can someone help me? Cat has mange on ears.

[Thrifty]

hello,
our cat arrived at our back door at christmas the year before last, twas very cold so we took her in, anyway she was in a bit of a state, so we wormed and deflea'd her etc. Her ears have always been a mess, at first i thought she had frostbite on them, they were scabby around the edges. Anyway, they haven't improved, in fact they've got worse, and lots of searching on the internet shows that she has got mange mites. I treated her yesterday with frontline (before i found out it was likely to be mange) And i was wondering if anyone knew of a spray or cream i could get to kill the mites off. I found a couple of products from the states., but cant seem to find anything here. All help and advice greatly appreciated as i can't afford a huge vets bill at the moment.

I wasn't aware that you could get anything.

I would take her to the vets.

Sorry, you have had the cat for nearly 18 mths and have only just noticed that she has mange - diagnosed via the internet?

Take her to the vet poor creature.

If she had mange it would have probably spread all over her body by now and would not just be on her ears (iirc).

Mange is difficult to diagnose and the vet has to look at skin scrapings under a microscope to make this diagnosis.

Another possibility is skin cancer which often affects the ears of pale cats.

Please take her to the vet. You will not be able to treat this yourself.

Are you sure it's mange?

My late cat used to get scabby ears from sunburn if I didn't put sunblock on them. It was horrible and painful.

Either way, please take her to the vets. Farting about with internet diagnoses is not on. You wouldn't do it for you or your family would you?

My cat once had ear mites. Her ears were very smelly and ragged looking. We got some thick cream from the vet which cleared it up completely.

I don't think it cost us very much either.

my dog had mange, he was scratching all over for weeks and vet couldn't work out what it was. eventually ears went bald and it was diagnosed. even with all that palaver and several visits it wasn't terribly expensive.

haven't you taken her to the vet in all that time? what about worming and jabs?

before you flame me or report me to the rspca for neglect, its only really got any worse in the last couple of weeks. It was just on the edge of her ears before. It just never really went away.
My understanding of it is that (from what i've read) that the cat can control the mites through their immune system. And that they never really go away. As to why its got worse in the last couple of weeks i don't know, however we have changed her food. So maybe that's played a part in it. However. It needs attending to now. So i've been looking for products to help.. If the only answer is the vet. Then the vet it will be.

ok a few more posts since i started the last one. Yes she is mostly white cat. So maybe as others suggest it way be something else. Will book her in to the vets this afternoon and see what they say.

You won't fix this by changing her food.

If you are in severe financial difficulty then the PDSA or Blue Cross can help, but you need to take her to the vet.

x post - let us know how you get on.

Hope she's better soon.

well just want to say thanks to you all who replied. we are just back from the vets.

bella29 - you were right. apparently she is much older than we thought, vet reckons at least 8 (we thought she was maybe 2 when she arrived),and its not mange, though it looks similar. vet says is probably skin cancer has given her some antibiotics to see if they will help. the reason its got worse in the last couple of weeks is that its been sunny.

so its out with the sunblock for the cat,and hope that the antibiotics do some good (though vet seems doubtful and recommended amputation of the ears down to the grey bits.) and we have to take her back in 2 weeks.

Poor puss

Hope the cream helps. Keep us posted please.