Mites? Ear infection?

2 weeks ago, we found a kitten who had recently been spayed in a parking lot at Arbys.  Per the vets guess (yesterday), she's about 11 weeks old at max, so she was 9 weeks at the time.  We looked for an owner by posting ads and posting with local shelters.  No one came forward and she's ours now.  That said, she came down with a cold and a fever. 104.2.  She started on antibiotics and seems to be doing great after just 2 doses.  The vet did all the basic testing and other than the cold, she's amazing.  That said, I thought I was battling ear mites for the past two weeks, but now I'm second guessing.  I was using mineral oil to clear them out and things were going great.  Then I got some actual stuff for mites.  Her ears blew up with black/brown stuff filling it.  Worse than it was before.  I chalked it up to the stuff being crap (hartz I think?) and went back to mineral oil and it started looking better again.  The vet dug into her ears and got a ton of stuff fro deeper down and when she examined it, found no mites, but said it could still be mites and to keep cleaning her ears.  

Then I heard about ear infections and how they seem to almost mimic mites.  So now I'm torn.  Do I keep treating as if it's mites?  Do I get something for ear infections?  If it is ear infections, with the antibiotic she's on clear it up?  I need to call the vet again, but it's the weekend so... The stuff wipes out easily with oil.  She doesn't mess with her ears at all.  I don't hear crunching when rubbing her ears, in fact, she LOVES it when you rub her ears.  Goes practically catatonic.  


Thank you for any help! 

Your cat is very lucky to have found you.

I'm sure someone much more knowledgeable will chime in soon but in the meanwhile I wanted to tell you how great I think you are for taking her in.

Also, I personally would stay away from anything that Hartz makes, including any mite treatment.  There are horror stories everywhere about pets dying from Hartz's products.

Didn't your vet give you anything for the mites?  If not, I would probably call him on Monday to see if you can pick something up.

I had a very similar experience with my kitten. We took her to the vet when we first got her, the vet said she didn't think it was ear mites. Three weeks later when she kept getting black gunk in her ears we took her again, different vet this time, still no ear mites. She's one and a half now and she is still getting black gunk in her ear. The vet said that some cats are just susceptible to regular wax buildup as some humans are. She used Verbac Epi Otic Ear Cleaner which helped for about a month and we've only now noticed it's back again. I'm trying to decide whether I should go back and get them to do a swab.for analysis just to be sure. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.

Here are the details of the product she used:

https://www.virbac.com.au/home/dog-cat-owners/products/ear-care/epi-otic.html

 What a beautiful kitten and so very, very blessed that you have rescued her!!! While the brown gunk does sound like mites, her behavior does sound much more like ear infection. With mites, when you put in the medicine or mineral oil, the mites begin straggling around, painfully scratching the cat's ear drums so the classic behavior is fierce head shaking, scratching at the ears & also running about wildly, trying to escape the pain which is internal. On the other hand, infected ears often smell foul although I suspect that the antibiotic would keep the smell down. My vet usually doesn't give me otic ointment (we use Gentizol) if the cat is already taking oral antibiotics.  If you are that concerned, you might be able to consult a holistic vet & ask about using herbal treatments. I have heard that mullein/garlic oil works well - I don't recommend people just using herbs randomly on pets (I am descended from a long line of healers and was raised to use certain herbs, but I don't know enough to be a teacher. I only know old wives' tales, that sort of stuff). 

Again, thank you for doing the right thing and giving the kitten a very special family! It seems odd that no one claims her - her ear isn't clipped so I dont think that she is part of a TNR program. Yet she mattered enough to someone for them to have had her spayed....such a mystery, if only she could talk!