Tuffy still has junk in his ears,

Hi, I thought that we had tuffy all well again, today I noticed alot of black/brown stuff in his ears again. He was treaded by the vet 2 times for ear mites and I was cleaning his ears the best I could with Qtips. Like I said I thought he was all done with this problem so today I cleaned them the best I could and then I took some mineral oil on a Qtip and wiped his ears with it to see if that works. Why is this so hard to get rid of? Could it be something other than mites? Our big cat [panther] must know something is wrong because he trys to lick the junk out of tuffy's ears. Poor tuffy, he is such a nice cat to have to go through so much. I suffer with clinical depression and having him here and watching him get better has made me feel better also. Tuffy is somewhat of a celebrity at the vets office, They all know him now and like him alot also. He is laying on my lap as I am typing this purring away. All our cats are special to me but tuffy is my buddy. Even when he was really sick he never complained, I had to keep him in a big dog carrier in the garage when I first brought him home so he wouldn't get our other cats sick, I think he was happy that I took the time to help him get better and he never complained about being alone in "tuffy's house". Sorry to go on about him but he is a special kitty to me. Tom

It's very possible that he has a yeast/bacteria infection. Usually the vet will take a sample of the goop in th ear, and check it under the microscope to see if there's yeast, bacteria, or both.

Have the vet check to be on the safe side. But there is a slight possibility that that is his natural wax build up. Buddy gets dirty ears occasionally, with brown waxy subtance. I clean it with q-tips gently as well. He just went to the vet last week and also gets revolution every month, and there is no sign of any infection or ear mites. He doesn't mess with his ears at all. The vet said to me that he is fine. It could be that his wax build up is more than other cats, just check with the vet to be sure.

My Trixie had the same thing but we got rid of it fairly quickly by 3 vet visits to clean ears, and an anti-yeast medication in the ears for a week AND 2 injections to kill the mites. The vet also had to knock her out (zzzzzzzz!) in order to really clean the ears -- said that w/o doing that its hard to get every single mite which is what you have to do. Said all it takes is one to survive.. and THEY ARE BACK.. GACK

Yep...sounds like you've still got mites and/or a yeast infection. Better go back to the vet. I went through this last year with all of my three...both the mites and the yeast! I don't envy you.

The good news is that the mites should get less prevalent as it gets colder and drier.

Tuffy has also started to sneeze out big green/yellow blood tinged boogers again today, and his coughing attacks are comming back. I had really hoped we had him healthy or at least as good as he could be after being so sick. I hate to run to the vet all the time with him, it was his second home for a while. He has been on meds 4 different times since early august to get rid of this stuff. Should I just watch him for a little while to see if its just a little flair up? Last time he was x rayed and vet told me he has a damaged lung from bad infection he had, scar tissue I assume she meant, but he looked good other wise. She though that his lung will always be like this and he might show some breathing problems from time to time which would explain the cough, But why is he sneezing up all this junk again? Sorry to go on about Tuffy so much on this site. I don't want him to get real sick again and then pass it on to all the other cats. Tom

Maybe a quick call to your vet to ask? My Vet is so great to answer questions over the phone. That way too they can tell you if its ok to watch for a while or if Tuffy really needs to be seen right away. Especially yes if you have other cats-- dont want to risk getting them sick.
Good luck!! And best wishes little Tuffy!

Just a warning about q-tips...it's possible to rupture a cat's eardrum with a q-tip if your cat jerks its head while you're cleaning its ears. It's best to use cotton balls or pads to clean the ears, and never reach farther into the ear than you can see. To clear out the gunk, pour in an ear flush solution from the vet, massage the base of the ear gently, and let the cat shake its head - the solution will flush the gunk out to where you can wipe it out with a cotton ball or tissue.

I found that out the hard way - a few years ago when I was cleaning Mr. Underfoot's ears, he jerked his head and the q-tip went right in and ruptured his eardrum. Poor kitty, I felt so awful for hurting him - he'd always been good about holding still before then. He completely lost his sense of balance and interest in food, and had to be hospitalized for a couple of days and given pain medication so he'd feel better and regain his appetite.

He recovered ok and is fine now, but I'll never use anything other than cotton balls to clean his ears now!

I hope Tuffy is better soon!

For the ear mites, using Frontline top spot or Revolution flea control in addition to the ear medication can help get rid of them for good...you might want to ask your vet about it.