ear infections/mites

Hi everyone
We recently moved and within the last couple weeks I noticed that our two cats are shaking their heads and scratching at their ears. They are indoor cats and almost two years old.There is no dark discharge so I don't know if it's mites or what. Any ideas??I have a vet appointment but I can't get in until the 23rd,I have the new one time medication for mites but I am afaid it will hurt them if its something else.

That does seem odd. It's rare that an adult cats all of a sudden would get mites. They have to be exposed to them in order to get them. If they were exposed to a cat with mites, then yes I would have to say it is. If not, they do sometimes get ear infections but not as common as dogs. You usually see ear infections in cats with allergies, for both to have a problem with the ears is a ?

Sounds like ear mites. My cats got them "out of the blue". They were treated, and now are fine. But I'd wait until the vet visit before administering any medicine to the ear. If it isn't ear mites, the medicine might cause trouble.

Showing my ignorance here...how do you know when ear scratching is something you should be worried about? My kitties occasionally shake their heads and scratch at their ears, but I never thought anything of it since it wasn't constant.

My kitten was suffering with bad ear mites. Took him to Vet and I treated him with ear drops for about 3 weeks and he is just fine now.
Hopefully they won't return. Please wait until you see the Vet before administering any ear meds.

Let us know how your cats are doing.

Have a meow day.

If it's just occasional shaking or scratching, they are probably fine--just standard itching. My kitty has also had problems with mites, and she shook her head and/or scratched a lot. But you can always have the vet take a look, to be sure. They can be difficult to get rid of. I wonder if maybe the previous homeowners had pets?

Hi Everyone
Just thought I'd update you on the ear problem with Daisy & Simon. They don't have mites or an infection. Their vet seems to think it's allergies,which would make sense because of the recent move. Not much I can do except give them some sort of antihistime but she didn't think they would need yet. So we will wait and see if they develop any sneezing or coughing. So hopefully they will adjust to their new home and everything will be fine.
Thanks for the input.

Yeah, there's not a whole lot out there for cats with allergies. You can use benidryl, but it doesn't seem to be as effective on cats as it is on dogs. Usually for temporary relief, they give them a form of steriods. However, it's better to get down to the cause rather than keep them on these drugs long term. If it persists, I would see about allergy testing