Ear drops - am I being fooled by rescue?

About 2.5 weeks ago, I adopted a 3yr old cat from a rescue. They said he was in good health and that their standard practice is to take cats to the vet the day of the adoption for a check up, nail clippings, ear cleaning, etc. He also got a dose of Frontline and some ear drops. His records were faxed to who I hope to use as a vet (though we have not been in the new office because I can't for the life of me get him in a carrier. He was feral for 9 months and is taking some time to adjust to my house still).

The day he came home, he had specks in his ears. I figured they must have skimped on the cleaning but he has been itching his ears ever since. When he isn't itching with his foot, he is often rubbing his head on the bed comforter or on me or trying to get me to rub his ears. The first week, pea-sized, hard, dry clumps fell out and I found them every day in his bed. In the second week, the clumps got much much smaller, really looking like little crumbs.  Today, I noticed he had some goop coming out of one ear that matted to his fur. He has since cleaned it, but I am concerned about all this. (photo below).  I tried holding the specks up on white paper and didn't see anything - though I don know if I would know what to look for.  There is some smell, but it's hard to tell if it's his breath or the ears. 

I called the rescue and he made me feel pretty stupid, implying that I didn't know how ear drops work. This is admittedly my first pet, but he said that the drops are preventative and just clump up "whatever is in there, like mites, wax, whatever" and then it falls out over a week or two. He didn't seem concerned by the ears. I've never heard of this and I am worried this man in trying to pull a fast one on me. I called the new vet and they can't read the notes from that visit, saying it looks like the drops were called "accerex" but they didn't know what that was. Is anyone familiar? Are there really drops that cause this?

I'd hate for him to be in any pain or for it to get worse.  Maybe if he is in pain, this could be adding to the slow acclimation to his new home and disdain of being held? He will not get into a carrier and can't be held at all, so I am stuck (and a bit distraught!). Tomorrow I will call his old vet and see if they can tell me what this drop really was, and hopefully find another vet that will do a home visit for this poor cat.

Thoughts? 

I'm not an vet, but that sure looks like a very bad case of ear mites there. Frontline will not kill ear mites, and does not get very good marks for fleas either.

Can your current vet give you some kind of short acting sedative pill you can mix in his food so you can put him in a carrier?

The thing with ear mites (in my experience) is that it can lead to other things going on, like fungal or bacterial infections, just due to the inflammation and build up of goop. It sounds to me as if he has possibly an infection or the ear mites are still there, maybe both. It's not good if goop is coming out--that is NOT normal.

Revolution, a topical flea treatment like Frontline, is supposed to work on ear mites, but to be honest I'm not sure it would work on anything but an minor infestation. When my cat was a kitten and fresh off the streets, my vet gave him a shot, if I remember right, that killed both fleas and ear mites--but what it was called I do not know.

I have never heard of these drops. I'm not a big fan of ear drops myself, we used to buy the stuff sold otc years ago that was supposed to clean ears and it just did not seem to work.

As an aside, I'm a little appalled by this rescue. They don't bring cats to the vet until they are adopted? Has he had his shots and been dewormed? Why weren't his ears treated? Mites are very contagious between cats. :/

Thank you for rescuing him! The good news is ear mites are not all that hard to kill, but it might take a few treatments. I'd be careful about cleaning his ears until your vet shows you how to do it--you really don't know what's going on in his ears, and you don't want to cause them to bleed. To be honest, it's my guess that he will need his ears flushed under anesthesia and be given a shot of long acting antibiotic (if you can't pill him) (do try, the shots can be dangerous).

You might want to run out and pick up a comfortable e-collar (cone of shame) for your cat--chances are good your vet wil want him to wear one; the ones you can get at Petsmart etc are much more comfortable than the plastic ones the vets use.

This is the product: Acarexx There's information about it and ear mites there. It's not something I have any experience with, but it doesn't sound like a "preventative".

Cats that come to our shelter with ear mites are usually prescribed an Advocate/Advantage spot-on treatment, and then their ears are treated for a few weeks with Surolan drops (for bacterial or yeast infections which can accompany mite infestations).

jcat said:

This is the product: Acarexx There's information about it and ear mites there. It's not something I have any experience with, but it doesn't sound like a "preventative".

Cats that come to our shelter with ear mites are usually prescribed an Advocate/Advantage spot-on treatment, and then their ears are treated for a few weeks with Surolan drops (for bacterial or yeast infections which can accompany mite infestations).

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Thank you.  From the Acarexx website: "Effectiveness against eggs and immature stages has not been proven."

I agree.  It's appalling that the shelter isn't treating ear mites up front.  It's also appalling that they treat a first time adopter with contempt.  And Acarexx isn't standard ear drops -- you had no reason to know how it works.  Something is seriously wrong at this shelter.

Mobile vets can be very helpful when a cat is phobic about either a vet or a cat carrier.  But if that proves not to be an option, do ask the vet to prescribe a mild tranquilizer so that you can get him in to see the vet.  In the meantime, you might try a Feliway spray in and around the cat carrier.  And pad it with something really comfy.  Your problem is solved if he decides it's a nice, safe place for a nap.

Margret

Thank you both very much! I appreciate the insight. I'll look more into that product too. In good news, I found a mobile vet today and am hoping to get him some help ASAP!

The mobile vet thought it could either be eat mites or a yeast infection. My appointment isn't for 8 days though. I know mites can spread but is this something that is going to get incredibly worse if I wait 8 days?! I don't want him to have permanent damage!

No, he's had this for a long time. I can't see 8 days making any difference.