# Scabs on ear



## alohomora (Jun 3, 2011)

I just noticed tonight that my cat has a few tiny scabs and a few tiny wounds on the outside of one of his ears. The area around is a bit red too. As you can guess, I'm nervous now. He's a healthy, indoor cat. Is it possible he scratched too hard and cut himself? It's only been me around, so I haven't been able to properly cut his nails in a while. It's usually a two-person job. I applied some hydrogen peroxide to clean it up a bit. Any advice would be appreciated.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Do you have a photo of it. Its possible mites. A vet can easily clear it up with shots of Ivermectin. Do not let this go untreated as it can damage the ear and spread to other animals. Its very uncomfortable for your cat. _


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

Most possibly he scratched too hard. Could be because his nails are too long, but as Merry suggested, also check for signs of ear mites or any cause of excessive scratching.

And it really don't need two people to trim a cat's nails. First, he needs to get use to his paws being handled. If your cat never let you touch his paws, start touching them now. He won't be happy and will run away (let him run, don't force him), but over time he will accept it. Choose a time when he is soundly sleep and start trimming. You may only get a couple of nails done at first, wait until he falls asleep again (won't be too long) and continue. With this "training" over time, you will be able to finish all four paws in one session


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## alohomora (Jun 3, 2011)

Of course my camera is dead and I can't find the battery charger. I'll try to post a picture later.

I checked the inside of his ears and this isn't any of the black gunk I saw in pictures online. And he isn't scratching more than usual. I checked his ear this morning and the redness is almost gone. And this is on the fur-side on his ear, not anywhere on the inside.

And thanks for the tips, yinying! My cat has deformed front legs and he is very protective of them. Even the back ones although they're normal. I finally ordered a proper pair of nail trimmers after we got rid of the giant dog ones his old vet sold to us. Last week, I actually clipped a few of his nails with human clippers while he was sleeping and it wasn't as hard. But that probably didn't help with the scratching as they didn't do a clean cut on his nails and could have left some jagged points.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

Actually, in terms of the "clean cut" thing, I didn't find a big difference between human clippers and cat ones. I think the cat clippers are just safer, because you won't cut the paw pad by accident. But even when I use a cat clipper, I cannot make a clean cut all the time (yeah I made sure I cut at the right direction). Some nails will split. I guess it's because the blade becomes blunt after several uses. But its absolutly rediculous to get a new clipper after every 5-6 uses. And there is no clipper blade sharpener (at least not I aware of). So if you figure out a solution on this problem, please share with me 

But even when nails split, they won't have jagged point, because the split parts are quite thin and will fall off when your cat move around. So that should elimiate this bleeding caused by scratching problem.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

What color are your cat's ears? How old is he? Was he born and raised an indoor cat, or was he previously an outside cat?

The reason I ask these questions is because cats who have white ears and who have spent time outdoors in the sun can potentially develop skin cancer on their ears. I had a white cat who spent most of his life patrolling his farm property. He developed scabs on his ears in his late teens. Those scabs slowly worsened, and he eventually had to have one of his ear flaps surgically removed to prevent the cancer from invading his ear canal.

I don't mean to alarm you, because skin cancer is a LOT less likely than just scratching his ear or rubbing it against a coarse surface, but it is something to keep in mind with white-eared cats.

Laurie


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## alohomora (Jun 3, 2011)

He's a little over 3, has always been an indoor cat because of his handicap, and his ears are dark brown. Hopefully he's not at risk.  I used to volunteer at a shelter and met a black-eared cat that had had part of one of his ears removed because of skin cancer. He was older, had come in as a stray, and probably spent most of his life outside. The poor guy actually became depressed from being indoors.


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## PZR's Mommy (Aug 19, 2011)

My indoor kitty - Same thing - Wound up being mites.

Is he constantly scratching. The vet gave us ear drops and he was better within 24 hours.


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