Scratching behind ears, but no other symptoms

Hello,

I have recently noticed my little guy scratching behind his ears pretty vigorously. He doesn't do it all day, but I see it at least a couple of times a day. He doesn't seem to have any symptoms of ear problems - hearing is just fine, and I don't see any wax or evidence of fleas or mites.

He has had recurrent issues with his eye, so I have him on lysine for suspected feline herpes. He is not having a recurrence now and seems fine in every way, with the exception of the occasional sneeze, which he has had since the beginning. I plan to start him on lactoferrin for that today, based on encouraging posts I have read here. He eats well, has regular bowel movement, darts around every once in a while like he is possessed, and doesn't sleep any more than usual.

Could this be like the itchy ears people get when they have a cold or allergies? I am reluctant to take him to the vet because he seems fine, and because I have to take time off of work to do that.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

This can be a few things.

First would be fleas. Cats seem to get fleas behind their ears and neck area. You can double check by using a flea comb, raking down to the skin surface to check.

The next would be mites. You may not see visible evidence, but try dabbing a bit of alcohol on a tissue, wrap around your finger, stick it in and swipe, while holding the tip of his ear with the other hand so as to be able to get deep enough.

If you see tiny coffee ground looking stuff, it's mites.

It can be an ear infection, but highly unlikely for it to be in both ears. Plus you would see inflammation inside.

The last thing would be allergies. If so, likely from his food.

This of course is the tricky part, it takes a while to show signs like scratching, so if you change foods at times, think about a month or so ago back, it may be the food he was switched to.

More likely to be one of the first 2, but allergies are possible if the other are ruled out first.

@catwoman707 pretty much covered everything I was going to say!  I'd get to the vet to see if it's something medical.

I agree with what catwoman said.  I had a siamese years ago who's only symptoms of food allergies was scratching the heck out of his ears and getting ear infections.  It was so bad we eventually had to remove both of his ear canals.  Have you had your cat checked by a vet?  If not that would be my suggestion.

Thanks for your help, cprcheetah, stephanietx, and catwoman707. I'll have to take him in. I was hoping to avoid that in light of the fact that he seems very healthy otherwise.

I checked for fleas and earmites using the method catwoman suggested, and didn't find any. I hope it isn't food allergies, because I feed him raw homemade.

It could be airborne allergies.  Cats get them just like humans.  Has the weather changed where you live?  Watch for a correlation.

Funny, I have 3 cats and one of them has been doing the same thing. He actually lost his beautiful ruff around his neck. Brought him to my

vet...upset as he told me it might be fleas. I think not!  Have checked all my babies and no fleas.  I had started to give them a new treat

and it contains grain. Maybe that is the issue. Stopped giving treats and going to see if that helps.  I had a cat once  silver shaded Persian

and she did the same thing to her ears.  It ended up being irritation from scratching and the vet gave me a cream to put on once a day for

a week. That did the trick!

Thanks, stephanietx and catladytoo. I think the airborne allergies theory has the most merit. I hope the vet will figure it out for me. The only treats he gets are dried chicken breasts, so no grain.

Our vet said that his ears had some inflammation (otitis), but not very severe. He gave me done drops to use for a week, then stop for a week, then use again for a week. We had a particularly unfriendly baby a while ago, so maybe water got in his ear?

Our vet thought the other possibility is an allergy - contact, airborne, or food. Since I feed Fingili mainly chicken, he said that might be the culprit. The weather around here has been insane (just like everywhere else), but we haven't introduced anything new to the house.

I am going to try the drops for a week. I will order some rabbit and try that as well. I really hope that it isn't the chicken, because that is the only protein I can find locally.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks for all your help.

Our vet said that his ears had some inflammation (otitis), but not very severe. He gave me done drops to use for a week, then stop for a week, then use again for a week. We had a particularly unfriendly bath a while ago, so maybe water got in his ear?

Our vet thought the other possibility is an allergy - contact, airborne, or food. Since I feed Fingili mainly chicken, he said that might be the culprit. The weather around here has been insane (just like everywhere else), but we haven't introduced anything new to the house.

I am going to try the drops for a week. I will order some rabbit and try that as well. I really hope that it isn't the chicken, because that is the only protein I can find locally.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks for all your help.

Apologies for the duplicate. I thought I was correcting a typo in my last post.

And you can switch to fish too for a while.

just had the same issue last month.  Food was not the culprit. Really believe it was the severe weather change. My cats are use to warm humid climate, being in florida. We have had the heat on more and dry air and change the vet believes to be the culprit. Hope this helps

Thanks, Chaajo and catladytoo!

Chaajo, I will try your fish suggestion. I am trying to find a balanced recipe using fish. I started him out on raw homemade, and he gets loose stools with commercial canned recently. That limits my options.

catladytoo, I think your guess about the weather is correct. The weather has been nicer here, and he seems to be doing better.

In the past few days my oldest cat  14  has lost fur on both of his ears. I am bringing him to a new vet tomorrow.

Hope he will be okay....I worry about everything!!

my cat just scratches and scratches her ears. one day i looked in her ears and saw that they happen to be really dirty. i took some veg oil nd cleaned here ears with it it helped. that was a few months ago later i found out she had ear mites nd then after that was taken care of she had ear inflammation. still does vet gave me ear drops nd shes doing better now.

my cat has been scratching his ears too. JUST got back from the vet. Said he had yeast in his ears. He has lost a lot of fur on his ears.

Confused because I just read all cats have yeast in their ears. Have you ever heard of that?

Glad your baby is doing better!!!