my 18 year old female Siamese suddenly developed excessive wax in both ears around May of this year. i didn't notice it until she started shaking her head frequently and then i saw odd, dark brown particles all over the house. there was no odor and she didn't appear to be in pain, just annoyed. i took her to the vet who seemed confounded by it, took a swab sample, and threw his hands up when nothing showed up under the microscope. i went back a couple more times with no success so finally requested another vet who i know is a cat expert. he immediately suspected food allergies or sensitivities, tested a sample and found a bacterial infection which he treated with antibiotic and steroid injections. then he scheduled an ear irrigation because the wax was packed so deeply he couldn't determine if there were tumors or nodules which might be another explanation for the wax. the previous vet didn't want to do the irrigation when i suggested it, saying she was too old for anesthesia. irrigation was done successfully by the new vet and there was nothing abnormal deep in the ears so he's convinced it's food related. she ate Science Diet Active Longevity until a couple of years ago when i switched her to a senior food from Purina, Pro Plan Focus Age 11+ turkey and rice formula. i never gave her wet food until after the wax issue started. the vet insisted that i switch to a less common and limited ingredient diet and to avoid turkey and chicken to start. he suggested duck or rabbit. i tried dry duck and she likes it but have tossed dozens of cans of wet duck food after trying everything i can find which doesn't contain other meat proteins, including unidentified "liver" etc. i finally gave up and am giving her limited ingredient cans which are primarily duck but have some chicken because it's the only one she will eat. now she has her first yeast infection in the ears from the waxy breeding ground and i must put drops in her ears starting last week and you can guess how much she likes that! of course, i still don't know what is causing the wax production and at her age don't have years to figure it out and i don't want her to be plagued by this for the rest of her days with alternate infections from bacteria or yeast or both and regular irrigations with the accompanying risks from anesthesia. oh, she weighs around 7 pounds so doesn't have a cushion of any fat stored to compensate for not eating if she doesn't like what i'm serving. plus i've spent over $1,000 on waxy ears over the past few months and am no closer to a solution. here's hoping someone has had a similar experience and can recommend foods to try which worked for you. i've searched the forums and found some comments about this problem but haven't found any where someone says outright which foods have worked - except the occasional reference to a brand/formula by initials which i can't figure out. thanks!
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Excessive Ear Wax... Help!
- Thread starter Don N
- Start Date
I had a cat who had airborne allergies and her ear canals would become inflamed preventing the wax from draining as normal. At one point in time she developed a yeast infection in one ear and was on meds for that. We had her ears thoroughly cleaned while she was sedated for dental work and they put BNT ear salve in her ears. Then, we started her on a daily antihistamine to help with the inflammation. That seemed to help as did switching to a grain-free diet. Just like humans, kitty's systems change as they age.
Hi Don,
My cat also had a lot of dark residues in her ears (cleaning wasn't helping), at the base of her claws and she had a round scab on her back. Last June my vet sent sample of the ear wax, scab and urine the the lab. The results showed nothing other than a bladder inflammation. The antibiotics cured the bladder problem. The other problems disappeared after removing chicken and grains from her diet (she was on Science diet oral care for years). I also try to avoid carageenan and menadione.
My cat also had a lot of dark residues in her ears (cleaning wasn't helping), at the base of her claws and she had a round scab on her back. Last June my vet sent sample of the ear wax, scab and urine the the lab. The results showed nothing other than a bladder inflammation. The antibiotics cured the bladder problem. The other problems disappeared after removing chicken and grains from her diet (she was on Science diet oral care for years). I also try to avoid carageenan and menadione.
We also had a cat who got a lot of ear gunk: the vet thought it was a yeast infection and gave us ear drops, which our cat also hated. We used to clear it out as much as we could with tissues.
We later realized that Brooksie likely had food sensitivities/allergies that were also causing itching, excessive licking/grooming, and ultimately symptoms of IBD. She was frail and elderly so we never had her properly tested but I've learned since that combination of symptoms isn't uncommon.
I agree with what the previous posters have suggested. Most important, be sure to take all the grains out of your cat's diet, if you haven't already done so. If you're noticed any patterns that might suggest that the ear wax is connected with a specific protein -- maybe the chicken? unfortunately, chicken's a common irritant -- it would be worth cutting out that protein. Sometimes keeping a food log helps find correlations. That helped me see that our cat's problems seemed tied to grains and fish.
Since figuring out what's causing these sorts of symptoms is largely a matter of trial and error, I'd suggest foods, preferably all wet foods, that have simple recipes and relatively short ingredient lists. That helps reduce the potential culprits. I'd stay away from ingredients like carageenan, potato, peas, and anything else carby that cats don't digest well. We do this for our two cats -- they're Siamese mixes -- who have rather delicate digestive systems and it really helps. Our vet has told us that's fairly common for Siamese cats.
Also, if you want help deciphering some of those foods referred to by initials only, just list them! Two of the common ones that people abbreviate are NVI (Nature's Variety Instinct, which I wouldn't recommend because it has peas) and RC (Rad Cat, which I would recommend as a frozen raw food with a very simple ingredient list).
Good luck!
We later realized that Brooksie likely had food sensitivities/allergies that were also causing itching, excessive licking/grooming, and ultimately symptoms of IBD. She was frail and elderly so we never had her properly tested but I've learned since that combination of symptoms isn't uncommon.
I agree with what the previous posters have suggested. Most important, be sure to take all the grains out of your cat's diet, if you haven't already done so. If you're noticed any patterns that might suggest that the ear wax is connected with a specific protein -- maybe the chicken? unfortunately, chicken's a common irritant -- it would be worth cutting out that protein. Sometimes keeping a food log helps find correlations. That helped me see that our cat's problems seemed tied to grains and fish.
Since figuring out what's causing these sorts of symptoms is largely a matter of trial and error, I'd suggest foods, preferably all wet foods, that have simple recipes and relatively short ingredient lists. That helps reduce the potential culprits. I'd stay away from ingredients like carageenan, potato, peas, and anything else carby that cats don't digest well. We do this for our two cats -- they're Siamese mixes -- who have rather delicate digestive systems and it really helps. Our vet has told us that's fairly common for Siamese cats.
Also, if you want help deciphering some of those foods referred to by initials only, just list them! Two of the common ones that people abbreviate are NVI (Nature's Variety Instinct, which I wouldn't recommend because it has peas) and RC (Rad Cat, which I would recommend as a frozen raw food with a very simple ingredient list).
Good luck!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #5
Just realized I should give an update to report success! The dry food I've been feeding her since last fall is Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea (grain free) and the wet food is Blue Wilderness Duck Recipe, a pate which contains some chicken but duck is the main ingredient. Went back to the vet around Thanksgiving and there were no infections and wax wasn't as heavy as before so he just cleaned her ears with swabs and told me to come back in 3 months unless things went south. Went back in early March and there was no wax! I expected that since she hadn't been shaking her head or scratching/rubbing her ears for months nor had I seen any of the nasty brown wax particles around the house. I'll never know what the irritant was in the Purina Pro Plan Focus Age 11+ turkey and rice formula, just thankful that changing her diet worked eventually. She's playing with toys, running and jumping, and stalking and chasing my other cat regularly - and she will be 19 in a few months!
