Kitten scratching its ears: causes and methods of treatment. What could be the reason for the fact that the kitten scratches its ears, shakes its head and looks sick?

Undoubtedly, pets are full members of the family. They bring us joy, we take care of them, feed them and play with our furry friends. But it happens that our furry friend becomes lethargic and sad. Of course, we worry about what could have happened. Next we will talk about one of the ailments - ear problems in cats. Let's look at this issue in more detail.

The cat scratches its ears and shakes its head: the reasons for this behavior

First of all, it is important to determine what can cause a cat to shake its head and scratch its ears. It’s not always about the presence of a disease or parasites. For example, if a cat does this infrequently, then he is probably just tidying himself up. In this case, carding can be considered a normal hygiene procedure. If the cat repeats the action more than three times a day, then the reason lies elsewhere.

The appearance of fleas

One of the common blood-sucking parasites that live on cats is fleas. A pet can become infected with them not only through contact with street animals, but also simply during a walk. The fact is that fleas can live outside a cat’s body for up to 18 days. Therefore, they may well fall on a healthy cat from the ground. In addition, humans and dogs are temporary hosts and carriers of fleas. Despite the fact that these parasites most often settle on the stomach and back of the animal, it is quite possible for them to spread to the head area. Naturally, in this case, the cat will begin to scratch its ears often.

If there are fleas, the cat will often scratch not only the ears and head, but also other parts of the body.

Foreign object entering the ear

If the cat behaved calmly and suddenly very sharply began to scratch its ears and shake its head, then the problem is probably a foreign object that got into the ear canal. Most often this happens while walking on the street. Parts of plants, including seeds, can get into the animal's ear. Irritation can also be caused by insects crawling into the ear canal. Usually the cat can remove such irritants on its own.

Remember that while cleaning your cat's ears, you can also introduce foreign particles into the ear canal. Pieces of cotton wool left after the procedure can greatly irritate the animal. Therefore, it is better not to use low-quality and easily untwisted sticks and disks for cleaning.

If your cat starts shaking its head after you wash it, then it’s probably due to water getting into its ears. To reduce the discomfort experienced by the animal, you can gently blot the inside of the ear with a rolled-up cotton pad. Also, try not to pour water on your cat's head the next time you bathe him.

It is sometimes recommended to place cotton balls in your cat's ears before bathing to prevent water from getting into the ear canal.

Sulfur plugs

If you do not regularly clean your animal's ears, a large amount of wax can accumulate in them, which will lead to the formation of plugs. The latter cause severe discomfort in cats, causing them to scratch their ears and shake their heads. As a rule, this behavior does not help them get rid of the problem. Excessive production of sulfur can be caused by congenital characteristics of the animal, as well as diseases such as otitis media and otodectosis.

Ear mites

The disease caused by ear parasites is called otodectosis. It often occurs in cats with weakened immune systems and pets that do not undergo hygiene procedures often enough. In addition, ear mites are very dangerous and can easily be transmitted from an infected cat to a healthy one. This parasite poses no threat to humans. In addition to cats, mites are found in ferrets and dogs. It lives outside the host’s body for a short time, and therefore, in rare cases, infection can occur indirectly.

Remember that in advanced stages, ear mites can cause the death of an animal

Video: otodectosis in cats

Ear infection

The cause of increased scratching may also lie in ear inflammation. In case of serious complications, not only the ear canal is affected, but also the middle and inner ear. Inflammatory processes, also called otitis media, can occur for the following reasons:

• infection;
• consequences of scabies;
• improper ear cleaning;
• accumulation of dirt in the ear canal;
• injuries received;
• allergic reactions;
• excessively frequent ear cleaning.

Neoplasms of the skin and glands of the external auditory canal

Various polyps and neoplasms that appear in the outer part of the ear canal and in the middle ear can also cause discomfort in the cat. Most often, aging pets are susceptible to this disease; in young animals, the formation of polyps occurs less frequently. Lesions of this type are classified as unilateral, that is, they occur in only one ear.

If your cat has gotten into a fight with another animal or otherwise damaged the inside of the ear, an abscess may form in the shell. In appearance, it resembles a small round swelling that seems soft to the touch. Pus accumulates inside such a formation. Do not try to squeeze it out yourself, as this may cause serious problems.

Other reasons

There are situations when the owner mistakenly believes that the reason for the changed behavior lies in the pet’s ears. It is important to remember that cats also shake their heads with diseases not related to the ear canals. If your pet's ears appear healthy, the problem may be caused by:

• diseases of the gums and teeth;
• renal or liver failure (head tremor is possible in the last stages of damage to these organs);
• viral respiratory infections;
• neurological diseases (stroke, encephalitis, traumatic brain injury).

In all these cases, the animal will exhibit specific symptoms, and ear scratching will be only one of them.

Symptoms and treatment of causes

• Drug overdose can be easily corrected if there are no more associated symptoms. The animal is not vomiting or diarrhea, and there is no weakness or lethargy. It is enough to stop taking all medications and give plenty of fluids.
• Aggressive effects due to cleaning involve ensuring peace for the cat. The procedure should not be repeated for some time. The best solution would be to show the patient to a doctor for a thorough examination and medical recommendations on how to eliminate a possible injury. The doctor may prescribe light ointments or drops to combat irritation and prevent the development of the inflammatory process.
• If the cause is still in the sulfur plug , it is worth eliminating it in a hospital setting. Since it is impossible to visit a clinic, you can do this at home. You need to know that washing with water is prohibited. You need to drip the ear with a solution of hydrogen peroxide in a dose of ten drops and leave for fifteen minutes. All this time, the pet will shake its head and it is likely that the plug will come out on its own, but if this does not happen, you can use a cotton swab. To do this, moisten it with oil, carefully twirl it, and pull the plug out. The same stick dipped in oil can be used for cleaning.
• The nature of the treatment of any pathology will depend on development factors , its stage, as well as on the individual characteristics of the animal’s body. The infectious factor is eliminated by the use of broad-spectrum antibacterial drops. Allergic reactions are treated with systemic medications.

You should not clean your cat's ears for some time.

How to identify pathology

Understanding that your pet needs your help is quite simple. First of all, as mentioned above, pay attention to how often the cat scratches its ears and shakes its head. For example, if a pet repeats the procedure several times per hour, then this is a clear sign of discomfort he is experiencing.

It is worth paying attention to the pet’s behavior. If you have ear diseases, your cat may become more aggressive and nervous. In some cases, on the contrary, the pet becomes lethargic and apathetic. Loss of appetite and refusal to play are equally alarming signs. Pay attention to how the cat reacts to your touching his ears.

Be sure to inspect your pet's ears. If they have diseases, cats can scratch their outer parts, as well as the area behind the ears, until they bleed. Dirt appears inside the ear canal, and the skin begins to peel off. In advanced stages of the disease, an unpleasant odor and discharge appear.

I myself have encountered ear problems with a cat only once. He scratched himself a lot and shook his head, and there was a smell of pus coming from his ear. Upon examination, it turned out that the problem was a deep scratch that the pet received during another skirmish with a “competitor.” To initially treat such damage, I use hydrogen peroxide, and then treat the affected area with zinc ointment. It quickly dries the damaged area, allowing the wound to heal faster.

If there are ear diseases, the cat becomes more aggressive, he may even bite and scratch the owner if he touches the affected area

Diagnosis of the cause

Of course, in order to prescribe treatment, it is important to correctly diagnose your pet’s disease. If the problem is foreign objects, then you can easily see them in the animal’s ear canal and remove them. In addition, the pet is often able to get rid of them on its own, just like water. In other situations, when it really is a disease, you should pay attention to the symptoms.

Fold-eared cats have curved ears, which increases the risk of contamination of the ear canals and ear diseases.

Symptoms of otodectosis include the appearance of dry dark crusts in the ear, their color varies from brown to brown. The cat not only shakes its head, but also tilts it to one side. The latter is typical for cases when one ear is more affected by mites than the other. In advanced stages and with inflammation, pus with a characteristic unpleasant odor appears in the auricle.

My friends constantly keep cats outside during the warm season, which invariably leads to the appearance of not only dirt, but also brown growths in the animals’ ears. The cats are clearly uncomfortable with these “crusts”; they try to comb them out and shake them out. These symptoms make you think that your pet has a tick. Animal owners either do not recognize pharmaceutical products, or do not want to spend money on them, but instead use ordinary herbal medicine. They simply treat the inside of the animal's ear with a cotton swab dipped in oil. Oddly enough, after just a couple of days of this treatment, cats stop itching, and the crusts from their ears disappear. Perhaps this method is only suitable for outbred cats, which are more resistant to various diseases than their purebred counterparts.

If the inner and outer sides of the ears become covered with a reddish rash, this is probably due to the development of dermatitis. Symptoms of this disease are:

• small ulcers with fluid oozing from them;
• severe peeling of the skin;
• loss of appetite in the animal.

Dermatitis can be caused by:

• ear mites;
• allergic reactions to household chemicals and food;
• bacteria;
• fungi.

Inflammatory processes are often accompanied by an increase in temperature in the animal. But it should be remembered that in a healthy cat it ranges from 37.6 to 39 degrees Celsius.

With diseases such as dermatitis, the temperature may increase only in the affected area.

Liquid discharge of brown and gray-yellow color may indicate that the cat has otitis media caused by bacteria and fungi. Also, some forms of otitis are accompanied by waxy discharge. But even if you manage to determine the form of the disease in your pet, you should not prescribe medicine yourself.

With lesions of the middle and inner ear, the outer part of the shell may remain quite clean, so pay attention not only to the appearance of the ears, but also to the general condition of the pet

Video: features of otitis and otodectosis

Diagnostic methods in veterinary clinics

As follows from the above, the symptoms of many ear diseases are similar. Therefore, not every person is able to determine what illness his pet is suffering from. It is much easier to immediately seek help from a veterinary clinic. Specialists will not only conduct a professional inspection, but also use special equipment for these purposes:

• During the initial diagnosis, veterinarians cannot do without otoscopy. This procedure involves examining the outer part of the ear canal using a special instrument shaped like a funnel. For greater efficiency, the product is complemented with lenses.

  The otoscope is used during the initial examination of cats.

• Taking a cytological smear from the external auditory canal allows you to quickly diagnose an animal’s disease. The obtained materials are studied under a microscope, which makes it possible to identify the nature of the irritants. This method is suitable for working with various parasites and bacteria.

  Bacteria, fungi and many mites are small in size, so they are much easier to see under a microscope

• Less commonly, when diagnosing ear diseases, a scraping is taken or trichoscopy is performed. The latter procedure involves computer diagnostics of the animal’s fur and skin. The reason for using these methods may be a suspicion of demodicosis (a disease caused by parasitism of the Demodex brevis mite).
• If necessary, material for culture is taken from the cat's ear. The procedure allows you to accurately identify the causative agent of the disease, as well as determine its sensitivity to antibiotics. Thus, eliminating the problem is carried out much faster. This is very important for cases where there is a risk that the disease will become chronic.
• If tumors appear and otitis media is suspected, video otoscopy can be performed. This procedure is performed under anesthesia.
• Specialists also take x-rays to examine the middle and inner parts of the ear. Their study allows us to more accurately determine the area and extent of the spread of the disease.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) are used to diagnose serious diseases. These are expensive research methods that require preliminary sedation of the animal. They allow you to get a complete picture, for example, about the spread of the tumor and the involvement of tissues in this process.

Video: cat ear otoscopy procedure

What to do and how to treat?

Owners should contact a veterinary clinic as soon as possible if their cat's ears itch. Therapeutic measures are selected individually for each pet depending on the causes of the disease. Regardless of the source of the problem, owners need to regularly clean the cat's ears of plaque and secretions. In most cases, drug treatment is used with the medications presented in the table:

When a cat's ear itches due to an infectious disease, it is necessary to undergo a course of antibacterial therapy. If the problem lies in a hematoma, then a cold compress and a tight bandage must be applied to the site of the lesion as quickly as possible, which is removed after 24 hours. In case of advanced disease and severe damage, surgery may be performed. Surgery is also required if the cat's ears itch due to a malignant tumor. In this case, chemotherapy is first performed, after which the tumor in the ear is removed using a scalpel. Owners should not self-medicate, as careless actions can cause complications.

Features of treatment depending on diagnostic results

It is important to remember that the specific treatment will depend on the diagnosis given to the animal. Therefore, you should not neglect a thorough examination of your pet and its examination at a veterinary clinic.

Treatment of otodectosis

If your pet is sick with otodectosis, then you should begin treatment immediately, since as the disease progresses, it can lead to membrane rupture, meningitis and inflammation. It is important to note that it is necessary to treat both ears at once. To avoid re-infection, the animal’s bedding and toys are either treated or replaced with new ones. First, the pet's ears are cleaned of pus and other existing contaminants. After this, you should choose a medicine for treatment, there are:

• ear drops (use once a week);
• drops on the withers (use once every three weeks).

The appropriate option will depend on the degree of development of the disease and the condition of the cat. The average course of treatment is one and a half months. To pour the medicine into the ears, use pipettes and syringes without needles. To enhance the effect, massage the auricle with your fingers. Light pressure will help distribute the medicine evenly, which will allow you to quickly get rid of ticks and their larvae.

The effect of medicinal drops is quite irritating, so the cat may react to the administration of the drug quite aggressively, which is the norm.

Help with abscess

An abscess should be opened by a veterinarian. The specialist will not only treat the resulting hole with antimicrobial agents, but also, if necessary, install drainage. The latter is necessary in order to prevent the re-accumulation of pus and completely heal the wound. In some cases, the animal is additionally prescribed antibiotics to help fight inflammation.

Removing wax plugs

Sulfur plugs are removed by pre-soaking them. For these purposes, saline solution and hydrogen peroxide are used. But a much more effective option are special lotions that can be purchased at a veterinary pharmacy. They allow you to gradually soften the resulting plug. There is a high probability that after several procedures the cat will independently free itself from the formation that is interfering with it during the next shaking of its head. Do not use cotton swabs to remove the wax plug, as this will push it further and harm the animal.

Treatment of otitis media

In case of otitis, treating the ears with a special solution also plays an important role. There are antiseptic and drying lotions, as well as agents that dissolve sulfur. The appropriate option will depend on the type of otitis media. In this case, the selected solution is poured into the affected ear and the shell is massaged. In the initial stages of otitis, treatment is carried out up to twice a week. For severe illnesses, the solution is used up to four times.

Table: common medications for the treatment of ear diseases in cats

Photo gallery: veterinary products for the treatment of ear pathologies

Amit is an antiparasitic agent, it is used to destroy demodectic and sarcoptic mites Bars - ear drops that have acaricidal, as well as mild anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects Bars ear cleaning lotion facilitates the removal of earwax, dirt and inflammatory exudate from the auricle and ear canal of dogs and cats Dekta - a complex acaricidal drug for external use Otodepin - ear drops intended for regular hygienic treatment of the ears of pets Otoferonol - an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial drug intended for the treatment of otodectosis in cats and dogs

Prevention of ear canal diseases

Regular cleaning of your pet's ears is just one way to prevent otitis media and other ear diseases. Remember that even when carrying out hygiene procedures, you need to know when to stop. Often, aggressive and too frequent cleaning can also cause minor damage to the pet’s ear canal, which leads to inflammation.

It is important to remember that ear problems can cause hypothermia. Therefore, do not let your cat outside during severe frosts. During walks, try to keep your pet away from stray animals, as in most cases they are infected with ear mites and can infect your pet.

In addition, complications that arise during the treatment of other diseases can lead to otitis media. Therefore, be sure to always continue to treat your cat, preventing the disease from developing. Do not shorten the treatment period prescribed by your veterinarian, even if your pet shows noticeable improvement.

When to see a doctor

For any cat, scratching its ears is a normal process, which is a hygienic procedure that helps the animal get rid of dirt and foreign bodies. But when it becomes permanent, and the pet experiences great discomfort and anxiety, it is necessary to show it to a doctor. Only by identifying the reasons for this behavior can effective treatment methods be selected.

If a cat has otitis media, measures taken to get rid of ear mites can lead to serious consequences, including complete hearing loss. A visit to the clinic should not be postponed if:

• Ear scratching causes anxiety, causing the cat to shake its head in irritation.
• The animal becomes nervous.
• The cat scratches its ears vigorously more than 10 times a day.
• Small wounds appeared on the surface of the ears.

Detection of one or more of the listed symptoms is a serious reason to visit a doctor.