my 8 1/2 week old kitten has lots and lots of brown stuff inside his ears. Is it just ear wax, or is it ear mites? I just want to make sure it isn't something silly, before I bring him to the vet.
Answers:
An itchy ear full of wax is never a silly reason to take your cat to the vet. For a proper diagnosis and treatment you'll have to see the vet anyway, please make an appointment and have it treated. Ear mites are only one possibility, infection, foxtails, and allergy-induced itching with secondary infection are all just as probable.
is it moving? If it is you got mites
http://maxshouse.com/parasites_external.
That sounds like mites. It really looks like they have dirty ears. If your cat is messing with its ears a lot %26 acting like they itch, then it is definitely time to go to the vet.
Yes, that is a very good sign of ear mites. Plus if your kitten has been scratching his ears and shaking his head.
Ear mites are tiny red things. Take some out and smear it on a tissue, if you see little moving red things then you have ear mites. It could be dirt. Push at the base of the ear, is it squishy sounding? Does stuff come out of the ear canal? That might also be a sign of mites. Either way the ear needs to be cleaned. I don't know what a vet would say, but I clean my cats ears with 1 part hydrogen peroxide 2 (or 3) parts water. That won't kill the mites but it will clean it out.
Take him to the vet.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en%26amp;q=...
definitely ear mites... when i first got my kitten both her ears had blackish/brown waxy build-up and it was ear mites. i had to put vet-prescribed ear drops in her ears for a month or two. the brown stuff is the feces of the ear mites... it's gross. also, be prepared for when you put the ear drops in your cat's ears because after you're done, he/she will shake his/her head and the pieces of the brown stuff will come flying out.
almost guaranteed mites. mites will make the ears look dirty...the brown stuff is mite poop. cats don't get wax like we do, they should look clean %26 skin colored.
The dark stuff in your kitten's ears is not necessarily ear mites; however, most kittens will have mites when you get them. If the cat scratches at his ears, they are probably mites. In either case, you can go to your local pet store and buy miticide/ear mite prevention drops and administer them yourself. Make sure the label says that it is safe for *kittens*, not just cats. Of course, if you take the kitten to a vet for a routine check-up, they will tell you easily by checking the wax under a microscope.
Good luck!
You can swab the ear with a cotton ball (do not use cotton swabs - you may go in too far) and smear the cotton ball on a black piece of paper. You will see little light coloured crawlies if it's mites. You can use mineral oil or baby oil on the cotton ball to clean and coat the ears, daily for a couple weeks, then every so often to prevent future infestations. The oil smothers the eggs and soothes the ear. The cat is not in pain, it's as though they can hear buzzing or feel little things jumping in their ears. Mites feed on ear wax and the black stuff you see is their excrement.
Or, if you go to the vet, Melbimite ?(sp) is a one dose treatment that really works but costs about $20 per ear and you'll have to pay for the visit and examination fees also.
Well first you should even get him to the vet even if its not earmites. To much ear wax can give him an ear infection. And I think it is just earwax.
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