I have 3 cats (technically 5 if I count the newborn kittens):
Cat 1: Bob
Cat 2: Jimmy
Cat 3: Nala (currently nursing 2 newborn kittens)
Nala was a stray when I took her in a couple months ago. I kept her in the garage until I was able to get her to the vet to be checked. She had roundworms, fleas and was negative for FIV. After getting rid of her fleas and worms, which was confirmed in a follow-up vet visit, I moved her to a separate room inside the house, to slowly get her acquainted with Bob & Jimmy.
I noticed even though she didn't have fleas any more, she was scratching her ears a lot and shaking her head frequently. I've checked for fleas multiple times with a flea comb, but there are no fleas. Jimmy seemed to have the same exact symptoms, except with more intensity. A couple weeks ago, one morning I woke up and Jimmy had almost completely scratched the hair off above his eyes, his ears were red and swollen. I couldn't get a vet appointment at the time, so I just cleaned his ears and put a soft cone on him, and kept cleaning his ears daily. In a few days the swelling went a way, and after about a week his hair started growing back to normal. But every time I have taken the cone off, he scratches so much I have to put it back on again.
It seems that Jimmy's scratching and symptoms get worse when he's around Nala. He hates Nala and gets stressed out by her. Bob is completely unaffected even though he spends more time around Nala and is friendly with her. He also spends a lot of time with Jimmy, including cuddling and playing (though less lately now that Jimmy is wearing a cone 247).
When I was able to get Jimmy to the vet, she suggested that Jimmy may have ear mites and prescribed some topical flea/mite killer, tresaderm for possible infection and milbemite octic for the mites. I bought those online via Chewy and will receive them tomorrow. But then this past Saturday I had to take Nala to an urgent care for a fever, and I asked her to be tested for ear mites. The test was negative, no ear mites. Jimmy has never been outside, so if he didn't catch ear mites from Nala, what could it be...
I'm confused because Nala and Jimmy have almost identical symptoms (both visually and behaviorally), but Bob has no symptoms even though he's close to both of them. Is it possible one cat wouldn't catch ear mites? Is it possible Jimmy's stress level has made him more susceptible to catching something from Nala?
I've tried cutting out certain foods for a week at a time, including eliminating all chicken from Jimmy's diet, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. The only thing that's helped a little is hemp oil, but that's not a solution.
I'm going to try to get Jimmy to another vet later this week, but wondering if anyone here has any ideas. I've attached a couple pictures of Jimmy's ears.
Cat 1: Bob
Cat 2: Jimmy
Cat 3: Nala (currently nursing 2 newborn kittens)
Nala was a stray when I took her in a couple months ago. I kept her in the garage until I was able to get her to the vet to be checked. She had roundworms, fleas and was negative for FIV. After getting rid of her fleas and worms, which was confirmed in a follow-up vet visit, I moved her to a separate room inside the house, to slowly get her acquainted with Bob & Jimmy.
I noticed even though she didn't have fleas any more, she was scratching her ears a lot and shaking her head frequently. I've checked for fleas multiple times with a flea comb, but there are no fleas. Jimmy seemed to have the same exact symptoms, except with more intensity. A couple weeks ago, one morning I woke up and Jimmy had almost completely scratched the hair off above his eyes, his ears were red and swollen. I couldn't get a vet appointment at the time, so I just cleaned his ears and put a soft cone on him, and kept cleaning his ears daily. In a few days the swelling went a way, and after about a week his hair started growing back to normal. But every time I have taken the cone off, he scratches so much I have to put it back on again.
It seems that Jimmy's scratching and symptoms get worse when he's around Nala. He hates Nala and gets stressed out by her. Bob is completely unaffected even though he spends more time around Nala and is friendly with her. He also spends a lot of time with Jimmy, including cuddling and playing (though less lately now that Jimmy is wearing a cone 247).
When I was able to get Jimmy to the vet, she suggested that Jimmy may have ear mites and prescribed some topical flea/mite killer, tresaderm for possible infection and milbemite octic for the mites. I bought those online via Chewy and will receive them tomorrow. But then this past Saturday I had to take Nala to an urgent care for a fever, and I asked her to be tested for ear mites. The test was negative, no ear mites. Jimmy has never been outside, so if he didn't catch ear mites from Nala, what could it be...
I'm confused because Nala and Jimmy have almost identical symptoms (both visually and behaviorally), but Bob has no symptoms even though he's close to both of them. Is it possible one cat wouldn't catch ear mites? Is it possible Jimmy's stress level has made him more susceptible to catching something from Nala?
I've tried cutting out certain foods for a week at a time, including eliminating all chicken from Jimmy's diet, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. The only thing that's helped a little is hemp oil, but that's not a solution.
I'm going to try to get Jimmy to another vet later this week, but wondering if anyone here has any ideas. I've attached a couple pictures of Jimmy's ears.
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