There is a saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” I’ve eaten a few proverbial elephants in my life. It’s never easy. And I love elephants.
Allow me to clarify: This is the site’s first post.
I’m going to write a bit about ears. Missy is a short-haired white cat, with inquisitive green eyes and loads of playful energy. I’m quite certain she is from the Turkish Van tribe, but have no proof other than stumbling upon articles and videos about the breed. More about that in another post.
A reputation of white cats is that they are prone to ear cancer. One might find a white cat with its ears trimmed to little nubs. Apparently, that’s the veterinarian world’s accepted and practiced norm for controlling the spread of the disease.
Another potential issue with white haired cats is deafness. My understanding is that blue eyed cats are susceptible.
One issue my little Missy came home with was dirty ears. The initial vet visit revealed that she had a yeast infection. We were sent home with a refrigerated bottle of Tresaderm. The initial dose made her cry. But within the prescribed treatment, her ears cleared.
But then her ears started looking dirty with brown gunk again within weeks, maybe a month. She’d occasionally twitch her head or scratch a little. And down a path we went with over-the-counter ear cleansers for cats!
I don’t want to name products, at least not at this time. I feel like I’ve tried all the “five star,” “amazing,” “miraculous” products. Dirty, itchy ears prevailed.
Then, I tried one that didn’t make her cry. And although it didn’t do anything miraculously, it did a decent, yet gentle job clearing the gunk. Unfortunately, this product became discontinued within months of this discovery. It’s not the first time this sort of thing has happened, and I know it won’t be the last. And oddly, I knew this product had been on the market for several years.
Subsequent vet visits and ear mite, flea and cytology tests revealed a few things: Being an indoor cat, it confirmed the lack of ear mites and fleas were not a culprit; and the cytology test results showed, “Cocci.” Cocci is a pretty general gram-positive bacteria. I should note, because we moved and vets move too, this was a different veterinarian’s examination. The cocci resulted in a prescription for Quadritop (Quadruple for the generic), an antibacterial ointment with anti-inflammatory stuff for ears. She responded favorably. I rejoiced. But I use it sparingly and only as prescribed. It’s not a cleaner, but relieves the itchiness. And the gunk subsides for a little while
And luckily so for, there has been no evidence of hearing loss, as some medications purportedly cause. Reading accounts of such stories on the internet can be quite alarming.
The case for food allergies has also been discussed. And I’m quite certain the cause lies somewhere down that path.
Still another vet told me, “Sometimes it’s better just to leave the ears alone – frequent cleaning can irritate the ears just as much and sometimes more.” He was a kind, knowledgeable, perceptive vet. Somehow that perspective made sense, even though it’s difficult as a human not to want to always do something.
That said, the ear cleaner most successful for Missy had the following ingredients:
Witch Hazel stem extract, Chamomile flower extract, Sage aerial parts oil, Clove flower oil, Horehound aerial parts extract, Southern Wood extract, St. John’s Wort flower oil.
Some days I think about trying to re-create it, but it has yet to happen.
And while I am honestly trying to keep my information succinct, I often feel that I must explain how I arrived where I am now. Currently, the ear cleaning products I use include Earthbath Ear Wipes and sometimes Animal Essentials Herbal Ear Rinse – neither of which impresses me much for this situation.
With the ear wipes, naturally her ears are just too tiny. Most of the gunk lies in the folds. Logistically, it’s a stupid approach for cats. I try to squeeze a bit of the liquid from the wipe into the ear, but it really doesn’t work.
As far as I can tell, the Earthbath Ear Wipes ingredients are gentle: purified water, Aloe vera, Witch hazel, Chamomilla recutita, Cucumber extract, Althaea officinalis root extract, Oat kernel extract, Natragem (???), Citric acid, Vitamin E, natural preservative. But is it helping? Not really.
The history of Animal Essentials goes back many years. I trust the research that has gone into their preparations. And I think the ingredients in the Herbal Ear Wash are very appropriate, but perhaps more for dogs. The ingredients are: distilled water, cider vinegar, aloe vera, calendula, witch hazel, olive leaf, certified organic goldenseal and vegetable glycerin.
The ingredients my cat most likely finds disagreeable are the cider vinegar and goldenseal.
I’ve tried using one ingredient “cleaners” (e.g., aloe, witch hazel, vegetable glycerin, cider vinegar, even mineral oil). It’s been challenging to find a quick and simple way to clean her ears. Like many cats, she’s sensitive, impatient and not always trusting of my experiments.
I’ve been around cats for many years. This is the first cat I’ve had with ear issues.