Expert: Becky - 4/7/2007

Question
Lately, I have noticed that my cat has been scratching himself alot - he is an indoor cat only and I have 2 other cats that are not having this problem.  I have inspected his fur and don't see any fleas.  Any ideas of what I should do?

Answer
Hi Adele,
In some animals, only ONE flea can cause an allergic reaction.  Buy a flea comb. They are not expensive and are great at finding fleas.  The teeth of the comb are very close together, and if you go over the whole body of your cat,you should find a flea if there is one!  Even though your cats are indoors, fleas can come in by themselves, or be carried in on our clothing.  
Is he scratching his ears?  If so, it may not be fleas but ear mites.  Smell his ears.  Ear mites have a definete foul odor. The inside of the ears will have a black waxy coating on them too.  If it is ear mites, your other cats will probably have them also.  Just in case it is ear mites, here is a good way to get rid of them.  
Ear mites can be very irritating to a dog or cat. It will cause scratching and shaking of the head.   There can be thousands in the ear canal! When not treated, a dog or cat can scratch their ear until it is raw and bleeds, often causing skin infections.  

The mites will travel from pet to pet, so if you have more than one animal you need to treat all of them.  You can get rid of ear mites with over the counter products if you are persistent.  

First, clean the ears. Ear mites will cause a dark, crusty and/or greasy black substance to be found in the ears.  Mix ½ alcohol and ½ peroxide together.  Put some on a cotton ball and clean the ears out.  Step back and let your dog shake to bring up some of the debris and then clean again.  You can use q-tips, but be careful not to go too far into the ear canal.  If you don’t clean the ears good before medicating, the mites will hide beneath the debris and the medication will not help.

You can buy medicated ear drops made specially for ear mites at a pet store or I think even Wal-Mart sells it in the pet department.  You can also try home remedies that many people have had good luck with.  There is an oil treatment that smothers the ear mites. Put a drop or two of mineral oil in the ear, massage the ear good pushing it down into the ear canal.  This will smother the mites and soothe your pets’ itchy ears. You can heat the oil a little bit to make it feel better.(just warm to the touch)  Be sure not to flood the ear, you only need enough to coat the canal.  You will need to do this every day or so for a month.  This will ensure killing not only the mites, but the eggs that are hatched.  This method takes longer than medicated drops that you can buy, but it’s cheaper and works!
Another home remedy is to crush four garlic cloves and let them steep overnight in a cup of olive oil.  In the morning, throw the garlic away and heat the oil until it is warm to the touch.  Put a few drops in your pets ears and massage well.  You will need to keep this up for a month also, every day or so.  

It is very important to treat the ears for the entire ear mite cycle. If you stop too soon, the eggs will hatch and you will have to start all over.  If you stick it out for a month, you will get rid of them.  Most people stop too soon and then wonder why it didn’t work.    Just make sure you clean the ears out good before each application.  As time goes by, the ears will begin to be cleaner and you won’t have to do it as often.

Good luck to you!!
Becky