Weird grainy scab inside ear

[londonthecat]

Hello! I am new to this Forum and decided to post to see if there are answers to my questions.

I recently got a new fur baby named London. Adopted him about 4-5 months ago. I noticed a couple weeks ago that he was having wax in his ear. I thought nothing of it until now, where it has progressed to a grainy orange scab with black specks. One of the ears has the grainy scab and a few black specks. The other ear has grayish brown waxy buildup. Both look moist inside. We suspected a food allergy, so we switched him to a limited protein diet of rabbit meat and other ingredients. I'm not sure if this new diet is working or not, since now he has an ear problem. Should I take him to the vet for a cleaning, should I switch to a different diet, or should I do both? He doesn't seem bothered by it too much, but I do see him occasionally try to scratch his ears. He wears a cone because of scratching to his neck and ears.

Thank you for taking the time to read, and if anyone knows what may be causing this please help! It would mean a lot to me and my kitty!

 

[fionasmom]

Welcome to The Cat Site to you and London! It sounds as if this has persisted to the point where you have put the cone on him and tried a change of diet. Since you don't know that this is an allergy, the change in diet may not help and you could be inadvertently prolonging whatever is going on. If you have moisture, buildup of scabs, wax, and speck in the ear, he needs to be seen by a vet. At this point, I would not try an OTC ear preparation and you should not try to clean the ears yourself. This may be a simple ear problem which the vet can treat; if it is recurrent, which some are, at least you will know what is going on. If there is an infection, despite London's calmness about this, it can progress to a much bigger problem. Please let us know what you find out.

 

[Caspers Human]

It might be ear mites.

Call your vet. You might also be able to e-mail your vet and attach your pictures.

In the mean time, get a cotton ball, wet with warm water and gently swab out your cat's ears.
Just the outside parts that you can reach with your fingers. Do NOT try to reach down into the ear canal!

If it is, indeed, ear mites, your vet can give you medicine that will clear the problem in a short time.

 

[londonthecat]

Welcome to The Cat Site to you and London! It sounds as if this has persisted to the point where you have put the cone on him and tried a change of diet. Since you don't know that this is an allergy, the change in diet may not help and you could be inadvertently prolonging whatever is going on. If you have moisture, buildup of scabs, wax, and speck in the ear, he needs to be seen by a vet. At this point, I would not try an OTC ear preparation and you should not try to clean the ears yourself. This may be a simple ear problem which the vet can treat; if it is recurrent, which some are, at least you will know what is going on. If there is an infection, despite London's calmness about this, it can progress to a much bigger problem. Please let us know what you find out.

Thank you so much for your advice! I will most definitely contact his vet and find out what is causing this.