Mites or wax?

[Chloe9708]

2 days ago I adopted a kitten from a shelter, I belive he is 14 weeks old. I noticed some black in his ears I thought it might have been dirt, after doing some googling i realised it could be wax or mites also. Would anyone be able to tell me if it's either of those, I'm going too book an appointment with the vet tomorrow to get him his vaccines and a health check along with checking his ears.

 

[di and bob]

The vet would have to look under a scope to tell. I have had cats that just have dirty ears. The main way to tell is to observe him and see if he is scratching a lot. You might take a cotton swab and clean his ears, never go down into the canal, just the outer parts that you can see. Or even a wet cloth and swab what you can see, it won't fit down into the canal. There are topical flea and tick medicines that kill ear mites too, they are a one-time deal and easier. Only a couple kill mites though, one is Advantage 11. Another is Revolution Plus.

 

[Chloe9708]

The vet would have to look under a scope to tell. I have had cats that just have dirty ears. The main way to tell is to observe him and see if he is scratching a lot. You might take a cotton swab and clean his ears, never go down into the canal, just the outer parts that you can see. Or even a wet cloth and swab what you can see, it won't fit down into the canal. There are topical flea and tick medicines that kill ear mites too, they are a one-time deal and easier. Only a couple kill mites though, one is Advantage 11. Another is Revolution Plus.

Thank you, I did try cleaning his ears a little bit with a round cotton pad but he didn't like it so I'm going to wait until I visit the vet, I will try to clean as much as I can because I have noticed him scratching his ears but it isn't constant scratches so I don't want to hurt him when I try clean it. But thank you for the response.

 

[Furballsmom]

Let us know how things go