Possible Ear Mites? (pictures)

[Sadee]

Me being the cat person I am, I was taking pictures of my cat and noticed the scratch. I looked at his ear and seen lots and lots of ear wax, the first thing I thought was ear mites, he's had allergy problems with his ears before, he even got medicine for it.

He's always itched his ears a lot, so I'm not sure if that's a symptom or not. No odor either..

 

[abyeb]

It could be mites- can you take him to the vet? They’ll be able to take an ear swab and look under the microscope, to see if it is mites, or something else going on.

 

[Sadee]

It could be mites- can you take him to the vet? They’ll be able to take an ear swab and look under the microscope, to see if it is mites, or something else going on.

I know he has allergy problems in his ears, I might try the allergy cream his doctor gave me early this year for a few weeks and see if it helps.

 

[jcat]

I know he has allergy problems in his ears, I might try the allergy cream his doctor gave me early this year for a few weeks and see if it helps.

I wouldn't wait a couple of weeks. Mites (which this looks like) not only are incredibly uncomfortable for the cat, but a bad infestation can deform the ears.

 

[Wile]

Personally I don't see it. To me this just looks like a normal cat ear with a bit of normal earwax and a scab from scratching. Mites aren't really something you can self-diagnose though, so if you think there is a chance your cat has them, or if he is itching from allergies enough to give himself scabs, then it's best to ask a vet to check it out.

 

[epona]

I'd go to the vet - in addition to the other things that have been mentioned, it could be some middle or inner ear issue - when my Radar had his polyps he was at first getting a buildup of dried blood flakes in his ear which resembled the dark debris that ear mites leave, and he was scratching at his ears, and it just got worse from there. The vet can have a look with an otoscope and see what is going on.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Yep, that needs a vet visit.

 

[Erinlinkcappy]

The itching is a symptom - our cat goes mad with it and makes his ears bleed.
If you can’t afford the vet / are reluctant to take him in yet then you should buy some over the counter mite treatment and that might fix him up early.
Our cat gets seasonal ear problems. Honestly the vet can never seem to decide if it’s mites or allergies but we treated him for mites with the over the counter stuff early this year and he was much happier during winter.
His ear drops prescribed by the vets when his ears were bad lasted us almost 12 months so if they get worse then at least you can probably get something long term prescribed.