Ear Infection

Siri had a bit of a silent infection (no scratching, gunk, or head shaking until it was starting to get bad) crop up.

Note: She's a black cat with black ears.

Has anyone used gentamicin sulfate and betamethasone solution? I've come across mention of it having the potential side effect of deafness (but so does an ear infection).
This does not contain clotrimazole (anti-fungal).

Callie used to get some kind of goopy paste stuff put in her ears when she had an ear infection. I don't remember what it was called, but it worked extremely well.

The first stuff the vet was going to try was thicker. He didn't think it was getting all the way down into the canal very well (she has some debris right next to her right ear drum), so went with this stuff.

My vet doesn't usually have to treat many cats for ear infections. From the combination of cats getting them less and people in my area not providing as much vet care fore cats as they do dogs. So he did't have any simple bottles of ear cleaner/pH balaned for regular cat use.
If someone can recommend a simple OTC one, please do. It's been years since I needed any (Sho needed it as a kitten). I think I'm going to have to just regularly rinse her ears out and I can't use a steroid containing drop for something like that.

Sorry to hear about Siri's ears...... I don't have much advice here, but have used the pet ear cleansing solutions they sell at Petsmart. Don't remember the brand name. You just have to be so very delicate and careful and not add too much in the ear canal. There is also Otomax, which contains gentamicin sulfate, betamethasone and clotrimizole, but I have only used this on dogs not sure if it is safe for cats though. for Siri