Itchy Ears - No Diagnosis

[Pat S.]

I'm still concerned about Grace and her kittens' scratching their ears and shaking their heads. Grace has done this since I adopted her, and the kittens have done it since they were old enough to know how to scratch. Both mom and babies are scratching fur off their ears.

I took mom and kittens in to the vet when the kits were four weeks, and he wormed the kittens and checked all five cats for earmites. No evidence of earmites - ears are clean and not irritated inside. He suggested possible allergies.

When Grace went in last week for shots and spaying, I talked to a different vet in the office and expressed my concern. He didn't really have an answer, but said it might be Scabies. He suggested that after she recovers from the surgery, we could try Revolution and see if it relieves the symptoms.

I've just never seen cats with no fleas and no earmites so uncomfortable.
It's not constant but I would say it's frequent.

[davet]

looking with an otoscope...one species of mites burrows into the skin and is not really visible with a scope

[Pat S.]

Are they typically inside or outside the ear?

[davet]

the ear and usually along the edges....which is the area where the scraping should be done....they usually show absolutly nothing in the ear canal and quite ofteh they may be on other parts of the body, especially the tail tip so when the cats sleep they often put thier tail over there head and transfer them....for the life of me i can't think of their name...TRACI help

[Traci]

The actual mite is otodectes, but you might be thinking of notoedres or sarcoptes.

Pat, I'm sure the revolution would be ok for Grace, but the kittens may not be old enough yet for that. Get a scraping for Grace, get it confirmed, and let your vet proceed from there. Don't treat the kittens as you would for Grace, need to be careful for them, i.e., toxic reactions to the product if they're too young or not of a preferred weight and age. There are several applications one can use for kittens that are safer.

[Pat S.]

Thanks for the advice. I'll at least know what to suggest.

These are new vets for me. My other cats go to the same vet I've used for 15 years, but I decided to use these because they cooperate with the Humane Society for discount spaying and neutering. Unfortunately, that offer was only for February and I missed the boat on any discounts for Grace and Norman!

So far, I've talked to two of the doctors at this office, and they didn't offer to do a scraping. Grace needs to go back for a post op check up this week, so I'll ask about it. If she has a parasite, I think we can assume the kittens have the same one. We'll go from there.

Thanks again!