I think I messed up

[abby7625]

I gave Emma a bath today after she layed in some cooking oil. The bath went well and I cleaned her ears out because I noticed some wax build up and tried to dry them out. Since then, she has been shaking her head and flinging black goo all over as well as it is just oozing out of one ear. Could that be ear mites or just water mixing with wax and her ear was full of it? When I cleaned them, I got a large piece of dark brown wax out of the ear that is now bothering her, so did I just open a flood gate or what?

When she was at the vet shortly after I found her, they checked her ears and they were clean. All the cats' ears are clean so I don't know how she would have gotten ear mites if that's what it is.

 

[mzjazz2u]

Did you actually put water in her ears? If that is what happened and her sypmtoms don't stop in a day or two then she should be checked by a vet for an ear infection. When you bathe a cat it is really necessary to protect the ears from getting water in them.

Ear mites do look like black goo and/or wax. So that is entirely possible. I had my cat checked when I first got her and the vet said her ears were cleaned. Not long after that I discovered she was infected with ear mites. When I put the medicine in her ears and rubbed them, she would shake her head and black goo would come out. But still.... she (Emma) should be checked again.

 

[dawnofsierra]

Perhaps you would want to call your Vet, Abby, to run this by them? Just to be sure Emma is ok.

 

[hissy]

If you did put water in your cat's ear you can seriously cause her some problems. Inner ear infection, loss of balance. Please call your vet and tell him what you did so he can advise you. If I read it wrong and you put ear medicine in her ear, shaking her ear is entirely normal if that is what you did.

 

[abby7625]

Thanks for all your help guys. I wanted to clarify that I cleaned Emmas ears with a wet washcloth and didn't intentionally fill her ears with water. I was a bit worried and hurried when I first posted and left out some pertinent information. I apologize for that!

Emma is doing better today and has not been viciously shaking her head and scratching like she was after her bath. Her ears are dirty again though so she has an appointment tommorrow because I do believe she has ear mites. How she got them I don't know. I did want to know if you all felt it was safe to treat all the cats just as a precaution? I have read that ear mites are very contagious and pass easily between them all.

 

[kathryn41]

Get enough medication from the vet to treat all of the cats in your household. Ear mites are very contagious and if one has them, there is a good chance the others will as well. This way you will be sure there isn't a big chance of re-infection after you treat Emma from one of the other cats:-).

Good luck,
Kathryn

 

[dawnofsierra]

Glad to hear Emma is feeling better, and smart on her Mommy's part to get her into the Vet to have her ears checked!

 

[l.trant]

I would treat them all as they do spread. My cat had them when he was little, we had to use a cotton ball to wipe them out, we also made sure to cut his claws, just the tips so he could't scratch at his ear and hurt himself.

 

[maverick_kitten]

i hope emma's feeling better soon. i'm never sure if its more traumatic for the owner or the cat when you need to bath them and take them to the vets!

 

[abby7625]

Went to the vet. Yes, earmites, yes they gave me the meds to treat them all, and yes, they are all sitting around glaring at me. Now they will spend the rest of the day eating the Christmas tree (artificial, of course) just to make sure I know that this horrible mistreatment is unacceptable.

 

[pinkdaisy226]

Oh no, sorry that they're glaring at you but I'm glad you solved the problem and that they're on their way to being mite-free!

 

[rita]

Hope the bad earmites will disapear soon

 

[millyanddaisy]

I remember having to treat a cat for ear mites once, she shook her head just as I squeezed some medicine into her ear - the medicine sprayed out of her ear, went all over the floor, walls, me - I wasn't impressed!!

Sue

 

[mzjazz2u]

Originally Posted by Abby7625

Went to the vet. Yes, earmites, yes they gave me the meds to treat them all, and yes, they are all sitting around glaring at me. Now they will spend the rest of the day eating the Christmas tree (artificial, of course) just to make sure I know that this horrible mistreatment is unacceptable.

They'll be happy and purring loudly once their ears are feeling good again! Probably will even find a way to thank you!

Yes, they will shake their heads and brownish/black stuff will come out of their ears. But that's how they get it out. That gunk is mites and wax.

 

[dragonlady]

I have been told you can get a flea treatment from your vet that will also kill the ear mites. It's called Revolution and is also supposed to keep them from getting ticks wormd as well as the fleas and ear mites.

 

[zanniesmom]

Revolution will treat ear mites as well as fleas, roundworms, some types of mange and ticks. It is applied like Advantage or Frontline. The big disadvantage is that it is expensive and to treat several cats can be cost prohibitive. But if I had to treat ear mites it would be my choice since it is over in one treatment.
Be sure you take them back for a follow up visit after the ear mite treatment is finished, since there have been cases of cats reinfecting themselves from mites on the tip of their tail, that get there when they curl up asleep with their tail by their ears.

Becky