It hasn’t even been two weeks since we adopted this little furball and already she’s making friends at the vet! It started with a little bit of ear scratching a couple of days ago, but I thought nothing of it – it wasn’t very often and I wasn’t aware that ear scratching isn’t normal. As she started scratching more often and shaking her head I realized something must be up and made our first vet appointment.
Time To Go To the Vet!
After researching ear problems in cats more, I learned any ear scratching or head shaking is a sign that there could be something up with her ears and is not normal. I checked inside her ears with my phone flashlight and saw this black discharge in both ears, at which point I was pretty sure she had some sort of ear infection. Ear mites were unlikely because she’s on Revolution Parasiticide, but our vet said a number of other things could have caused them, such as water getting trapped or if there is a buildup of wax or hair.
The vet gave her an ear cytology, which I learned is an examination of the discharge from her ear under a microscope. They use a cotton swab to collect some of the black stuff, roll it onto a microscope slide, and then look for signs of mites, bacteria, and yeast. Java ended up having a 1+ Bacterial infection and 1+ Yeast Infection, which is just a minor ear infection. They gave us an Oticetic Medicated Flush to clean her ears with every few days and Tresaderm Solution to treat the ear infection itself.
Java DOES NOT like her ear medicine
Let’s just say she HATES her new night and morning medicine routine, so hopefully, the ear infection will begin to clear and she can stop itching so much. I’ll have some more updates in a couple of weeks!
Update 5/25/2020:
WOMP WOMP… Java still has her ear infection. It’s started clearing up, but the vet prescribed her another week worth of Tresaderm to get it cleared out. I learned that I may not have been cleaning them out enough. It can take multiple cleanings in a session to get all of the black discharge out, and removing all of that gunk is essential for the Tresaderm to work properly. Hopefully, I’ll have better news next week.
Leave a Reply