Can you sense if your cat has ear mites? If you can spot the signs in its early stages, regardless of how minor an ailment it may be, then the chances of limiting any kind of long-term damage is increased greatly. This is very true of cat ear mites.

If your cat does pick up this irritable infection, the signs can be quite clear. Ear mites will most certainly cause your cat to shake its head quite often. As well as the usual more frequent scratching of the infected ear, you should also look for any blood or discharge coming from the ear. Since an infected area will tear due to constant scratching, there may also be a putrid smell. If your cat displays some of these signs, you can be fairly sure it has ear mites.

There are a variety of causes for cat ear mites. These include common bacteria, through to yeast infections and parasitical mites attaching themselves to your cat's ear. Since they are attracted to wax, it is critical that keeping your cat's ear clean is top on your list. If a cat is infected, there can be serious long term effects if a mite is left untreated, for example rupturing of the blood vessels around the ear, and disfigurement.

Thankfully, your cat has a wide range of treatments available, both traditional and alternative. Should you follow the traditional treatment, the first thing that will normally happen is for a vet to wash your cat's ears via a method called flushing. This needs to be carried out by your vet, since there is the possibility you may harm your cat if not done properly.

After this process, your vet will place your cat on a treatment of drugs or antibiotics. As in treatments that are used against fleas, these courses may last up to 4 weeks, to ensure that both the original ear mites and any eggs that have been laid are destroyed. If the infection has spread, which commonly happens, then a specialist flea cure such as shampoo or powder must be used.

However, there are also less traditional methods of dealing with cat ear mites. Since antibiotics can actually decrease a cat's immunity to certain ailments, they can be less beneficial ultimately. A natural alternative to antibiotics is Ear Dr., from PetAlive. This is a mixture of both natural and herbal treatments, and contains olive oil and tea tree oil, both of which has anti-fungal and anti-bacterial agents in it. Since they are natural products, the cat benefits from effective treatment and a greatly reduced possibility of future infections.

Although cat ear mites are extremely irritating for the pet involved, by looking out for and recognizing the signs, and keeping your cat's ears clean, you can deal with this problem quickly and minimize the pain to your cat.

Copyright 2007 by Rona Limsy

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