earmites? allergies? dirty?

TokyoKat123

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Hello so i recently took in a cat who i don’t know much abt. i own and have owned many cats before so i know how to take care of them :) however this is my first day with her(the cat/kitten) and ive noticed shes been shaking her head a lot and scratching her hear. I was wondering if this was just dirty ears, allergies bc i just introduce her to a new environment and litter, or a possible earmite problem? Going to the vet right now is going to be hard since it will take me a good month and a half to get her to go. i looked at pictures of earmites and im pretty sure this is it. i can buy the cleaning solution and earmite treatment from the store. what does this look like to you? all the help is appreciated. thank you
(her other ear isn’t as bad as this one)
 

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tabbytom

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i looked at pictures of earmites and im pretty sure this is it.
Looks like ear mites to me. The dark discharge are a mixture of ear mites themselves, blood, wax and debris. Better bring in for a check and have the ears cleaned by the vet. Most likely they'll do a test to confirm if it's ear mites. If left unchecked, the debris can block top the ear canal and complicate things.

If it's serious, it may have to be clean out several times and after that just do a maintenance on the ears to keep them clean.

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Jcatbird

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I’m so glad you took her in to take cats of her! It’s obvious she needs some love. I do understand that things are often difficult these days for us all and many vets are booked up. It really is something that a vet needs to look at. Can you at least call the vet and send these photos? Let them advise and maybe they can help her now instead of waiting a month. It would be worth trying.
 
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TokyoKat123

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i definetly will take her to the vet but in the mean time i wanted to buy some treatment for her. i really want to help her out since its exsesive just how much she will scratch and shake her head. i dont know how long this has been left untreated so i really want to help.
 

tabbytom

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i definetly will take her to the vet but in the mean time i wanted to buy some treatment for her. i really want to help her out since its exsesive just how much she will scratch and shake her head. i dont know how long this has been left untreated so i really want to help.
Cats ears are very sensitive. It's quite difficult too clean their ears unless they are very used to it. You need at least two persons for a difficult cat and it'll be quite stressful to them and you have to be very careful and precise to do the job.

You can go to the pet store and buy a good ear cleaner and good quality fat cotton buds, not the normal ones used by hoomans. Drip the ear solution onto the cotton bud and gently clean the ear making sure not to go too deep and hard. If you are afraid to do it, best is let the vet do it.

In the meantime, use the ear cleaning solution and dampen a cotton pad and clean the outside of the ear first. Just clean what you can see. Once the outer ear is cleaned, next wrap the cotton pad around your pinkie and gently clean the inner part in circular motion. Make sure you have short nails when you are doing this.

Do not to squirt the ear cleaner into the cat's ear.

Clean a much as you can and the next step is go to the vet.
 
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