Hi,
When we first adopted out 2.5 year old cat from a shelter in June, the vet checked her over before we brought her home. I had asked them to double check her ears for mites as I noticed she was shaking her head a bit. They assured me that her ears were fine--just a little waxy, but no mites.
When we first took her to our vet in August to check on the head-shaking situation, they diagnosed her with a bacterial infection (mild) in both ears, and they found some yeast in the left one. We gave her two weeks worth of ear drops and it seemed to (sort of) help, as she was shaking her head less. This persisted for a while, but she never really stopped shaking her head entirely. I started cleaning them out with a bit of olive oil, and sometimes some ACV solution, as this was recommended to me at the pet store, and when I called the vet they said the olive oil would be okay. When I did clean them out a bit, this seemed to help lessen the amount of times she was shaking her head during the day. Her ears were not inflamed or pink, and they just looked super waxy with a bit of debris (which kind of looked like mites, but her ear culture proved that she did not have them. Regardless, she has done a few revolution treatments just in case). I had also been under the impression that this may be related to environmental allergies (as our last cat had them), and we recently moved to a new house--assuming this would help.
At the end of October, I brought her back in. This vet diagnosed her with another bacterial infection (both inner and outer ear), and did not see mites. He gave me a course of antibiotics (oral) to administer to her twice a day for 7 days. He also gave me a course of ear drops that were to be applied once a day for 14 days. On top of this, he prescribed an ear wash which was to be used once a day until her next check up, prednisolone (which did not sit well with our cat, and she stopped taking it on the third day of treatment because of adverse side effects), another dose of revolution and probiotics.
The ear drops were finished about 5 days ago. I assumed she would still be shaking her head on and off because of how much liquid had been inserted into there over the last two weeks, but I also thought her head shaking would have stopped by now. She is still doing it. However, her ears look very clean--especially in comparison to how they looked prior to starting the treatment.
I guess my question is--what do I do now? I am away for the next week but I am planning to bring her back to the vets when I get home. I know that some animals have recurring ear infections, but usually this indicates that there is an underlying cause. She is, however, not really pawing at her ears and scratching them (only sometimes). Our new place is older, but it is in much better shape than our last apartment and the air quality seems much better. She is on a grain free/chicken-free dry food (brown rice and salmon), but she is eating friskies wet food because she is so picky/very sensitive to the organic foods. I will try to switch her over to a new wet food when I get back.
Does anyone have a similar experience?
Thank you!
When we first adopted out 2.5 year old cat from a shelter in June, the vet checked her over before we brought her home. I had asked them to double check her ears for mites as I noticed she was shaking her head a bit. They assured me that her ears were fine--just a little waxy, but no mites.
When we first took her to our vet in August to check on the head-shaking situation, they diagnosed her with a bacterial infection (mild) in both ears, and they found some yeast in the left one. We gave her two weeks worth of ear drops and it seemed to (sort of) help, as she was shaking her head less. This persisted for a while, but she never really stopped shaking her head entirely. I started cleaning them out with a bit of olive oil, and sometimes some ACV solution, as this was recommended to me at the pet store, and when I called the vet they said the olive oil would be okay. When I did clean them out a bit, this seemed to help lessen the amount of times she was shaking her head during the day. Her ears were not inflamed or pink, and they just looked super waxy with a bit of debris (which kind of looked like mites, but her ear culture proved that she did not have them. Regardless, she has done a few revolution treatments just in case). I had also been under the impression that this may be related to environmental allergies (as our last cat had them), and we recently moved to a new house--assuming this would help.
At the end of October, I brought her back in. This vet diagnosed her with another bacterial infection (both inner and outer ear), and did not see mites. He gave me a course of antibiotics (oral) to administer to her twice a day for 7 days. He also gave me a course of ear drops that were to be applied once a day for 14 days. On top of this, he prescribed an ear wash which was to be used once a day until her next check up, prednisolone (which did not sit well with our cat, and she stopped taking it on the third day of treatment because of adverse side effects), another dose of revolution and probiotics.
The ear drops were finished about 5 days ago. I assumed she would still be shaking her head on and off because of how much liquid had been inserted into there over the last two weeks, but I also thought her head shaking would have stopped by now. She is still doing it. However, her ears look very clean--especially in comparison to how they looked prior to starting the treatment.
I guess my question is--what do I do now? I am away for the next week but I am planning to bring her back to the vets when I get home. I know that some animals have recurring ear infections, but usually this indicates that there is an underlying cause. She is, however, not really pawing at her ears and scratching them (only sometimes). Our new place is older, but it is in much better shape than our last apartment and the air quality seems much better. She is on a grain free/chicken-free dry food (brown rice and salmon), but she is eating friskies wet food because she is so picky/very sensitive to the organic foods. I will try to switch her over to a new wet food when I get back.
Does anyone have a similar experience?
Thank you!
