Recurring Ear Infections - Alternatives?

Hi, everyone! I am a long-time (over 5 years) lurker ever since we moved on to our acreage and the cats started showing up... Every problem or situation that we came up against was something that had been dealt with here, and I have really come to respect the advice and storehouse of knowledge that this board has...

Our latest stray, Buddy, (#4, but he came after I signed up as meow3meow... should have known ) showed up at the beginning of November... he had 1/4-inch deep scars behind both his ears from a massive ear mite infection... with the vet's assistance, we went through several rounds of Revolution and two rounds of Panalog... each time the ears were clear for a few weeks, but the mites/sludge? returned... the last time in we tried Canaural, and this actually seems to have cured one ear, but his left ear is infected again... I've called the vet to see whether we can try another round of the Canaural, but I'm wondering why these infections keep coming back each time...

each time we're at the vets, they clean his ears and judging from his yowling from the back it's a fairly painful process by the time they're finished... the vet has mentioned that she would recommend cleaning his ears while he's sedated so that they can get every last bit, but frankly we're tapped budget-wise right now (mini-crises with two other cats, IBD and UTI), so I'm hoping that another round of antibiotics can buy us some time... I've been trying to keep his ears cleaned up, but he started to cry out while scratching them today, so I know things have progressed...

has anyone gone through this? are there any possible reasons why these keep reoccurring? could diet be a factor? sorry for all these questions and the length of this, but I'm hoping to shed a bit of light on this... thanks in advance, Monica :-)

Thank you all so much for your replies! We are heading back to the vet on Saturday, and I will ask them to culture for yeast and see what that turns up... as for the possible secondary systemic disorder, any hints/clues what this might have been with others, and/or what kind of lab work might it be worth getting done? And yes, Stephanietx, it's crazy hard to watch him getting his ears examined... he's been through so much since he's come to us with a neuter-gone-wrong (extra unexplained bleeding and exploratory surgery), the ongoing ear issue, and trying to fit in with three other males who see him as the world's most supreme pest...... but he's definitely figured out that he doesn't need to be in survival mode anymore, his tummy will always be full, he will get as much loving as he can stand, and catnip mousies are to be destroyed on sight... he's definitely a cup-all-full little guy, and we'll get through this challenge too... I'll report back when we find out what's happening... thx again, everyone...

Hi again, everyone! Just wanted to update you on Buddy's progress... the cultures on both ears came back negative for both fungal and bacterial infection, so the next step was to look at possible food allergies... the vet said to keep Buddy on as few protein sources (preferably just one) to see what could make the infections flare up... He normally gets NutroMax canned food in various flavours, but also had been getting Fancy Feast at night as a treat (kitty crack rules!)... we started first by eliminating the Fancy Feast, and that seems to have done the trick! His ears only need cleaning every two weeks or so now, and we have drops of some kind to put in if need be... they smell like vinegar, so are "wildly" popular when going in! ... Buddy's a lot more comfortable now, and it's nice not to see him scratching his ears and crying out in pain... we're at the next step of trying to get him his forever home, but I'll write a bit more about that in the Strays and Feral forum... thanks again everyone for your help and suggestions!

I'm using Avena Sativa ear cleaner that the vet recommended, and then also Burrow's Oil as needed... as I mentioned, the cleaning is down to around bi-weekly and he's definitely much more comfortable... I will look into the LID food this week... thanks for the suggestion!