Itchy ears :(

This is my first time on here and I could really use some advise!
My kitty Luna Lovegood (from Harry Potter) has been having some itchy ears for maybe 2 months now? At first she was scratching and shaking her head pretty often but over the past few weeks it's way less. Since it started I have been checking her ears daily - no mights, no discharge, no debris, no smell, no swelling & zero redness. She hasn't even lost any hair from the itching. She seems to be scratching around her ears & using her paw to scratch inside them. It's only maybe 3/4 times a day that I see this happen & there is still some shaking of the head going on. Besides that she is her normal self - playful & happy, no signs of pain, regular eating habits & using the litterbox as normal.
I tried an all natural ear cleaner when it started but realized it didn't have a drying agent so I didn't want that to make it worse. I also bought a more prescription grade ear med but since there is not signs of anything wrong I don't know what it would be treating?? I called her vets office and she said since there clearly isn't any signs of mights/ infection it could just be a behavioral issue? I'm thinking maybe she has slight seasonal allergies but I'm assuming that would also included more signs & symptoms?
I haven't really been able to get her to the vet since I'm a full time Nursing Student & it cost so much.
I feel awful for my babe and hate seeing her itchy. I just would like to get some others ideas on this and maybe some tips on how I can help? If needed I will be able to take her in a few weeks after finals but until then, I need my mind put at ease! thank you so much

ALSO- Luna is 100% indoor cat, never been around other animals! She is on a sensitive stomach/ skin dry food & hasn't an any vomiting since Nov (that's why she got a sensitive food). The vet doesn't think it is a food/ litter allergy since that would involve all over itching/ vomiting!

Welcome to TCS! 

Is Luna the cat in your avatar? She looks adorable! 

How old she and when did you adopt her? I wonder if it could be a minor mite infestation after all. You can't see mites with the naked eye and they don't always create a visible mess. It can also be a minor bacterial infection which you can't see without proper instruments.

I wouldn't apply any medication though without a proper diagnosis by a vet. Anything you put in the ears can make things worse, including natural solutions. As you said, they can dry up the sensitive skin inside the ear and create even more irritation. 

Cats can live with earmites for a while. I would just save up and wait until I could get her to a vet who can take a look deeper into the ear and run a sample under the microscope. 

Also, it might be worth checking for fleas. It's a long shot as I'm pretty sure you would have noticed them by now had she had any but worth mentioning here because fleas can make a cat itch and scratch around the ears too. She could even be allergic to fleas in which case a single flea could cause her to scratch for a long while. 

Would love to hear more about you and Luna! Why not start an introduction thread in the New Cats On The Block forum? 

YES that's her!! I got her Nov 11th 2014 - she was exactly 8 weeks old. I got her the "kitten package" at our vets at that time so for about a year she had regular checks ups. Then when I took her this past Nov for vomiting they did a full exam and never said her ears were iffy? I've fully checked her for fleas/ any kind of bites and found nothing! She is so healthy besides this random itching so I am just stressing about it :/ thank you for replying!!

I don't have a solution for you but ha e similar issues with my 5 year old cat BeBe. I adopted her from a friend and she has always been shaking her head and itching her ears. I switched her to a non-chicken diet, attempting the allergy food elimination test. It hasn't been a month yet, and I haven't seen an enormous change. A retired vet I know said it's probably an allergy to food. It would take at least 2-3 months of the same diet to show some improvement.
Luckily she likes her performatrn ultra wet and dry food. She was checked a year ago for ear mites, or infection in a general check up. She came out fine. I'm trying the food allergy test now... We'll see.

My boy Rosco had a similar thing going on where he would scratch his one ear and sneeze so hard that his head shook. One day I noticed that same ear was looking puffy. The Vet said he didn't see anything wrong inside the ear, and drained the puffiness as he suspected an aural hematoma. Sure enough that's what it was - how did that happen and what to do about it? He said, if I recall correctly, the shaking head from sneezing could've dislodged or burst some vessels, but it wasn't anything to worry about really. It would fill up again with fluid, but would go away on its own and Rosco would end up with cauliflower ear, basically the tip would get shrivelled up. It so happened to happen on his tipped ear, so maybe that caused it to shrivel like so as it wasn't structured normally. I asked if cauliflower ear would impact his quality of hearing and Vet said not likely, and upon follow up everything was fine. There are treatments which you could Google, but I decided against them as I'd love Rosco with or without a perky ear as long as he still had use of his ear. Ok I'm done

Not sure if you've noticed any puffiness, but I thought I'd share in case you do and it's something you can ask the Vet about should it come to that. I hope this resolves soon in any case!