# dark stuff in my cat's ear



## doogie (Sep 20, 2003)

I've never noticed this before... but I see what almost looks like "chocolate syrup" in my cats ear... its down a little ways... I'd be able to get to it with a q tip... anyone seen this before?


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## catman (Oct 12, 2002)

sounds like your cat has ear mites... your vet can give you the medicine you need..


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## Ioana (Jul 12, 2003)

The vet I go to recommended not to use q tips unless you REALLY know what you are doing - like have very good control of your kitty. When I clean Frosty's ears I use cotton balls. I hope your kitty will get rid of the chocolate syrup soon


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## Aonir (Aug 18, 2003)

My vet gave me stuff to put in my angels ear, and showed me how to clean it. He told us to never go deeper than we can see, leave that to a pro.


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## doogie (Sep 20, 2003)

OK... I have one other thing to add... I just cleaned out the ear with a wet q tip... its wasn't hard, she was very good about it... what came out was little "clumps" of what appears to be dirt... is it possible its just a dirty ear? She is an inside cat ONLY.


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## Lori (Jun 8, 2003)

doogie said:


> OK... I have one other thing to add... I just cleaned out the ear with a wet q tip... its wasn't hard, she was very good about it... what came out was little "clumps" of what appears to be dirt... is it possible its just a dirty ear? She is an inside cat ONLY.


Possible, but I'm still betting on ear mites. Velvet had the same thing when we got her as a kitten. If you still have the black clumps put them on a piece of black paper. The mites are a bright red and show up against the black. A little trick I learned from my vet. 
Also, do you ever notice you cat shaking her head or itching at her ears? This would be another ear mite indication. 
The good news is mites are very easy to clear up. The bad news it you have to give your cat ear drops. :roll: If I recall correctly you have to give it every day for about a week. Towards the end of her treatment, if I even thought about the ear drops Velvet would suddently be nowhere in sight! Lets just say it's a two-person job. :wink:


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Doggie: Cats can have ear wax just like us, and ear mites. Generally the ear mites are darker, can be clumpy and look like seeds or dirt almost yes, and will most certainly get worse if left untreated.

It's good that your cat lets you clean it's ears. 
You should do it reguarly (at least once a month), ear mites or not. 

Call your vet up, discribe what it is you are seeing in your cats ears, and from there he or she can determine what, and if any next step is needed.


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## Cyprian (Jun 25, 2003)

I'd bet anything it's ear mites, I took Orion to the vet on wednesday because we thought something was wrong with his eye, it turned out he had a horrid infestation of earmites, and he scratched his eye whilst trying to scratch his ears.... if your kitties ears are really bad (like my Orion) the vet will need to flush them out, but otherwise you should be able to get drops, I had to get some for my other kitty since Orion couldn't keep the mites to himself :?


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## doogie (Sep 20, 2003)

But she is showing absolutely NO SIGNS of th ear bothering her... in fact, I cleaned it out on Sat.. and the ear has been clean since...


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## cmaijer (Jul 28, 2003)

Ming had what I thought was ear mites. It was a brownish substance in her ears. It never seemed to bother her. When I had her at the Vet for her 2nd set of shots, they checked it under the microscope and said it was ear mites and to just clean them with a q-tip. They weren't clearing up, so when I went for her final shots, they looked at it again. No ear mites were still showing up; however, they gave me an antibiotic and it cleared up in a few days. They've been clean ever since. They said it was probably some other bacteria.


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## thundercats (Sep 4, 2003)

Before I took Luna for her first shots I noticed that she scratched her ears a lot and small black clumps would fall onto the floor. When her first shots were due the vet said she had ear mites and gave her some medication....it was either a shot or some sort of lubrication the vet put on Luna’s shoulders. 
Either way she has stopped scratching however, I do see some small black stuff in her ears, I guess I’ll have to clean them out using a cotton ball.


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