My cat has an ear infection, is there anything I can do while I'm waiting to get into the vet?

I say my cat, but at this point he's only about 2/3 my cat. He started out as a stray and over the last three or four months has warmed up to me to the point where I can keep him inside for about a day before he starts crying to go back out again.

About a month ago he came to me with a mangled ear covered in dry blood and pus. I thought he had gotten into a fight and I tried to clean it off, but it was too dry and matted, so I got him into the vet near my place and just paid an emergency fee for that evening. They said he had a rather severe ear infection, shaved his ear, gave him a shot of antibiotics and ear drops for me to give him. They also treated him for flees, checked for ear mites etc. At that point I was going to try to just keep him in my apartment, but after trying to do that for 24 hours, he wasn't eating because he was so upset, so I had to let him out again.

I gave him the ear drops as per the instructions (he sticks pretty close to me, so I was able to give them to him every day at about the same time) and his ear healed well, but he's started itching them again recently and today I found blood on the inside of the same ear. I cleaned it off with a cotton ball and some hydrogen peroxide and called the vet again and even with an extra emergency fee they can only get him in by Thursday at the earliest. Is there anything I can do until then? How bad can an ear infection get in a couple of days?

Poor thing! I don't have experience with ear infections so I don't know how fast they progress. Itching is usually a sign of healing, so hopefully it is getting better. Cleaning it often and gently is probably going to be the best you can do to take care of it, and try to keep him from aggravating it, maybe by putting him in an e-collar if he doesn't freak out too much. Well, really the best thing you can do to keep it from escalating is to keep him inside. You can keep an eye on him this way, and when he goes outside he gets re-exposed to fleas and mites and diseases and parasites that he will be especially vulnerable to because his immune system is working so hard with his current infection. He'd also be a better target for predator species in his condition.

If you can get a harness and leash and take him out on that so he can have outdoor time, that would really be best. I understand that he gets stressed and that is having affect on his health, but I'm worried that letting him out is more dangerous. Try enticing him to eat with really yummy foods, like canned tuna fish, bonito flakes, treats, human baby food (no onions or garlic). Syringe feeding is also an option, because you don't want him to go for longer than a day without getting calories. Ideally you'd be able to make the outdoor/indoor transition more gracefully with more time, but his condition worries me enough that I think keeping him inside now is far more important. There are many success stories about cats who adapted to an indoor lifestyle after a difficult time with it initially.

Thank you for taking care of this cat! It's clear he needed you!

Pro-biotics