Cat has woken this morning and its ears are covered in some kind of insect? not fleas or ear mites, what is it?

[Marne]

Our cat stays in at night shut in the bathroom, in the night it woke me up as it had used its dirt box, i opened the window slightly, cleaned up and shut it back in. It sleeps in the sink which is near the window. Just let it out and the tops of its ears and a few ptches on its face are covered in tiny black insects (1000's of them). I tried to spray its ears with flea spray but this is a bit tricky as i didn't want to spray its eyes , the cat is treated for fleas and ticks. What are these little bugs? do i need to take it to the vets or do i just hope they go?

[Marne]

Anyone?

I think i'm going to try and wash them off when he comes in (wish me luck), worth a try before phoning the vet.

[OneHandFlapping]

Are you sure they're not massed fleas? The only times I've seen this on our cats it's been fleas.

What flea treatment do you use, and when did you last use it?

[oreocrumbs]

Are you sure they are not fleas? IME you can treat them for fleas etc all you like but they still get them!

TBH I would ring the vet, I have no idea what they are either but the vet will at least be able to tell you its fine or give treatment.

I would ring the vet before washing the bugs off incase they want to see them.

Hope he is ok.

[AnnoyingOrange]

It could be harvest mites.

Spray the flea spray onto a cotton bud or pad of cotton wool and wipe the ears with it

My cat had them and that's how the vet cleaned them

[AnnoyingOrange]

www.fabcats.org/owners/skin/harvest_mite.html

[AnnoyingOrange]

Oh yes forgot that they can be round the feet etc

On second thoughts take the cat to the vet

[Marne]

Deffently not fleas (they don't jump), if anything they are smaller than leas but all clustered together. I have never seen anything like it , he has had fleas before but i now treat him every moth with advocate and we have had no sign of fleas for months. Will wait for him to come in and see if he's still covered in them, i don't want to go to the vets unless i really have too as it will cost me a fortune . There are 1000's of them but they deffently dont look like fleas, they are more like the bugs that you get on flowers in the garden.

[Marne]

Thanks anoyiningorange, could be harvest mites, i think he may have them on his feet, will go and call him in and take a closer look. Bloody things are making me itch just thinking about them.

[ManyMomentsOfMadness]

Harvest mites are orange and not the right time of year.

Fleas or ticks wouls be my guess.

[Marne]

Just looked on google pictures and doesn't look like harvest mites, these are black (not red/orange .

[ABitSnowyOutside]

I think I have seen these type of flea/mite sort of things once - they swarmed from a hen's nesting box, I mean swarmed. There were hundreds of them.
Sadly, a neighbour had taken his dd to see the hen and she touched the nest then the mites swarmed over her (he said it was like something out of a horror movie) and she received multiple bites.

Nest was then destroyed, hen dusted with mite powder etc. The fleas swarmed up the rake which was used to remove the nest.

Ask your vet how to treat the cat.

[Marne]

I dont think there are any chickens near by (we are in the middle of nowhere, none of the neighbours have chickens), do other burds carry them? the cat is a bit of a hunter and catches a lot of birds and mice.

They do look like chicken mites (i used to work on a chicken farm as a teen).

Still can't find the cat, have been calling him but no sign, hope he's ok as i did try and spray him this morning , he's probably sulking.

[AnnoyingOrange]

I must be still half asleep. Of course it's the wrong time of year for harvest mites , what with the clue being in the name an all

[ABitSnowyOutside]

Please be careful when you finally catch the cat as the mites will swarm up your arm.

I think other birds would carry them and the mites seem to thrive and breed in warm weather.

Can you lure cat into a catbox with food?

[Marne]

Will phone the vet when i find the cat, will put him straight into the cat box if he's still covered in them. Its deffently something that has come in throught the window as the cat was fine in the night (befoere i opened the window) as i gave him a cuddle and put him back in the bathroom, i cant see any mites in the bathroom though , very odd.

[Marne]

Still can't find him , he usually only pops out for a wee in the morning and then comes back (and spends most of the day asleep on dd's bed).

[oreocrumbs]

Don't worry, he is probably staying out of your way because you sprayed him, rather than any other reason. They do like to hold a grudge!

Try a bit of tuna to lure him back, it works on mine when he is being stroppy.

[Marne]

Will try the tuna, he doesn't usually go far so is probably sulking somewhere, just anoying as i cant really phone the vet until he comes back.

[CailinDana]

My cats had this when they were kittens, they're just called ear mites and they're very common. They're tiny insects that feed off the gunk in the ears. The vet gave us some squirty stuff for them and they went really easily. We had to clean out their ears regularly and they bloody loved it! God the ecstasy on their faces when we were swabbing them, it was dead cute and made our lives a lot easier. They both clean each others' ears a lot now as adults and they still get that "Oh god that's good" look

[CailinDana]

The mites don't spread onto surfaces, they just stay on the cat. He probably picked them up from another cat and they just hatched overnight.

[Marne]

They are not ear mites as they are not in the ear (just on the tips and on his face) and they are bigger than ear mites (he had ear mites when he was a kitten).

[CailinDana]

Ah I see. Not much help was I

[Marne]

Thats ok, every time i google' ears and mites', it comes up with 'ear mites', i cant find anything like it anywhere, hopfully he will return and the mites will have gone .

[Marne]

Cat has come home, have had a closer look, half of them have gone and they look like some kind of flea (but smaller than fleas), i have dabbed some advocate on his ears and they seem to be dropping off. The cat is not a happy bunny and has gone back out looking very sorry for himself . Hopfully the advocate will kill them.