How can you tell if you cat has earmites?

Question

My cat is constantly scratching his one ear to the point where it knocks itself over from scratching so hard. You can tell it is really bothering him and I thought that he could have earmites and just thought I would check into it before I took him to the vet.

Answer 1

that is a good hint. also look in the kitty's ears to see if there is a black gob of gunk. if so you should take the kitty to the vet for confirmation and better advice. good luck.

Answer 2

Earmites appear as tiny black flake-like particles in the ear of the cat. Sometimes though the earmites could be deep within the cat's ear canal that they are not immediately noticeable unless you look with an ear scope. But you are right to suspect ear mites. At any rate, you still need to go to the vet to (1) find out what is causing the cat to scratch his ear so much - could be an infection there; (2) what medication to give to solve the problem.

Answer 3

Earmites is very common among smaller animals, and larger ones for that fact. You'll notice a flakey like substance on the inside of their ear. It's usually a tan or brownish coloring. The more flakes inside the ear the better chance there is of something being wrong. For example when I first started breeding rabbits (rabbits get earmites quite often) we had one rabbit named duchess who ended up gettitng earmites so bad that they had made their way into her brain and made her mental. In the end we had to put her out of her misery. :( You can buy simple medication for it at petstores or MFA (a feed store). The bottle is usually about $4.00-$10.00. It's in a small white bottle, the medication is just a liquid that you drop into their ear almost like an eye dropper. It's very simple and clears it right up. If you dont' notice any of the signs above then I would go to the vet just to see if there's anything else wrong that isn't earmites.

Answer 4

If you see a black discharge in the ears that could very well be the problem. There was actually a vet once who gave himself earmites to see what it was like! He said that the constant movement and chittering around of the mites just about drove him crazy.

Unfortunately the mites themselves are microscopic so you can't see any activity if you just look at the discharge on a Q-tips or something. So it means a vet trip. Usually one shot of ivermectic will get rid of the mites and, like fleas and tapeworms, reinfection can be an issue.

Answer 5

you can tell by the fact that yes he or she is scratching at there ears constantly and shacking there head and if u look inside there ears there will be a brown/ dark brown crusty substance inside the ear this is the mites droppings and such

hope this helps

be sure to keep an infected cat away from the others
ear mites is nether deadly or dangerous just a big pain in the behind for your kitty

treatment is easy and painless its often just drops on the back of the neck

Answer 6

A lot of dark-colored buildup in the ears and constant scratching are signs of earmites. If there is no dark buildup, he might have an ear infection or maybe something stuck in his ear.

Answer 7

If you look in your cat's ear and it looks dirty it is a good chance they have ear mites. Also, if there is a foul smell coming from their ear it is another indication. You could try putting some baby oil on a q-tip and gently rubbing the ear (outer portion only, the oil will travel) and if they still scratch I say take them to the vet. I

Answer 8

Well it can be hard to tell the difference between a regular ear infection and ear mites... to check out some of the tell-tale symtoms of mites go here... http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ear_mites.html

Other ear infections.... http://www.vetmed.iastate.edu/faculty_staff/Users/noxon/Ears/ears.html


PS Remember.... Do not make the diagnosis of ear mite infection yourself. If you think your pet has an ear infection, see the vet for proper evaluation rather jumping straight to an over-the-counter remedy. You will need the right diagnosis before you can intelligently choose an ear treatment product.

Answer 9

another reason to take the poor thing to the vet is that i've seen a few cats that had a nasty infestation; and they shook their ears when they were done itching and actually broke blood vessels in the tips of their ears! poor babies. good luck and hope he feels better.

Answer 10

check her ears. Does she have a lot of black build-up in them? If so, then she has earmites.