I took Phaedra in for her shots and fecal sample Monday, and I asked the vet about her ears, so she also took some of the brown stuff in her ear on a q-tip and checked it for ear mites. Phaedra will sometimes wake up from a sleep and dig at her ears and while doing so she will have a meow like she is saying "owww oww owww" while scratching them. The vet said she doesn't see any ear mites, but if it isn't ear mites, what else could it be? She doesn't have fleas, either. Every other day I clean out her ears, they have little brown spots in them.