Concerned About Brown Gunk in Ears

All cats that I've lived with that I have been able to observe up-close have had dried blood on the skin with little fur in front of the ears, but this, is strange. My cat BabyKitty has lots of brown gunk in the insides of her ears. She definitely is not happy about this and scratches it often. Today, her left ear seems worse than her right, witch is not usualy the case. She also shakes her head a lot and I'm worried it might be bad for her neck.
She was at the vet's just a month ago and the only thing they said was wrong with her is that she has Hyperthyroidisum, which she now takes pills for. I think they've only once mentioned the gunk in her ears that she has had from time to time throughout her life. I don't remember what they said since it was so many years ago (or at least feels like it) but I think they weren't concerned. The gunk seems normal for cats, from my understanding, but it's getting worse and she has had a much shorter temper.
I read from this website under "Skin Conditions in Cats" (http://www.thecatsite.com/a/skin-conditions-in-cats) that ear mites may be the culprit. Also, is all this scratching the cause of there not being much fur in front of her ears? I was thinking that and the gunk was just a trait of her and Rza's (Rza passed away a long time ago, and Smokey, who passed before him, was so shy I never really got a good look at her) species, or just cats in general.
If there are earmites, it might be difficult to get proper vet care with the amount of money and time my family currently has. I am aware that there is a page on here to find vets when you can't afford one, but I'm not sure how that works and I really don't want it to come down to that.
I searched "ear mites" under Articles and found "Ear Mites in Cats" (http://www.thecatsite.com/a/ear-mites-in-cats) which said that ear mites create earwax that makes the ear look "dirty," which matches BabyKitty's ears to me. The article mentions that ear mites should only be treated if a expert vet as dianosed the the problem is in fact ear mites, since ear mite removal preparation can irritate an unrelated infection and I really don't want to make this even worse for my cat.

I have not seen the gunk show any sign that it itself may be an animal, such as a bunch of insects. Eww...

A couple of (really gross) images are down below. They are not the best of quality but my cat really didn't like me taking pictures of the inside of her ear.
I hope the images can give you a good enough idea of the situation to help me and other owners. Like I said, they're not the best. I can take more images of needed.

Sincerely, a concerned cat owner

That sounds like ear mites. I dealt with those once years ago. The vet gave me drops to put in each ear for several days. I don't think it was expensive probably $50 for visit and meds. They may make something over the counter. Keep washing bedding and vacuum too often until treatment is finished.

Where in MA are you? There are several members here on TCS who live in various parts of MA.

Here's the link to the how to afford vet care article: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/no-money-for-vet-care-how-to-find-help-and-save-your-cats-life Basically you just go to the listed organziation's web site and look for info on how to apply for assistance. Be sure to read the fine print to see if you can qualify or not. Some places may only give assistance to pets that are currently patients in that hospital or organization.

It could also be a yeast infection particularly if your kitty is an indoor kitty.  A yeast infection in the ears can actually be a symptom of a food allergy, that was the first symptom my kitty had when he had developed an allergy to chicken.

Thank you guys so much! Sorry this is late.

luvmy4, it's good to see the opinion of someone who has experience with ear mites. I looked up pictures of ear mites in cats and I found pictures that looked like my cat's ears. There were also lots of pictures of Q-Tips, with captions saying to use those, which I know is never a good idea. One website that came up with Q-Tips a few times was meddirabbit or something like that.

LTS3, I'm in Wellesley Hills. Judging by the price from luvmy4, I probably won't need the link, but it's good for it to be there. So thanks [emoji]128512[/emoji]

Denice, my cat is mostly indoor but I take her outside. There are no forests bordering us and she dosent leave the yard anyway, if that helps. I searched for information on yeast infection on here and I re-found "Skin Conditions in Cats." The Skin & Food Allergies section said "Any protein in the cat's food can trigger an allergy," so perhaps the increase of protein in her diet may be causing this? What happened was we ran out of cat food so BabyKitty started eating the dog's Blue Wilderness, which is packed with protein. The second paragraph in that section talks about laundry detergents, cat shampoos, new rugs, and related, but no changes to those things have occurred in my household.
I read on to find "General Infections," and only there did I see the words "yeast infections." The paragraph stated "Wrinkled cats, like the Sphinx or Rex, can develop yeast infections between the folds of skin," not mentioning ears at any point. When I brought up yeast infections around my mom, she was VERY certain that BabyKitty's ears would smell horrible if they had a yeast infection. I couldn't smell anything, but I still see yeast infection as a possibility. I mean, my mom may have had three cats at a time, but she's not an expert.

Good mews: I showed my mom a picture of one of BabyKitty's ears and she said that the cat would be going back to the vet soon anyway and she would ask the vet to check her ears. $50 for the visit and medication, as luvmy4 estimated (if they are ear mites), should be affordable.

I will not be home for the weekend so I will not be able to observe BabyKitty herself, but I do have reference pictures and I will be able to check this website.

-BabyKitty05

Which vet hospital do you use? I've heard good things about The Cat Hospital which is near you http://www.thecatshospital.com/

Angell has a location in Waltham which isn't far from Wellesley. You do need a car to get there, though. They don't offer primary care there so Internal Medicine is the next best one, though that may be too much for something simple as ear mites or other ear issue.

Cats have normal ear wax in their ears sometimes. It's usually brown-ish incolor and sticky. You can gently swab a tissue into the ear to remove the visible gunk. There are ear cleaners you can buy at the pet store but most cats don't lke anything liquid put into their ears.

Yeah its itching part that made me remember the ear mites. My cats were indoors too bUT somehow got them. Take kitty to the vet and then they can investigate. Meds or food change really shouldn't be expensive to get an exam. My vet charges $35 for the visit plus whatever treatment. They always talk to me about cost if there are serious tests needed.

I had all of this typed and forgot to press reply, sorry! I had planned to do it that morning so people weren't getting a email at 10:00 at night. Now I'm posting this at almost the same time just so I don't forget. I was wondering why I wasen't getting emails that the tread had been updated...

LTS3,

I take my animals to Wellesley Animal Hospital.

I have passed the sign for The Cat's Hospital many times and wondered if they're any good. I checked the link provided and the staff only included two members, at least that's all that was posted. The "About Us" section only gave contact information. There is not much about them on the website that I can see, but then again, I'm on a phone. Their website may or may not reflect their work, I'm not going to assume the worst right away.

I searched for "Internal Medicine" which gave me results for humans, so I added "veterinary" to my search. The first result was an ad for "VCA Verterinarians" which was offering free exams for first-time patients. The first result that wasen't an ad was for Southern Colorado. Am I looking for a place that isen't even a place, but just a practice? I saw many results for acual internal medicine.
I decided to go to the VCA Verterinarians website to see if they were any good (I mean, they were the first result) and the first paragraph on the home page was "We operate more than 700 animal hospitals in 41 states across the nation in the VCA network. These hospitals are staffed by more than 1,800 fully qualified, dedicated and compassionate veterinarians to give your pet the very best in medical care." If they live up to that, that's amazing.
It seemed too good to be true, so I looked for locations to make sure they were close enough to me. They were where I am now, but wouldn't show locations anywhere else. When I entered my zip code, it said "Error: Your browser dosent support geolocation." I decided to not deal with that at 10:00 at night.