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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Are ear mites easy to clear?

17 replies

KatyMac · 20/04/2021 12:58

The cat kept falling off things and I thought it was the anesthetic from last week but turns out she has ear mites

I have drops from the vets but are they easy to clear?

OP posts:
Toddlerteaplease · 20/04/2021 15:30

Yes, but the cost is the drops almost gave me heart failure!

Original poster
KatyMac · 20/04/2021 19:56

I paid with her spaying, microchip and vaccines so didn't really notice in the sledgehammer that hit me for that lot

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Melassa · 20/04/2021 20:04

Mine had ear mites, the vet prescribed Stronghold, as it’s supposedly the only flea treatment to clear ear mites as well (he needed a general flea treatment too at the time). It seemed to work, although lately he’s been scratching his ears again and when I dosed him up on Stronghold again it hasn’t made a huge amount of difference. Maybe they got immune 🤷🏻‍♀️

claireb7rg · 20/04/2021 22:05

@Melassa

Mine had ear mites, the vet prescribed Stronghold, as it’s supposedly the only flea treatment to clear ear mites as well (he needed a general flea treatment too at the time). It seemed to work, although lately he’s been scratching his ears again and when I dosed him up on Stronghold again it hasn’t made a huge amount of difference. Maybe they got immune 🤷🏻‍♀️
Advocate also does ear mites, one of mine had them when we first got him so was prescribed this.

They are now both on bravecto which also is licensed for ear mites

claireb7rg · 20/04/2021 22:07

Sorry bravecto plus (not the normal bravecto)

Original poster
KatyMac · 25/04/2021 09:04

About 8 tines I have looked at the bottle and said must tell MN

They walked away and promptly forgotten a) the name & b) to tell MN

It's sarabande and it seems slow

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Original poster
KatyMac · 25/04/2021 09:05

Suralan!!

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Fluffycloudland77 · 25/04/2021 17:11

Is she better?.

Original poster
KatyMac · 25/04/2021 17:25

Not yet but he said a week which is Tuesfay so....

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gwhizz75 · 28/04/2021 20:51

In our experience, no! We got kittens last January, one of them had ear mites and seems to have had them ever since, despite trying loads of treatments. And now his sister has them too...

We have tried advocate several times, two different types of ear drops including suralan, regular cleaning, Thornit powder, and are now onto stronghold with more ear drops. We consistently seem to ‘knock them back’ but after a few weeks of their ears looking good, the brown wax starts coming back and they’ll be itching again. I think this time we will treat them for longer than the recommended time frame.

The suralan did clean their ears right up at the time - I think we used it for a fortnight but in hindsight should have used it for 3 weeks. I’m not sure if the ear mites are becoming resistant to treatments or whether our cats just have a particularly stubborn infection! From what I’ve read, it’s important to clean their ears of the brown gunk as well as treating with a spot on, rather than relying on one or the other. Spot ons seem to be better at prevention than cure.

Original poster
KatyMac · 28/04/2021 22:26

Oo thanks for this- I'll carry on until the pop is finished then

I havent been told about cleaning her ears - how do I do that?

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gwhizz75 · 29/04/2021 19:10

The drops should do most of the cleaning. Once you put them in, massage her ear a bit to make sure it gets in all the nooks and crannies. You should find that after putting the drops in, she will shake her head and gross lumps of brown wax stuff will fly out!

We also give ours a helping hand with some pet ear wipes I bought from Amazon or some slightly damp cotton wool. Can you see much brown wax in her ears?

Stickytreacle · 29/04/2021 19:19

We had a cat that had terrible ears, she had constant j infections and we were using surolan and cleaning with cleanaural, after repeated visits a vet suggested giving trizaural cleaner a try and it did work. We use it on a regular basis and it has stopped a return of the issues.¡

Stickytreacle · 29/04/2021 19:21

I was told to clean ears prior to treating too.

TaxTheRatFarms · 29/04/2021 19:32

Oh that was my favourite job as a kid! One of our cats had ear mites and gunky ears quite often, and it was my job to (very gently) clean out her ears with a finger wrapped in a tissue. They probably have more hygienic methods these days!

Fluffycloudland77 · 29/04/2021 19:36

Years ago our vet used a pair of forceps with lots of gauze wrapped around them to clean our cats ears when he had an ear infection, he loved it.

He was white so infections were obvious.

Original poster
KatyMac · 29/04/2021 21:20

There were a few brown spots at the start but it's quite pink now

No brown gunk at all going anywhere really! (Thank goodness)

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