grovercentervetThe Complete Guide to Cat Ear Infections
Cats are great at concealing pangs of discomfort and it is easy to overlook that they might suffer from ear infection. A dog may whimper or openly pace around when in pain while a cat will more likely seek out a quiet corner, leaving you to figure out the details of what’s bothering her. The feline ear canal is an area where pain often isn’t noticed until it reaches a more advanced stage.
If you see your pet scratching its head, shaking its ears and/or turning its face to one side, you are sharing the view of an otitis or ear inflammation/infection. Knowing what is happening in the depths of the cat ear canal is important in order to obtain an effective and safe ear infection treatment for cats.
This complete guide will take you through the different kinds of ear problems in cats, signs to look for, what you can expect from the veterinarian’s office and how you can help your cat recover.
The Anatomy of a Cat's Ear
To appreciate the importance of a correct treatment strategy, it is important to understand the anatomy of a cat’s ear. You can further see that a cat’s external ear canal is quite dramatic in shape, unlike that of humans which is a simple horizontally straight ear canal into the head.
The ear flap (pinna) directs the sound down the long vertical canal, then at a right angle into the horizontal canal and finally into the delicate ear drum (tympanic membrane).
This L-shaped configuration has a very noticeable effect on the cat’s hearing but it creates an effective natural trapping arrangement as well. Debris, moisture, thick wax and microscopic organisms easily slip down into the vertical canal and become trapped around the horizontal turn. This blockage allows a pathogen to build up in the ear, which can cause pain.
Recognizing the Warning Signs
Owners need to be aware of the Warning Signs: Our cats are adept at hiding their pain, so they need to be monitored closely for signs of changes in behavior and physical state.
- Excessive Head Shaking: If your cat is constantly shaking or snapping its head as if something is bothering it, it’s a red flag that it’s time to talk to your vet about a cat ear infection treatment.
- Intense Scratching or Pawing: Excessive rubbing of the ears against the floor, furniture or direct scratching with the hind claws. This frequently results in scabs around the base of the ears, with blood, and hair loss.
- Strong, Unpleasant Odor: A healthy cat’s ear does NOT smell. A head odor, which is foul, yeasty or sweet is a classic symptom of micro-organism overgrowth.
- Abnormal Discharge: Check for abnormal dark brown, black, yellow or pus-like (may have a foul odor) discharge in the ridges of the ear flap.
- Head Tilt: If the head is permanently tilted to the side of the painful ear, the ear may be inflamed deeper in the middle or inner ear structures.
- Irritability or Depressed Mood: Hissing or pulling away when trying to touch their head; general loss of appetite.
Common Root Causes of Feline Ear Infections
Any feline ear infection treatment will not be a single solution fits all type of problem. This is because ear problems are secondary symptoms that are caused by a primary health problem.
Ear Mites (Otodectes cynotis)
These tiny parasites are easily transmitted between cats and are a major contributor to irritation in the ears of young kittens and in outdoor cats. They pierce the soft lining of the ear canal and suck the earwax and tissue fluid. This causes a severe allergic response that leads to a distinctive black discharge which looks like coffee grounds and is dry and crumbly.
Microbial Overgrowth
In healthy ears, there is a small amount of bacteria and yeast organisms. But when the conditions within the canal change, such as when it gets wet or a lot of debris gets stuck in it, these organisms grow quickly.
- Malassezia pachydermatis (yeast): forms a greasy, brown substance that has a characteristic beer or sweet odour.
- Bacterial Infection: The bacteria (such as Pseudomonas or Staphylococcus) infection usually produces a yellow-green discharge with a lot of moisture and can cause severe ulceration and pain.
Underlying Allergies
Food allergies and environmental allergies (atopy) cause systemic inflammation of the cat’s skin. The ear canal is completely lined with skin tissue, which can flare up, overproduce wax and break the protective barrier in place, and a protective cat ear infection treatment must be applied to break the cycle.
Polyps and Foreign Bodies
Benign growths, called nasopharyngeal polyps, also can grow in the middle ear and extend into the ear canal, interfering with the process of natural air flow. Likewise, if there are foreign items in the horizontal canal, such as grass awns or dirt, the localized swelling will result in sudden infections.
How Veterinarians Diagnose the Issue
The veterinarian will need to conduct a professional evaluation before he prescribes medication. Alternatively, people may insert “cures” bought at a pharmacy, even though they do not know exactly what is wrong with their ear, and end up doing more harm than good.
Without a proper diagnosis, someone may insert an over the counter cure into a painful ear, causing them to do more damage than they could possibly imagine.
A thorough diagnostic workup generally involves:
1. Otoscopic Examination
The vet uses an otoscope to look down the vertical and horizontal pathways of the ear. This will enable them to screen for polyps, foreign bodies, and swelling. Most importantly they need to determine that the ear drum (tympanic membrane) is totally intact. When the ear drum is perforated, some common liquid medicines may seep into the middle ear which can lead to an imbalance of the nervous system or permanent deafness.
2. Ear Cytology
The vet will carefully remove the ear discharge from the ear canal and spread it out on a slide. Following staining of the slide, they analyze it using a microscope to discover the precise cause of the irritation.
Veterinary Treatment Protocols
If the cause can be identified using the microscope, your vet will tailor your cat ear infection treatment to your cat’s specific problem. This will usually involve mechanical cleaning, local treatment and systemic support.
Step 1: Professional Cleaning and Flushing
Wax and crusty discharge must be cleaned out of the canal for medicated drops to reach the tissue walls. A safe, non-irritating ceruminolytic solution (a wax dissolving solution) will be used by your vet to remove the debris. If the cat is very painful or aggressive, a sedative can be administered for a deep and thorough flushing if the animal is not causing any harm.
Step 2: Prescribed Ear Drops
The most important part of all medical treatment is the use of prescribed ear drops (step 2). The combination of these solutions often includes three potent agents: an antifungal to remove the yeast, an antibiotic that kills the bacteria causing the infection and a mild corticosteroid that helps to quickly calm burning, swelling and itchiness.
If you have a skirmishy cat, and you don’t like giving them drops every day, there are new treatments of gel that you can give them every few days. These are administered one time by the veterinarian in the clinic and gradually dissolves over 10-30 days, completely eliminating the need for worrying about home administration.
Step 3: Addressing Primary Triggers
In step 3, if ear mites are found, a specialized cat ear infection treatment will be employed that involves applying a spot-on (selamectin or fluralaner) topical treatment to the back of the neck to kill off the entire ear mite life cycle. If the veterinarian thinks that your pet may have chronic allergies, he or she will consider conducting an elimination diet trial to prevent the skin from becoming more inflamed in the future.
The Risk of Aural Hematomas
In the event that any of the cats experience excessive ear discomfort, causing them to shake their head violently, they put a lot of mechanical strain on the ear flap itself, which can lead to aural hematomas. Pinna consists of a thin layer of cartilage between layers of skin, encircled by fine blood vessels.
These small blood vessels can burst within the ear flap when the ear flap is continuously and aggressively shaken. In this case, blood accumulates quickly between the skin and cartilage and the ear flap begins to swell, much like a balloon filled with liquid or a “pillow. This is painful and is called aural hematoma.
Aggressive head shaking leads to broken blood vessels and leads to fluid-filled aural hematoma.
An aural hematoma should be treated separately from the rest of the ear surgery and will likely need a surgical incision, followed by special sutures to hold the ear flap away from the cartilage to avoid scarring it into a permanent “cauliflower ear” shape. It is the best way to prevent this painful complication by treating the primary ear problem as soon as it is present.
Conclusion
To effectively treat your cat for ear infection, you’ll need to quickly overcome home solutions and have your veterinarian make a proper diagnosis. Due to the shape of the cat’s ears, if there is an underlying cause such as ear mites, yeast infection or undiagnosed allergies, it can quickly escalate into a medical emergency. If your dog has a behaviour problem that you can identify as early signs of infection, you can proceed to regular microscopic cytology with your vet and follow the drops or long-acting clinic gels as prescribed, and the infection will be resolved without any pain. This will help maintain your pet’s sensitive ears and will help return to them their comfort of everyday life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it okay to use human ear drops or hydrogen peroxide for a cat ear infection treatment?
Don’t place human medication, rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide in your cat’s ears. The skin in the feline ear canal is very sensitive and can cause severe chemical burns, pain and ulceration. Also, if the ear drum becomes damaged or perforates, the ear cleaning solution will get into the inner ear and cause permanent neurological damage and deafness in your cat.
What is the average duration of a treatment for cat ear infection?
Primary uncomplicated ear infections usually clear up nicely in 7 to 14 days with prescription ear drops targeted to the infection. Chronic or persistent bacterial infections might need several weeks of ongoing treatment, however. Failing to give the full course of earlots prescribed by your veterinarian no matter how clean your pet’s ears appear after a few days could prove fatal. By stopping too soon it is possible to allow the toughest bacteria to survive causing an antibiotic resistant relapse.
Do cats get ear infections?
Indeed, indoor-only cats can have ear issues. They are much less likely to pick up contagious ear mites from other cats or animals, but they can still develop yeast overgrowth, ear canal bacterial infections, underlying environmental or food allergies and inflammatory polyps in the ear canal.
What causes my cat to have constant ear infections?
If your cat suffers from cat ear infections more than once per year, the infection is only a sign of an underlying problem that has to be treated. The most frequent cause of repeated ear infections is an allergy to food or to the environment that leads to constant skin inflammation. Other causes include un-resolved polyps, the ear canal structure being narrower or a blow in the ear drum covering the middle ear cavity that was not diagnosed.
Can other animals or people contract a cat ear infection?
The contagious aspects of an infection depend on its underlying cause. It’s not contagious to humans or other pets in the household if overgrowth is caused by the routine yeast or bacteria. If ear mites are the underlying cause, however, the parasites are highly contagious and will readily be spread between a dog and cat that live together. Fortunately, feline ear mites are not parasites and will not live or reproduce on human skin.
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