ear mites

[t.pettet]

I'm looking after my friend's cat while he's in hospital and this poor girl has ear mites. Anyone recommend meds to treat her?

[Dracko]

Vets have a one dosage medication they can apply to the cats lower back to treat them. That is probably the most effective and easiest tx. Not sure if you have to take the cat in or can just purchase it and put it on yourself?

[t.pettet]

Thanks, I wasn't looking forward to applying ointment into her ears as she's not the most friendly and is especially stressed being away from home and her dad. Pretty sure my vet will just give me the meds so I won't have to take her in.

[14+kitties]

Could you take a pic of her ear(s) with your camera or cell phone and take it with you to the vet? That way the vet will be able to see if it is ear mites or something else. I thought a couple of mine had mites and it was just dirt.

[Hazmat]

While ear mites are common, it could also be other things like a bacteria or fungal infection or just plain dirty ears. The only way to know for sure is a trip to the Vet.

The way I look at it is that applying daily drops can be a miserable thing ( for the owner + cat) even if you have a well mannered cat. I'd rather know for sure so I don't waste my energies fighting a cat everyday for a week or two, and only figure out that I was treating for the wrong problem.

Also, any medication that you get from the Vet. will be much much more effective than the over the counter stuff that comes from a pet store.

[Dracko]

The other option is to take a bit of a swab on a q-tip and the vet can look at it under a microscope. That's what they did to diagnose my kittens with mites.