Ear Mites in Cats Causes, Symptoms, & Treatment

 

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Ear Mites in Cats: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Aspect	Details
Causes	Infestation by Otodectes cynotis, a microscopic parasite. Direct contact with an infected animal (cat, dog, or other pets). Poor hygiene or living conditions.
Symptoms	Excessive scratching or shaking of the head. Dark, crumbly discharge resembling coffee grounds in the ears. Redness, inflammation, or sores in the ear canal. Foul odor from the ears. Hair loss around the ears due to scratching.
Treatment	Veterinary-prescribed ear drops or topical medications. Cleaning the ears to remove debris and mites. Anti-parasitic medications (e.g., selamectin, ivermectin). Treating all pets in the household to prevent re-infestation. Regular ear cleaning and maintenance.

 Hello, my name is Dr. Sarah Wooten and I am here today to help you (0:05) learn everything there is to know about ear mites in cats. (0:13) So you you've googled it and you've looked at the pictures and you've read the descriptions (0:19) and you're pretty sure your cat has ear mites but you're not sure (0:22) and so you're here watching this video right now, right? Right? Did I get it right? (0:27) So ear mites are very common in cats, unfortunately. I saw ear mites at least once a week when I was (0:36) in practice and so there is a lot of information out there on the web and I just thought it would (0:43) be a good thing to have a video out there by a doctor, hello doctor, that's me, to tell you (0:49) everything you need to know as a consumer about how, what, where, who, everything that is going (0:56) on with ear mites.

So ear mites are tiny, and I mean microscopic, little critters that infest the (1:05) ears of cats and they live in the ear and sometimes on the ear. If you look very closely at a cat's (1:14) ear that has ear mites, not that you necessarily want to do this but if you ever did, you can (1:19) actually see these little things moving around. They're tiny, tiny, tiny little specks that move (1:24) tinier than the head of a pin and it's, it's pretty gross, right? So I actually have a (1:33) dermatology book here today so I'm going to be showing you some pictures.

So when you see gross (1:37) pictures pop up, I'm sorry not sorry, but you're given full warning to look away because some of (1:46) these little pictures can be a little bit gooey and gross, all right? So ear mites have a Latin (1:52) name, you may hear your veterinarian call them otodectes, however that's not really important (1:57) unless you want to impress your friends at a dinner party, right? What is important is that ear (2:03) mites are highly contagious and highly irritating and even dogs can contract ear mites, yeah, and (2:11) it's just, you just need a little contact between the animals from the ear mites to jump from one (2:18) animal to another. So they live about three weeks, not very long, and they continually, continually (2:25) produce eggs which perpetuate the infestation, right? So you think, oh only three weeks, no problem, (2:31) well by the time those mites are dead, they've birthed a whole bunch of new mites that's causing (2:36) more problems. Fortunately, humans don't get them, right? So you don't have to worry about these (2:41) disgusting little critters jumping off your cat and coming to live in your ear.

That's good news, (2:45) right? So ear mites cause pretty predictable symptoms in cats. In fact, I can just by looking at (2:53) a cat, by looking at it even if it's a couple feet away, I can often tell you whether this cat is (2:58) going to have ear mites or not. So ear mites in cats typically will produce a dark brown to black (3:06) coffee ground-ish type discharge that's in the cat's ear.

The ear itself will be very red and (3:16) they may lay their ears flat because they're so irritated and oftentimes cats will scratch their (3:22) ears raw. So the other thing that I notice about ear mites is that they, when I tend to take a swab (3:31) of that black discharge, the cat gets so itchy that they start doing that at their ear. (3:38) So it's pretty predictable.

So if I, when I was in practice, ever suspected ear mites, (3:44) I would take a swab and then I would put that swab on a microscope slide and then I would look at it. (3:50) And if I saw this, then I would know what I was dealing with. So this is a mite right here, (4:00) this is what it looks like under a microscope.

And you can actually see them crawling around (4:06) and you can see them having sex. Yeah, we actually call it an ear mite orgy, right? And you can see (4:14) their eggs as well. They look like oval, like clear ovals.

And then here's a couple of pictures (4:20) of cats that actually have ear mites. So if you notice the out part of this cat's ear really (4:26) irritated a lot of crusts. This one, do you see? So this is the tip of the ear here and they've (4:33) scratched this raw.

And then this is looking down into the ear of a cat that has ear mites. See that (4:39) black right there? That's that discharge I'm talking to you about. And all that is, is that's (4:45) what the, oops, sorry.

That's what the ear mites are digesting and leaving behind, right? Okay. (4:52) Now that we're all grossed out, you ready to keep going? Let's do it. So how do you treat these (4:57) things? Fortunately, ear mites are pretty easy to clean, to clear.

It can be cleared by some over (5:06) the counter medicines. However, what you need to know is most of the over the counter medicines (5:11) are labeled for use in dogs and are not to be used in cats because they're toxic. Sometimes I've seen (5:18) people use these medicines and then come in because they have caused another problem entirely.

(5:24) Oh, and by the way, the cat still has mites, right? So we don't want to use those over the counter (5:29) ones. Ear mites can be safely and completely eradicated by veterinary recommended products. (5:39) I, one of the cheapest and most versatile that I've used is ivermectin.

Ivermectin kills, kills (5:47) mites. It needs to be formulated correctly because you can overdose a cat on ivermectin. So it is (5:53) best always to go through a vet and have them prescribe this.

One of the most common prescribed (6:00) ivermectin products, at least it used to be, was Acarex, A-C-A-R-E-X-X. And it was just in two (6:08) tubes and you put it in both ears and voila, it stays in there long enough to kill all the adult (6:14) mites and kill all the mites that are hatching, which takes several weeks. And that is a good (6:21) product.

It's also really important that when you are treating ear mites, that you not only kill all (6:26) those adults, but you kill anything that hatches. Because if you just treat the adults that are in (6:33) there and about a week later, you're going to see symptoms come back. Also, sometimes these cats can (6:39) develop secondary bacterial or fungal infections in their ears.

So you clear up the mites, but then (6:46) the ears still look like crap and they look infected and red. What the heck is going on? Is this (6:51) medicine not working? Well, yes, the medicine worked and it killed the mites, but then the cat has (6:56) notitis, an inflammation of the ear, and a bacterial infection or fungal infection. Because what the (7:02) do is they break down the surface of the skin inside the ear.

And then that makes it a lot (7:09) easier for bacteria and fungus to colonize. So if that happens, then your cat needs to have an (7:14) additional medication that includes an antibacterial and or a antifungal and or an anti-inflammatory. (7:22) So if that's the case and you're noticing that you've treated the ear mites and you're still (7:27) having problems, that could be what is going on.

The only other thing I want to say on this topic (7:31) is that Brevecto, which is a flea and tick medication that is labeled for use in cats. (7:38) Also, I've been using it off-label for years for mites. It's not labeled for use in mites, but we (7:45) have found out through trial and error that it actually works.

So utilizing Brevecto could be (7:51) another way. But just talk to your vet and see what they're recommending because you really do need to (7:55) a veterinary involved, not only to prescribe you the correct medication, but also to check those (8:02) ears in about three weeks after you start medicine to make sure that you've killed all the mites (8:09) and there are no more eggs, right? So they need to look and see if there's going to be (8:13) any more reason to continue treating. Hope that makes sense.

So all of that to say ear mites can (8:20) be a pain in the ear, but they are easily treatable. They're very common and with a (8:26) veterinarian's help, you can definitely combat ear mites in your family. One last thing to say on (8:33) that topic, these ear mites are contagious.

So until your cat has been cleared by the vet that (8:39) there are no more mites to be spread around, keep your cat isolated, okay? Don't want to share (8:44) the ear mite orgy with anybody else. All right. So thank you so much for watching.