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How to Clean a Cat's Ears

Lori Greer

Cahaba Cats
Someone on an e-mail list asked: "Can anyone give me advice on cleaning an adult cat's ears? How do you do it? What solution do you use? What do I need to look out for?"

Thought I would share my reply below. A touch of humor but this is indeed how we do it...

I like Q-tips dampened with mineral oil or water. I am right handed and getting progressively far sighted, so:

1) Granny glasses on
2) Cat and Q-tips in the bathroom with door closed
3) Q-tips on the right side of the counter with shot glass of water or mineral oil
4) Cat on the bathroom vanity counter (perfect height) next to my left hip
5) Gently or tightly scruff the cat (depending on how unhappy they are) with left hand while keeping it close to my body
6) Use right hand to flip the top of the ear back. They are usually tall enough that they will stay back :)
7) Moisten Q-tip and gently clean any dirt or wax out.

Don't go too deep or you can damage their ear. If you feel there is deep down dirt or mites, get an ear wash from the vet or pet store.

For ear wash:

I follow all the steps above but also have a towel handy.
1) Instead of cleaning with the Q-tip, you squirt/pour the wash fluid in the ear
2) Quickly massage it around before the cat bolts.
3) Grab towel and cover yourself.
4) The cat will shake it's head and the cleaner flies everywhere. LOL 5) Feline will give you the "stink eye", and do airplane ears for a while, but they get over it.

The next day, after I'm somewhat forgiven for the ear wash, I clean with the Q-tip to remove any residual or loosened dirt.

Happy Ear Cleaning!
:)
 

mhardy12

Savannah Super Cat
Oh how that sounds familiar. When Taz had ear mites as a one year old, I had to trap him in the bathtub with me to do the ear drops. He was soooo not happy with me for a couple of weeks.
 

Wyldthingz

Savannah Super Cat
I have heard that in some humid areas, earmites are so hard to get rid of. My girl from Texas had to be treated for a long time with the old ivermectin stuff multiple times.
 

Lori Greer

Cahaba Cats
Revolution and Ivermectin regularly is the only way to keep them away down here, and even then we will have a case occasionally.... usually after vet visits. Go figure. The other thing that we see more often with the dogs is yeast in the ears and under their elbows. I never saw this in New York, but we have 2 dogs that will get it in the summer months and my step daughter has a dog that seems to as well. The humidity certainly makes life easier for the pesties.
 

Wyldthingz

Savannah Super Cat
Revolution and Ivermectin regularly is the only way to keep them away down here, and even then we will have a case occasionally.... usually after vet visits. Go figure. The other thing that we see more often with the dogs is yeast in the ears and under their elbows. I never saw this in New York, but we have 2 dogs that will get it in the summer months and my step daughter has a dog that seems to as well. The humidity certainly makes life easier for the pesties.

My Aussie was from Illinois. She came with some sort of yeast/ear infection stuff and it took a month of treatment to clear her ears. She gave it to my other dogs as well and they were miserable!
I can imagine!
 

Xcellmusic

Savannah Super Cat
Hello everyone, first message on this forum (Love it, so helpful especially for a first and happy SV owner). Just tried to clean my Ayrad ears with a Qtip and by washing them (14weeks old F2B) He literally freaks out, I managed to take off some dirt with the Qtip but they are still very dirty. Precisions : I tried when he was very calm, I was petting him and talking to him very calmly at the same time he seems relaxed and I was also giving him some treats when he was not fighting and stay still but he let me get into his ear like a 3/4 second then he freaks out and put up such a fight. I tried for like 15minutes but at some point I didn't want to stress him to much and traumatize him. He's gonna hate me for that! Any advice? Thank you very much
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
Have you had your kitten to the vet to make sure there are no earmites or infection? That would seem to be the first step...rather than fighting him to clean out his ears continually as you wouldn't be clearing what may be causing all that dirt..
 

SV Dad

Savannah Super Cat
Welcome Excel!. Nice cat you got there in your Avatar!
Bridgett has a good point about getting to the root cause. But I do have a cat that has ears that get dirty rather fast. I suggest spacing apart the cleaning sessions attempts and be as calm as possible. Only do a little at a time. With time you should have success. Are you able to clip the nails without a fight? Same type of training for the human grooming.
 

SlugMaster

Site Supporter
My F2 kitten had earmites, so after they were dealt with I had to clean out the gunk .
So I used a enzyme cleaner Zymox. After wrapping him in a towel, I'd squirt some into his ear and rub a Cotten ball to clean his ear. I then use Cotten swabs with the cleaner. After a couple of cleanings his ears looked a lot better, but the kitten Max hated the process.
Bruce

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Xcellmusic

Savannah Super Cat
Thanks a lot for your replies, I'm very new to the wonderful SV world so every advice is precious.
I'll leave my baby alone for a little while and try another attempt in few days. Even after all that stress my Ayrad came to me to get his hourly cuddling time so I guess he doesn't have hard feelings haha

He doesn't scratch his ears or act weird so I didn't rush to the conclusion that he needed to go to the vet, it's only the first time that I try to clean his ears. I haven't attempted the nails clipping yet! Seems like it's gonna be another adventure.

Thanks again everyone.
 
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