# Cat with Earwax HATES getting drops



## dkperez (Aug 6, 2013)

We have a small, female rescue cat (5 pounds) that's about 8 years old. She's very healthy, except that she gets wax built up in her ears. It gets to the point where the vet has sedated her to clean out her ears. The last time, they couldn't do a complete job because on one ear as they tried to pry the black clump of wax loose, she started to bleed and they stopped. I'm not sure what/how much is left in there.

We use Oti-Cleanse twice a week. 

The PROBLEM IS, she absolutely HATES getting the drops. It takes TWO adult humans to get ear drops in a 5 pound cat's ears. We've used a large towel to immobilize her, but she fights it a LOT. More recently, I've just been holding her while my wife puts the drops in. After a lot of experimenting over time, she's found at a 1 ml syringe (with no sharp end) works the best for getting the drops in place. I've watched videos on Youtube, showing people and vets putting in ear drops and the cats just lay there. This one DOESN'T.

As I said, we've tried different delivery methods, and the small syringe seems the most effective. We've warmed the syringe with the drops so they're a bit warmer than room temperature, but that makes no difference. 

Worse, it's only somewhat effective. She STILL seems to build up wax that the vet has to get out, and they sedate her to do it, which I don't like. I dislike having the cat sedated.

Does anyone have any ideas for a better, more effective solution that'll make the wax softer and get rid of it? And/or a better way of administering the drops so she doesn't find the process so horrible?


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## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

I wish I could help. I had to do this with the twins and they hated it. We had them wrapped in towels like mummies!! Luckily with them it was only short term.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I'm not sure how food-motivated your little girl is, but I find I can do some unpleasant things to my furry garbage disposal (Cleo) when she's eating. Maybe while you're holding her in the towel, you can put something yummy up to her mouth so she'll be distracted for a couple seconds while you get the drops in?? 

That definitely wouldn't work with my bratz, though, so I'm not sure if it will help you.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

I would try to find out what causes the buildup to see if I can reduce it. Allergies (food allergies, specifically) tend to be a trigger for that sort of thing.

Aside from that here's what my plan would look like:

1. Plan a date to get her ears cleaned out, leave her alone entirely (drops-wise) until then. (2 weeks at least) AND plan to not to the drops for a month after the procedure as well.
2. Start desensitizing her ASAP. Grab some amazing treats (break out the warm cooked chicken, steak, ect) and just pet her head while feeding it to her. Do it every day and stick with that for a week.
3. Add in a little more touching to the base of her ears as you pet her and feed the goodies.
4. Hold the ear drop bottle while petting her ears, in the hand farthest from her. Feed her treats with the bottle sitting nearby. Feed her treats if she allows you to move the bottle closer.
5. Feed her treats as you bring the bottle near her, remove the cap, and pause while you touch her ears. DO NOT USE THE DROPS YET!
6. Warm up the drops to body temp. This is CRUCIAL. Put them in the syringe, then right next to your body for 15 minutes. Pet her, do the thing with the treats and the bottle, but this time touch her ear with the tip of the dropper. The first few days stick with that and some extra ear rubs. When she doesn't react to that you can try a single droplet of medication. Keep the treats FLOWING the whole time. She needs to associate the drops with yummy treats, happy petting, and nothing negative.

Keep up that routine, spending as long as you need to for her to be comfortable with each step before moving on. Spend at least a week on each step, even if you think she's fine to move on. If you make a mistake and go too soon you'll be back at step 1.

If this is a medical condition (which it may be) then you'll need a plan you can use for her whole life. Pinning her down will make it worse and worse and worse - desensitization will make it possible to medicate her if you go SLOWLY.


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## Emiline (Sep 26, 2014)

My kitty has a similar issue with the wax as well. Apparently the Devon's have a small canals and get a build up easily? At least that's how my vet explained it to me so some cats just get the build up naturally.

Loki's isn't so bad but I do clean his ears out frequently and give drops every few weeks. 

When I first started this procedure I took to it the same way I taught him to tolerate teeth brushing.

I introduced the tools to him every day, letting him sniff them and get really familiar with them to the point he didn't fear them anymore.

Then I moved to getting him accustomed to me touching his inner ears. Always giving treats afterwards.

Then I would gently rub the instruments against his face and eventually ears (very gently cause its so loud!). Until he became used to them touching him and was used to the smell. 

Just a few things that I noticed made him nervous; I always took the cap off the drops before approaching him as the popping noise it made alarmed him a little. I warmed the drops up before administering. I still get my BF to distract him whilst we are doing the process. Partner will sit him in his lap and give him his fav toy or a bit of meat to distract then I will swoop in and do the drops.

He doesn't like the feeling of them still and gets a bit grumpy at us afterwards but it's a lot better than him panicking and trying to climb up my BF's face to escape 

Hope things work out for ya, I know what a pain it is to try and clean/drop the ears.

Some cats just won't tolerate those things though, although I got Loki used to the ear drops, ear cleaning and teeth brushing.... he thinks I am trying to murder him if I go anywhere near him with the eye drops 

And he KNOWS the difference haha


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## Emiline (Sep 26, 2014)

Addition (fell out of editing time): I don't know about breaking up the ear wax in cats but... in the old folks home we used something called Waxsol and olive oil to help soften the wax before extraction because a lot of them got some really bad build up with the hearing aids. I would definitely talk to your vet before trying either of those methods though because I can't tell you of the safety or efficacy for cats.


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## dkperez (Aug 6, 2013)

Wow. Thanks for the replies.

Skyy is very little motivated by food. She like the crunchy dry food and nibbles. She DOES like little pill pockets (maybe Greenies?) so I may be able to give those as treats. She doesn't even like frozen custard, which Brownie, the other cat, LOVES!

I really like the idea of a gradual, getting her used to the drops so she's more comfortable. We did stop wrapping her in a blanket 'cause she REALLY hates that. She fights less when I just hold her.

We've had both cats about 7 years, and when we got Skyy she was 6 months old. She had ear mites at that time, and all that was taken care of right away. The vet says she doesn't show any signs of allergies and that she's not particularly unusual in developing wax in the ears. 

Unfortunately, it forms way down in the canal, at the eardrum so neither my wife or I will try to clean it out. I'll gently clean down to where the ear canal make the turn, but no deeper. In our conversations I've asked about different medications and the vet switched us from an alcohol-based cleaner to the Oti-Cleanse because he thought the alcohol could be causing pain or irritation in her ears.

We've had times when the vet had us putting in drops DAILY for 2 weeks, then switching to twice a week. Now THAT WAS FUN! After about 2 days if she even saw the towel, she was GONE!

I think we'll start the process you all describe and see if we can get her more comfortable with the process. And next time I'm in I'll talk to the vet about anything else that might work better to make the wax soft and hopefully, help her get rid of it......

thanks all. If you have any additional ideas, I'm all ears (gads, a pun!)


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## dkperez (Aug 6, 2013)

It's been a couple months... I've now got BOTH cats hooked on crunchy treats - they show up and demand their share after dinner......

I went through the process with Skyy - hold her, hold her where we do the ear drops, give her treats and so on... She likes the treats but she STILL knows when that bottle of ear stuff comes out it's time to turn into a mountain lion!

We heat the drops so they aren't room temperature, and my wife is really good at getting the drops into the ears without missing or hurting the little beast, but she KNOWS... Isn't interested in ANY treats if she figures we're going to give her drops, and DEFINITELY isn't interested in being around EITHER of us once the drops have been administered...

I don't have a good understanding of "cat", but I'm PRETTY SURE we've both been called some VERY uncomplimentary things in the last few years!

BUT, it's do the drops or have her sedated so the vet can clean out the hardened wax, and last time the vet said they were getting a little bleeding when they tried to pry the wax loose so they stopped... 

BTW: Skyy has to be the worst cat in the world for holding a snit! About 7 seconds after she stomps off and shakes out whatever she can get rid of from her ears, she's back in my office laying in her bed or demanding to get up in my lap... So, I THINK it may be more the PRINCIPLE of the thing than any REAL "mad" over the drops...

BUT, if anybody has any ideas for ways to make it more pleasant for her, I'd love to hear 'em...


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

@ _Emiline_.....My Devons occasionally get a build up of wax, and I've had to use _Canaural_ drops to clear it up. My vet thought it might have been a yeast infection. Both of them don't like the feeling of the drops going in, but I massage the base of the ear for a half a minute afterwards. I'm also able to keep the wax build up under control by wrapping a _piece of tissue around my forefinger_ and turning it around gently inside the ear. Both cats can actually prevent this by putting their ears back which closes up the ear canals, but if you gently pull the ears _forward_, it will facilitate getting your finger into the ear. At first they resisted it, especially Alkee, but I was persistent and now both cats tolerate it very well and don't fight back any more, and if I do this cleaning about three times a week there is very little wax build up any more.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

I know this must be really tough. My Coco gets a waxy buildup and I have to give her a treatment for 5 days once a month now of Otomax.

Otomax | Dogs & Cats | Buy Otomax Ointment for Dogs Online $11.95

I've been cleaning them with Q tips but the vet is afraid I might be pushing waxy buildup into the ear canal. I feel for you. It takes all my strength to give these to her but she is not horrible.

Have you tried wrapping her in a towel - a LARGE towel??


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## dkperez (Aug 6, 2013)

Hi all... 

We've continued giving the little beast eardrops... We've been doing them twice a week and it STILL takes two adult humans to put drops in a FIVE POUND CAT! She doesn't hurt anyone, but there's some yowling, squirming, wiggling, attempting to escape, burying her head to you can't get to the ears, and general angst! And that's just the cat!

Once done, she calls us names - I cannot repeat them but you know... Then she stomps off and has a snit... For about 30 SECONDS! Then she's right back over demanding attention and being silly. She's the worst cat at being mad I've ever seen!

Anyhow, yesterday was the annual vet visit. She STILL has lots of wax. They haven't figured out anything to get her to create LESS wax, but the good news is the bunches of wax were SOFT. In the past, she's had HARD clumps that were dark and in at least one case they had problems getting the hard chunk to come loose even when they had her sedated.

SO, the vet has us doing the drops every other day for the next month to see if we can get the wax to soften enough to come out of her ears...

I"ll have to ask our vet about Otomax and Canaural. One problem is that Skye gets the wax so deep in the ear you can't reach it with Q-tips or a finger with a tissue or anything I'd be willing to try. The stuff forms all the way in the back of the canal against the ear drum. Last time the hard chunks were attached on and around the ear drum and when they had a hard time getting them loose even with her sedated. We'll have to get her looked at in a month or so and see how the extra cleaning works.


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## imuneekru (May 27, 2015)

My cat had a round of ear mites after a visit to the vet. (Since he got them at the vet, I decided to do a round of over-the-counter mite treatment before bringing him back. Mixed reviews, but worked). After the mite treatment, he still had a lot of ear wax coming up and HATED the drops of any kind. 

I had to literally SIT ON THE CAT to keep him still. I didn't put my weight on his body, but rather sort of clamped him in a hunched position between my thighs with my feet blocking the exit and only his head exposed. As long as I was gentle, he was pretty tolerant.

As to the wax buildup, I think that the alcohol in ear cleaners tends to dry out the ear. The ear will then produce more wax to protect the tissues, just like human skin that's over-cleaned without a moisturizer. Many sites recommended cleaning cats' ears with olive or almond oil. So, after his cleaning I took a Q-tip with olive oil and very very gently rubbed it around the interior of his ear as much as I could reach. Two applications of this seemed to do the trick. It's been three or four weeks and no more brownish buildup. 

I should add, I would only recommend doing this with brand-name Q-Tips, not an off-brand. The reason is, real Q-Tips have more plushy cotton and are less likely to bruise the inside of his ear--the cheaper ones are too skimpy or hard. Also, I don't shove it up his ear canal, and I don't drizzle it in. Just twirl it gently against the visible surface to coat the skin; once it's in there, the oil should work its way around to any dry spots. 

Awesome treats must follow this procedure.


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## imuneekru (May 27, 2015)

Addition--I just looked up Oti-Clens, and it contains salicylic acid. It's probably very effective at breaking down the wax, but it's also astringent to the skin. 

I used to have bad acne as a teen and learned the hard way that using an astringent without moisturizing afterwards just makes the skin produce more oil to compensate. So that may be why the ear wax keeps coming back. 

I've used almond, olive, and coconut oil on both my own skin and my cats' all with great effect. Just sayin'.


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## dkperez (Aug 6, 2013)

I absolutely agree about the Q-tips... I've seen/used the off-brands on myself and they're not nearly as plush as the genuine article!

As for Skyy... Had our annual visit to the vet a few weeks ago. She still has large wax thing(s? may only be one large wax thing) WAY deep in the ear. The vet can't get it with a swab, so there's NO WAY I'm going to be able to get near it. He DID say it's not hard and BLACK, it's soft, which is good. BUT, it's still there, and even though it's soft, she's not getting rid of it - certainly not as fast as she generates it...

The Oti-Cleanse the vet switched us to is supposed to be alcohol free so it DOESN'T try the ear - not sure how well it works, but it's SUPPOSED to be better than the other stuff.

We've been doing the drops about twice/week, and it's STILL a struggle every time. She's not violent, and there's no screaming (at least from the cat), and she doesn't try to hurt us, but she SURE IS WIGGLY!

I can ask the vet about using some kind of oil in the ears, but I suspect he's going to recommend against it.

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with the vet. Because her wax is SO DEEP in her ears, he doesn't think we should use any kind of oil 'cause there's no way to get it in there without dripping it into the ears and he doesn't want us to do that..... So, we'll just have to keep on with the ear drops and at least hope the wax stays soft...

She's scratching her ears much less, so maybe when it's soft it doesn't itch?


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Oh wow, I feel for you...my cat has the same problem. She also had a severe ("severe" underlined twice on her chart) case of ear mites when I adopted her, and I'm convinced that this has something to do with her super waxy ears. The vet can use 8 or 9 Qtips, and they all come out full of stuff. Celia's small too, and very wriggly. And I live by myself, so you can imagine how successful the drops-in-ear routine is. Any time she's having a bout of itchy ears, the initial treatment is 10 days in a row. 8O I've never gotten past day 5 or 6. At that point, she won't even come out to eat because she's afraid of the drops.

I was really surprised to hear that the vet tried to get the wax out until the ear started bleeding.  That seems a tad overzealous. They didn't use something to soften the wax first? 

Maybe you could try a different type of eardrops? I've never used Oti-Clens, so I just looked at the active ingredients in it as well as in the two types I have. They all have different active ingredients, so it might be worth a shot to try something else? My vets have always prescribed Zymox. Last time, she thought Celia might have a yeast infection, because the wax was harder than usual. So she gave me something else, which she didn't seem to be a big fan of. MalAcetic Ultra Otic Cleanser. She thought it would be more effective than Zymox for the initial treatment, so MalAcetic for 7 days, then go back to Zymox once a week or as needed. 

Active ingredients; inactive ingredients

Oti-Clens: malic acid, benzoic acid, salicylic acid; propylene glycol, simethicone

MalAcetic Ultra: boric acid, acetic acid, hydrocortisone, ketoconazole, ceramides; propylene glycol, polysorbate 

Zymox: hydrocortisone; many inactive ingredients, including benzyl alcohol and glycerine

Is Skyy really itchy?


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## Nuliajuk (Oct 25, 2014)

You have my sympathy. I don't know what they put in those drops, but I've never had a cat that didn't make a big fuss about having them put in.


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