[SilentKermitt]

I got my new kitten about a month ago. About three days after I got her I noticed she had ear mites, so I treated them. (I read a different thread on here that you should treat for about 28 days due to the life cycle) Well the medicine I got just said to treat until the condition seemed to clear up. So I did that, and three days after I stopped treating her ears started getting dirty. I read that dirty ears promotes ear mites, but its a heck of a time trying to clean her ears. (I got some drops that said they can be used once a month to help prevent ear mites and clean ears) Is there an easy way that I can clean her ears that doesnt have her and I going crazy in the process. Or is it ok for her to have slightly dirty ears, as long as she doesnt have mites? (she is an indoor only cat, and none of my other previous cats had dirty ears like this)

A couple days ago she also started to purrr different. I dont know if theres anything wrong with the way she purrs but its just differnt. I guess if you could classify a normal (well what i think of as normal) purr as a throaty sound. She has started, on occasion, to make her purrs sound kinda nasaly... its a hight pitched purrr... i dont know if this is normal, or if there is something wrong?? other than the sound difference she is acting purfectly healthy.

any ideas or help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Kimmyboo]

Hi,
I know they have ear cleaning wipes out there for cats that are easy to use. You can try to get some of those. Just don't stick your finger in too far. If you can't find them in your pet store then you can go to dr's foster & Smith website and order there or maybe your vet can tell you where to get some. Also, on the nasaly purr. You may want to keep and eye on the cat. Is she/he acting normal? Eating normal? I'd bring him/her to the vet as she could have the start of a cold or something. I wouldn't wait too long. Even if it turns out to be nothing, at least you took her and found out but I think it could be the start of a cold. Make sure you tell the vet every change you've seen in the kitten even if you think it's nothing big. Let us know what happens. I hope I helped you out. Take care!! <<))

 

[Kimmyboo]

Oh yeah, one more thing about the dirty ears. Alot of cats have some dirt in the ears. You can't get it all out. Outdoors cats tend to get more dirt. I think it's okay to have slightly dirty ears as long as they aren't growing potatoes in there or anything. Take care! :wink:

 

[SilentKermitt]

shes due for a set of shots soon, so i will be calling about that and see what all they say. I dont have to much money..so hopefully i can do this all in one trip. yea..shes acting normal and eating normal, and i think shes actually playing a bit more now too... probably cause shes now getting more comfy w/ her surroundings..

 

[lotocats]

Mites & dirty ears

You can treat cats with Revolution and it kills mites. As far as cleaning, once a cat has had mites, they tend to have dirty ears. I believe this is due to damage that is done to the ear and thus it produces too much wax. Also, if your cat has allergies, it's ears will be dirty all the time. I have a cat who has allergies and even though I control his flea allergy with Frontline, those ears are always dirty. I put a good ear wash I get from the vet, massage the ear and let him shake his head. Then I wipe out the ear with cotton or some other soft material. I do this every week. His ears are never sparkling clean, but this keeps them somewhat clean.

 

[AngelZoo]

Definetly address this with your cats doctor when you go. Ear mites can come and go, typically the treatment time for earmites is longer then 3 days however! (More like one week or so).
I don't hold too much stock in over the counter ear meds or cleaners. Sometimes ones you get from your vet work much better, I'm currently using Epi-Otic and it works great, see if your vet carries that

So long as your cat no longer has ear mites currently, try cleaning your cats ears every day for a couple weeks, and see if it starts to clear up. If it does, then you can go to cleaning once a week, some people will even go to just cleaning them once a month and they are able to maintain.

You can just use cotton balls or ear whipes, I personally like to use q-tips however in addition to remove more of the gunk, but that's not something that should be done unless you have been shown how to do it. Just like with our ears, you shouldn't be poking around down to far in a cats ear

 

[SilentKermitt]

hey all thanks for the replys. I did treat her for earmites for about a week and a half i think.. and luckely she hasnt gotten them back.. since i had posted this her ears got dirtier...but now.. without me doing anything they have cleaned up a bit. i guess they were just getting all the residual dirt from the ear mites out. she and i really dont like cleaning them...so i hope we can do a once a month cleaning and be good.