prescribed some ear drops to help clear it up.
How old is Midnight? My cat's wax problem seems to have lessened as she's got older. She's three now.
I still have to clean her ears occasionally though.
Midnight is 4 months old now. Hopefully like your cat, it will be less as he gets older. He does have drops that we can put in him. He'll be getting his ears cleaned again tonight
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post #8 of 16
12/4/10 at 2:56pm
Thread Starter 
Midnight went to the vet today for a different reason. This was a different vet. This is vet number 3 who looked in his ears and said that some cats just produce more wax than others. She didn't think it was food allergies. But she told me to bring it up to his vet, when his vet get's back from vacation.
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post #9 of 16
12/4/10 at 6:20pm
Callie has had the same problem repeatedly through her life. My vet told me what happens for her is that she has seasonal allergies and just like in humans, it causes her ear to become inflamed. The wax and other particles that would normally be flushed out can't get out because the ear canal is inflamed, so it gets stuck down in there. Once a year, during her annual dental cleaning, we'd have her ears cleaned and flushed out. The vet would also put in a triple antibiotic type gel to keep any infection at bay.
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post #10 of 16
12/4/10 at 6:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by stephanietx View Post
Callie has had the same problem repeatedly through her life. My vet told me what happens for her is that she has seasonal allergies and just like in humans, it causes her ear to become inflamed. The wax and other particles that would normally be flushed out can't get out because the ear canal is inflamed, so it gets stuck down in there. Once a year, during her annual dental cleaning, we'd have her ears cleaned and flushed out. The vet would also put in a triple antibiotic type gel to keep any infection at bay.
They gave us a medicine to use to clean his ears out ourselves using a cotton ball.

Does your cat get ear infections because the canal is inflamed?
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post #11 of 16
12/5/10 at 11:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by My4LLMA View Post
Midnight is 4 months old now. Hopefully like your cat, it will be less as he gets older. He does have drops that we can put in him. He'll be getting his ears cleaned again tonight
Newt was about the same age as Midnight when we noticed the wax problem. I still have to gently clean her ears with a cotton bud every couple of days but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. The ear drops seemed to clear out the wax build up and after that the problem lessened.
How is Midnight responding to the drops? Newt hated them, I think they must have made her ears fizz and pop. I used to give her treats afterwards but she still sulked!
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post #12 of 16
12/5/10 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by My4LLMA View Post
They gave us a medicine to use to clean his ears out ourselves using a cotton ball.

Does your cat get ear infections because the canal is inflamed?
No. She had a yeast infection in her ear many years ago, which lead to us figuring out what was wrong. Because the wax gets stuck down in the ear canal, we can't get to it and I can't stand watching the vet and techs cleaning her ears, so doing it while she's under for her dental is the best way for all of us.
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post #13 of 16
12/5/10 at 12:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by chinacat View Post
Newt was about the same age as Midnight when we noticed the wax problem. I still have to gently clean her ears with a cotton bud every couple of days but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. The ear drops seemed to clear out the wax build up and after that the problem lessened.
How is Midnight responding to the drops? Newt hated them, I think they must have made her ears fizz and pop. I used to give her treats afterwards but she still sulked!
Midnight doesn't like getting his ears cleaned. That fizzing and popping in his ears drives him nuts. He'll keep shaking his head. Plus the medicine has a smell, I don't think he likes the smell all that much.
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post #14 of 16
12/5/10 at 12:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by stephanietx View Post
No. She had a yeast infection in her ear many years ago, which lead to us figuring out what was wrong. Because the wax gets stuck down in the ear canal, we can't get to it and I can't stand watching the vet and techs cleaning her ears, so doing it while she's under for her dental is the best way for all of us.
OMG your poor cat!
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post #15 of 16
12/5/10 at 12:31pm
Like I said earlier, I have a cat with the same problem. If I may ask..what did the Vet give you to clean Midnights ears if he doesn't have an infection or mites? Didn't they just tell you to wipe them with a cotton ball or q tip?

Julie
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post #16 of 16
12/5/10 at 5:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MNJULZ View Post
Like I said earlier, I have a cat with the same problem. If I may ask..what did the Vet give you to clean Midnights ears if he doesn't have an infection or mites? Didn't they just tell you to wipe them with a cotton ball or q tip?

Julie
It's called Epi-Otic Advanced Ear Cleanser For Dogs, Cats, Puppies, and Kittens. It's to clean wax. I don't think it's for ear mites or an ear infection.
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