Ear Mites are the most common infestation reported for cats. These tiny little parasites when they enter the cats ear and starts to multiply they can cause big issues for the cat's well-being.
If you are suspecting ear mite infestation, please take this seriously as it will quickly spread and is highly contagious as well for your other cats in the vicinity. The mites can only crawl, they can't fly or jump, but still they will make it to your cat's ear. The ear mites are most common found in cats freely roaming outdoors. If the remediation for ear mites is delayed - it can lead to mutilation of cats ears and face due to severe continuous scratching done by the animal and in the process harming themselves.
Fortunately ear mites symptoms can be easily observed externally, without any intrusive tests:
- The external part of the ear might be inflamed and cat might try to place its ears flat on the head, or might be continuously itching or scratching it. They even try to shake their head in an attempt to remove an object ( in this case the ear mites) from their ears.
- If you find dark, bad smelling substance like ear wax inside the ear's canal, it might be one of the early symptoms as these might be the debris in which these ear mites reside.
Since the cats cant lick and groom their ears, they need external help from owners to regularly check and prevent the ear mite infestation.
The vet will use a torch like tool to check insides of the ear canal to detect the ear mite presence or they would even take a ear wax sample for observation and confirm the ear mite infestation.
One of the home remedy is to apply baby oil, to clear the ear-mites of your pet's ear. Couple of drops multiple times a day should help.
Vets generally prescribe "Ivermectin" which is the most effective medicine for getting rid for ear mites in cats. The treatment requires a thorough clean up of the external ear parts where the wax or debris are found, post which the medicine or baby oil can be applied several times a day.
As usual checking for ear mites should be done routinely and early detection will help you arrest the infestation, before it troubles your loved pet. If the ear mite infestation is allowed to spread - it can damage the ear and ultimately the ear drum - leading to deafness and sense of balance for your cat.