Help! Scabs on my kitty's ears?

Hi all,

I adopted an adorable little tuxedo kitty about two months ago. Her medical records say she was treated for fleas at the shelter and I haven't noticed any evidence of them since we took her home. About a month ago ago she developed a circular patch on her ear about the size of a dime. It looked exactly like ringworm so I took her to the vet to get tested, but the test came back negative. It took about a week to get the results back so I was applying Miconazole twice a day under the assumption that it was in fact ringworm.

After getting the results I decided just to keep an eye on it. The skin got scalier and the hair in that circular patch fell out; it's looking a little better now but it's still pretty scaly. This morning I noticed two more spots on her ears, but these look different; they're about the size of a pencil eraser and the scabbing is larger/more raised than the original patch.

Some things to consider:

• She's an indoor-only cat
• I have no other pets
• I don't see any evidence of ear mites, though it's possible they're just really deep in her ear
• I feed her grain-free wet food (AvoDerm and Tiki Cat). Her dry food does have rice in it.
• She doesn't seem to find the spots especially itchy, and I haven't seen any signs of over-grooming; I'm with her all day (I work from home) and feel certain I would have noticed if she were scratching/grooming a lot. They are also not particularly red or inflamed, just crusty.

She's due for another vaccine this week so I am definitely going to ask the vet, but I want to know if anyone out there has any ideas. Is it possible the ringworm test was a false negative? The vet told me the criteria for ringworm are that the sample changes color and shows growths within 24 hours, and that my kitty's sample did the former but not the latter. On the other hand, the new scabs don't really resemble ringworm.

Photos:

This is the original spot that looked like ringworm


The same ear today; no longer ring-shaped, but scaly and flaking off. There is definitely hair loss, but this picture makes it look much worse than it is because I had just applied Miconazole, so the hair is extra matted and weird looking.


A new spot on the other ear - raised scab


Same ear, same type of raised scab on the inner edge.

Am not sure, there's a few things that can cause that and you've already thought of those. The only one I can think you've not mentioned is pemphigus folliaceus, but am sure your vet would've thought of that. You could try changing her food - perhaps stick to wet for a couple of weeks and see if it improves? Keep a food diary in case it is diet related and an allergy.

Have you thought of vitamin e oil for the scabs? Pure kind, not all perfumed. It's excellent in healing cuts and scabs, I wonder if that would help. Good luck at the vets, please keep us updated.

Can cats get eczema?

I do wonder about a food allergy - that can be such a tricky thing to pin down but can also explain a lot when nothing else makes sense.

Ah, vitamin E oil is a great idea! Especially if it is just kitty eczema like the below poster suggested. I'll be sure to update once I find out the answer!

Did you ever find out what was causing this or how to treat it?  My cat currently has the same thing going on and I wanted to see if there was anyone with the same problem and how they treated it before going to a vet.  

Hello! I never did get a conclusive answer on the scabs. I applied Miconazole twice a day since it was the only thing I could think to do, and I have my suspicions that it was indeed ringworm even though the test came back inconclusive. After a couple weeks the scabs fell off, the circular spot disappeared, and all her hair grew back, and she hasn't had any scabbing since! I recommend giving Miconazole a shot, since it's fairly cheap (~$10 at any drugstore) and safe for cats (my vet recommended it). I hope it works for your kitty!!

My cat does have feline herpes and has had RW multiple time i the past, b/c the herpes weakens his immune system.  I've started treating it with Apple Cider Vinegar, since I don't want the other cats licking and of zole meds off of him.  We used to treat with Clotrimazole for RW as well.  I just didn't think it was RW, b/c I've had so much experience with it and it looks nothing like it.   But thank you, I will try the Clotrimazole or Miconazole if the ACV doesn't help.