We had to take our Kitty in for some proffesional wound care this morning on a nasty bite wound/abcess we just couldnt get to heal up. Poor baby, The lady tried to vaccinate her and then sell me some science diet, said it was better than Innova EVO and raw chicken...

anyway she had earmites, and since the kitties sleep in a pile and then one kitty sleeps in a pile with the Big Dogs, well he thinks he is a big dog and they seem to agree.

There is a lot of grooming going on from all sides so more than likely we have ear mites to go around.

Is there something i can treat them with besides the pyrantel drops, Nico our old girl has chronic ear problems along with a whole host of other immune system issues from vaccines 11 years ago and I dont think insecticides in her ear is a very smart idea at all, but neither would mineral oil I dont think.

I lifted Loki's ear flaps up and he does have some of that black waxy stuff that can indicate mites but he didnt seem to mind me having a look. Usually we check his ears daily in the summer with swimming, but I admit I hadnt gotten a good look in there for some time, so I dont know how long he has had dirty looking ear canals and inner flaps.

I do have some super stinky fresh neem oil that just came in, can that be used in the ear?

Edited by Jennifer Lee (12/21/2007 12:03 AM)
Edit reason: typos

It's been a long time since I had to deal with ear mites in animals (they're normally the same variety in cats, rabbits, and dogs as I recall.) but as I recall we drowned them (the mites) with high grade olive oil once a day until it cleared up. Similiar to an ear wash just fill up the ear. Rub and let them shake their head. This is best done outside. Worked well with the cats when I was a kid.

Thanks for the tip, I didnt even think about Olive oil, I used it this morning on everyone and added 2 drops of lavender to help soothe any inflammation and irritation in their ears.

For Nico's ears I added a couple drops of neem to help fight off any other nasties in there.

I've never had to deal with ear mites in a dog, but I successfully eliminated them in cats using a 50:50 mix of olive oil and almond oil with some vitamin E (squeezed out of the capsules) added. Warm the mix a little, pour it in, massage it around gently and let the animal shake it out. It smothers the mites and kills them. Ear mites do lay eggs on the animal's fur that will hatch out and reinfest the ears, so you need to keep checking the ears after the first batch of mites has gone to make sure the little buggers are not coming back.

 Quote: Sarah Ward

Ear mites do lay eggs on the animal's fur that will hatch out and reinfest the ears, so you need to keep checking the ears after the first batch of mites has gone to make sure the little buggers are not coming back.

I wonder if Frontline would help take care of the mites that crawl out onto the fur?

No, fronline is specific only to fleas and ticks.

darn, i was hoping i could do some multi-tasking with the frontline. its the only flea control product I can use on Nico

I think i will go get some Kitty Revolution because trying to get the oil in there ears after the first time will likely not be easy!