Ear problems

kittylove542

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Messages
55
Purraise
20
Location
Ontario, Canada
My 8 month old kitten, Storm, seems to be having some ear issues. It started about two months ago when I noticed scratching her ear and bending it down. This cleared up over night and not much was thought of it. Then, a couple weeks later it started bugging her again and although it went away the next day, I still took her to the vet just to make sure. The vet said her ears looked fine after she cleaned them out and she gave me some anti-inflammatory drops. Ever since, her ears have bugged her intermittently, and I have been using a wet cotton ball to clean them out and only once did the cotton ball actually collected wax and come out yellow/brown. It's only one ear at a time and today it seems to be bugging her again. I put some of the drops the vet gave me in the ear that's bothering her but her ear looks normal to me, except maybe way down in her canal it's waxy/shiny.. Does anyone know what I should do? She's still eating, playing etc and it doesn't seem to be causing her any distress, just irritating her. Should I be cleaning her ears? Is there another drop someone can suggest? I was told by a co-worker that cleaning her ears often can cause her ears to produce more wax.. but I've only cleaned her ears maybe 3 times now. I'd like to avoid another unnecessary vet trip at its $100 just to walk in the door and the last visit wasn't any help. Thanks for the input.
 

denice

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
18,836
Purraise
13,144
Location
Columbus OH
She may have developed a food allergy.  I know it sounds odd but I have a cat that developed a yeast infection in his ears, I got the drops to clear it up, quit feeding chicken and they have stayed clear.  Do you always feed the same protein or do you feed different foods?  If you're feeding different foods there could well be a correlation between one protein and her ears bothering her.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

kittylove542

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Messages
55
Purraise
20
Location
Ontario, Canada
Thanks for the response. I'm always switching their canned food so you might be right, although I was able to get a better look in her ears and they seem to be quite dirty (but don't have a smell) further down in all those weird ridges.. I don't know if I should start cleaning her ears and if so what to use.. Do you think an allergy has anything to do with wax production?
 

denice

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
18,836
Purraise
13,144
Location
Columbus OH
That's the way Patches ears were.  The vet cleaned them out with q-tips and looked at what came out of his ears under the microscope and their was yeast in it.  It looked like just wax to me.  The way I understand it the wax is caused by the itching and the scratching at their ears.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

kittylove542

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Messages
55
Purraise
20
Location
Ontario, Canada
Interesting. When I took Storm to the vet she said there wasn't even much wax. Her wax seems to be quiet dark in some areas.. like speckled dark spots. Now I'm wondering if another vet visit is warranted.. it's just so stressful on Storm as well as my wallet, especially if I'm going to be told everything looks fine again. Would a yeast infection come and go? Her ear issues are very intermittent, bugging her one day and fine the next without any intervention.
 

xinghua31

TCS Member
Kitten
Joined
Nov 26, 2013
Messages
13
Purraise
10
I'm having this issue too! You may want to ask about ear mites, as they can cause similar symptoms (according to many google searchs lol).
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

kittylove542

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Messages
55
Purraise
20
Location
Ontario, Canada
All my searches say ear mites as well, however the vet looked for them so it's really the only thing I can confidently scratch off the list of possibilities.
 

stephanietx

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
14,768
Purraise
3,490
Location
Texas
It sounds like allergies to me.  Most likely not food allergies since it's located in one spot, but more likely airborne allergies.  You might want to keep diary of what you feed and what the weather is doing to see if you can make a correlation between the itching and whether it's a food issue or airborne allergy issue.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

kittylove542

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Messages
55
Purraise
20
Location
Ontario, Canada
 
Did he look for them under a microscope, and use a dye?
No, but I guess because her ears were so clean and ear mites leave debris she didn't think further testing was warranted.

I certainly will be documenting food/weather changes from here on out. It's quite cold here now so the furnace is on which could cause dryness but her ear issue started well before.
 
Top