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| I have a mama cat (Amy) who I rescued from a parking lot but she has ear mites. She was heavily pregnant and the instructions say to not use the ear mite drops on a pregnant or nursing cat, and the kittens need to be at least 12 weeks old to use it on them.
Amy is so miserable that she has scratched her head bald and bleeding, a few of the kittens have it too but it doesn't seem to bother them as much. The kittens are 8 weeks old and on solid food although from feeling Amy's nipples I know one or two are still nursing occasionally. I want to help Amy immediately before she really does some damage to her scalp, should I wait for another two weeks when the kittens will be given to their new families or can I treat her now and spare her two more weeks of misery? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Human grade mineral oil should work well to smother the ear mites. Put some on a cotton ball, push it into the ear and start wiping. When it gets too yucky, start again with a fresh oily cotton ball. With the kittens you might want to use Q-tips dipped in the oil, but be careful and gentle. When you've finished cleaning, any oil that remains inside will continue to smother the new mites when they hatch. If the cats are skittish, you might want to wrap them in a towel before you start oiling up their ears. Be sure to give a nice treat or snack when you're finished, so they associate the procedure with something good. |
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- Posted by michelle_phxaz (My Page) on Wed, Aug 17, 11 at 6:00
| Thanks Petaloid, I will give it a shot! Good call. |
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- Posted by michelle_phxaz (My Page) on Thu, Aug 18, 11 at 23:46
| I didn't have mineral oil, I used olive oil and it worked great. LOTS of gunk to be cleaned out, and she got tired of that quickly, but she hasn't been scratching. Thanks! |
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| Olive oil should be fine, and I'm glad the procedure went so well. You'll probably want to clean her ears out again in a few days, to get any remaining "gunk." |
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- Posted by michelle_phxaz (My Page) on Thu, Oct 13, 11 at 8:20
| Okay, back to having the mites. I purchased a pesticide-based mite killer because the kittens are adopted and she isn't nursing. I did the drops last night but didn't get to clean as much as I wanted to, Amy REALLY had no interest in this activity as much as I did! I will use my husband to help pin her down tomorrow and get a good cleaning. In another post I mention that she doesn't get along with my cats yet, which is maybe a good thing because she can't spread them to the others as easily! |
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| Wrap her is a big towel with only her head sticking out. I hope she has her rabies shot, because if she bites you, she may have to be put down and tested for rabies and you may have to have shots. |
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- Posted by michelle_phxaz (My Page) on Fri, Oct 14, 11 at 4:33
| Thanks for the sunshine, Vala. Yes, she has her shots. |
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