Ear Mites & Diatomaceous Earth?

Does Diatomaceous Earth food grade help control ear mites in cats at all? I am feeding it to ferals who seem to be passing the ear mites back to a couple of cats we have tamed. I cannot treat the other ferals because I cannot handle them. I am wonderning if I am going to have to another route. Thanks for any info!

PS: We do have the Diatomaceous Earth on the bedding the ferals are sleeping on also.

DE controls ear mites if you pack the ears with it.  Feeding it has no effect.  Using it on the bedding will help control fleas and maybe stop ear mites from being passed on the bedding but to work, it must have contact with the mites.  Its action is physical, not chemical.  It gets between the plates of the insect's exoskeleton and dehydrates it by letting the "juice" out.

Thank you for your reply. Do you think it would be safe to put the DE on a q-tip the get the particles into the cats ear? Can the cats ear be damaged by the DE? I think I could do this on our 2 lap cats but I am still pretty sure even they are not going to be thrilled with the idea. I have seen some posts that says Revolution does not always even take care of ear mites and I am also fairly certain that even if I treat the lap cats we have tamed they are going to get reinfected by the feral's they come in contact with as they are all litter mate's. If there is something else anyone wants to suggest as treatment feel free. Just keep in mind I cannot handle the feral's and though I did trap them for TNR I am not willing to keep trapping them to treat them for ear mites as this would be a never ending Trap, Release, Medicate, Release issue that I am not will to put them through. Thank you!

Actually don't use a Q-tip in the ear except around the outside to clear away any black crud from the mites.  The way I use DE is to put a small amount on the tip of a tea spoon (not a teaspoon but a tea spoon, the long handled kind with the small spoon on the end that is used for iced tea),   Hold ear tip firmly, drop the powder into the ear, pull gently on ear tip to allow the powder to fall deeply into the ear, then fold ear tip forward and massage the base of the ear to spread the powder all around.  Then release and allow cat to shake out the excess powder.  Repeat on other ear.  Do every 3 days for first week, then once a week for a couple of weeks, then maybe once a month as a preventative if there are more mites around (like in a shelter where new cats are always coming in).  As for the ferals, I would only trap, treat and release if the mites get bad enough to cause problems like digging at the ears and shaking their heads all the time.

I don't think it is practical to use DE on their ears because they could get a respiratory infection from breathing it in (and It would be difficult to put on them without them breathing the dust). I have used grape seed oil on a cotton ball to clean mites out of a cats ears. It seems to work well. You should never use essential oils like tea tree oil on cats, because it is toxic. I am no expert on the matter, I just know what I've read from researching on the internet.

Thank you all for the opinions & ideas! Best .....

My cat; Baby was examined by a Vet and I was told he had ear mites. The Vet gave me a bottle to use on him. But after reading the contents of the medicine; I decided not to use it. I looked it up online and I found in a study that in dogs it could cause discomfort in some of them anywhere from 2-5 minutes. So, I found this site and thought I would use D.E.. I bought some cotton balls, put several in a plastic bag; then added some D.E.. I closed the bag and shook the bag to make sure all the balls were coated. I rubbed his inner ear first, then used another ball around his ears, and continued using several more on the sides of his face, chest and head, keeping it away from his eyes and nose. He has slowed down on his scratching considerably. He really does not seem to mind me using it on him, no clawing. I also, rubbed some into his coat on his back and belly which he seemed to enjoy.