Dark Ear Wax and Itching but No Mites?

[zoomango]

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.

 

[di and bob]

Dark wax usually means an allergy. You could try some Pill Pockets for cats with 5 mg of Zertec, (one human pill cut in half, they are 10mg.)call your vet first and see what they say. It has helped my cat with itching. Take a clean rag or a cotton ball and with it damp, swab out the area around the ear canal, Do not go down into the ear canal itself.

 

[zoomango]

Thanks a lot. Allergies would have been my last guess. I didn't think allergy because it's developed suddenly, but now that I think about it, some of the head shaking symptoms started a long time ago. I wonder if it's related to food, since the head shaking started around the time I started them on a new diet and supplements.

Appreciate the suggestion for Pill Pockets, neat, I'd never heard of that, and didn't know cats could have Zertec. I'll ask my vet at the appointment today. I did clean yesterday but doesn't seem to be much of a change, it keeps coming back.

 

[DreamerRose]

There's one other possibility. Mingo tested negative for ear mites for years. I finally got a new vet in the clinic to check again, and she said he had a yeast infection in his ears and provided me with an ear solution to get rid of it. Unfortunately, it has to be kept in the refrigerator and you can imagine the reaction when you squirt that ice cold solution in his ears. It does help, though, and I will keep giving it to him.

 

[Venla]

That’s exactly how our cats ears looked like when her allergies flared up, lots of bacteria and yeasts too. Elimination diet takes atleast 8 weeks, just need to be strict. Feed something never eaten, kangaroo, horse.. nothing that has chicken, pork, fish.. Venla is on Atopica too, for the itchiness.