Does my cat need regular ear cleaning?

[ForeverHungry]

Hello everyone! I had posted some months ago about my newly adopted cat having ear issues. It started with visible ear wax and odor and following vet check ups it was found that she had a bacterial infection going on. Vet prescribed Surolan which I'd been administering for a few weeks. After the inflammation went down, she was checked again at the Vet and they did not see any further issues with her ears. FYI, she was found with a polyp inside her right ear which was removed before she was up for adoption so I was fearing a polyp reoccured but the Vet confirmed they didn't see anything of the sort in the follow up check. Since she still had an odor lingering after the Surolan course was completed, the Vet prescribed Burow's solution which is meant to dry up ear wax and aid cleaning. I've been administering that and was happy to see the odor completely went away! I completed the 10 day course and I am required to continue giving her ear solution twice a week for 2 weeks. That started this week. She's been off the drops for 2 days until it's time for her second dose of the week and I'm getting a faint odor from her ear again
It's always the right ear that produces the noticeable odor. Granted I have to bury my nose into her ear to detect it right now, but the odor is setting off alarm bells in my head that maybe she needs routine ear cleaning forever? I don't think it's the worst thing in the world but since this issue persisted since the day she got home, I'm not gonna be able to have anything covered by her insurance sadly.

If you kept reading till here, thank you! And here's my question- Any of you lovely people follow routine ear cleaning for your kitties? I am interested in knowing safe and successful options that won't break my bank. Thank you!

 

[klunick]

I use Revolution Plus monthly for fleas/ticks but it helps with worms and ear wax too. My cats' ears are squeaky clean which is shocking because I've never had a cat without that black stuff in their ears.

 

[ForeverHungry]

I use Revolution Plus monthly for fleas/ticks but it helps with worms and ear wax too. My cats' ears are squeaky clean which is shocking because I've never had a cat without that black stuff in their ears.

Thank you for the suggestion! Do you get this at a drugstore? Or should I speak to my Vet about this?

 

[vince]

I seem to be lucky. My cats keep each other's ears very clean.

In the past, I have had cats with the black gunk in their ears. Just cleaned them periodically with a warm damp cloth. They didn't particularly enjoy it, but it worked for them.

 

[ForeverHungry]

Interesting. It takes a while for the wax to become visible. The odor is what comes first and it makes me wonder if the wax is deep set which eventually comes out where theres too much of it. That would require me to administer some drops because I don't think it would be safe to go digging into her ears with a cloth, but that could just be me being a scaredy cat

 

[klunick]

Thank you for the suggestion! Do you get this at a drugstore? Or should I speak to my Vet about this?

Through your vet. Chewy sells it too but you'd still need authorization from your vet.