Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 11/6/2009

Question
Hi, I have 2 cats they are siblings from the same litter and are 17 months old.  The girl has very clean ears all the time but the boy has dirty ears all the time.  I got some ear mite medicine and have been administering it but I was wondering if this is normal or will it ever clear up?  Why is it only one cat that has this problem? It's weird.  Thanks doc!

Answer
Just having an overproduction of wax is OK as long as the cat is not symptomatic...scratching, rubbing, shaking the head.  Be careful of giving ear mite medication if there are no ear mites.  Sometimes the discharge you are seeing is not wax, but dried pus and mucus from a ruptured eardrum.  The ear mite medicine will make that worse.