# Ear mites



## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

I think Arwen has got ear mites. For a feral, her ears have always been pretty clean, but she has been scratching them and I can see some crusties in there...but not too many. I recently put Revolution on her, and plan to keep it on her through the summer, and I know it is supposed to help with ear mites, but I'm not sure if it's enough to get those things that are down in her ears. I have heard that swabbing her ears with mineral oil, or some type of oil will smother them, I'm afraid I may lose a finger or get a nasty bite if I try to do that to her. She will let me rub her ears, but I'm thinking she would freak if she saw me coming at her with a cotton ball....but maybe if she were eating something tasty I could do it quickly. 

I just wanted to ask about the oil thing, I don't think I have mineral oil, but I do have olive oil, would that work? Or any other suggestions? They don't seem really bad, but I don't want them to get worse. And will the Revolution keep them at bay if I get hear ears treated up now?


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Ear mites can grow to be a serious thing. We had one kitten we rescued have its ear collapse! The mites were way down in the ear canal. Most over the counter stuff is not effective. Ivermectin did the trick. Here is an informative article on how to treat it. 

FREE Cat Care Tips - Heavens Safe Haven

Little big cat covers a lot of ground on skin problems and mites but worth browsing thru.

Skin & Coat Problems in Cats | Little Big Cat

When I was reading thru a couple article they did mention it could be a yeast or bacterial infection or another type of ear problem too. If you can get a scraping down in the ear canal, you can see mites under the microscope from a sample. (theyre nasty looking creatures!)


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## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

Wow, thank you! What a great link! I read it for like an hour. I want to order the worming medicine for sure. I have been using Revolution for Arwen, but it doesn't seem to be doing much for the ear mites, I've only used one dose, she gets her next dose on Friday. The Ivermectin stuff sounds like it might be a better alternative maybe. 

Thank you again, great info on this link.


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