Cat Ear Mites Treatment Uk

Ear mites are tiny skin parasites that cause intensely itchy ears and often lead to ear infections.

Cat ear mites treatment uk.

The cat s claws may break the skin surface leading to additional soreness bleeding and in some cases bacterial infections. What do cat ear mites look like. Ear mites cause irritation and so the cat is likely to scratch repeatedly at the ear with a back paw and or to frequently shake its head. The most common way for a cat to catch ear mites is from another cat but they can also be picked up from the home garden and environment.

Ear mites are barely visible to the naked eye yet you can spot them inside your cat s ears with the assistance of a magnifying lens. Those tiny white specks are in fact the adult ear mites present in the ear. However cat and dog ear mites cannot infect humans or live on your skin. The most common type of ear mite in cats is otodectes cynotis.

Cats and kittens of all lifestyles indoor only indoor outdoor outdoor only can regularly come in contact with parasites and their health risks. They get inside your cat s ear canal where they feed on the ear wax and skin debris. Watch for scratching or shaking. It is a common occurrence that people confuse cat mites symptoms with other cat ear problems like allergies and ear infections.

This means your cat could have caught ear mites from your dog and or passed them on to your dog too. Ear mites live on the skin of the ear canal and feed off ear wax and skin oils. Ear mites are a type of parasitic surface mite that live primarily in the outer ear canal of a host animal. Further in rare cases ear mites from a cat or a dog can cause a skin sensitivity in people resulting in a bad reaction and a rash.

If your cat keeps scratching its ears head and neck with their paws or is shaking its head it s quite likely that they have ear mites. The most common variety otodectes cynotis can live on dogs cats and ferrets. If you look inside the ear by gently folding back the ear flap you can spot tiny white specks amongst the reddish brown debris. If your cat s ears are generally unclean and there is a build up of wax this creates an environment where the ear mites are more likely to survive and thrive.

Parasites hitchhike indoors on other pets or creatures on shoes and clothes or get inside through doors and windows. Fleas ticks ear mites intestinal worms and heartworms can get into any home. These mites can. However one thing that should put your mind at ease is that cats rarely transmit their mites to humans as we are immune from them.

Diagnosis usually requires looking for the mites under a microscope. These are barely visible to the naked eye but may be seen as very small white dots. Any cat can catch ear mites but they are most common in kittens. An adult normally lives for approximately two months but can multiply quickly with eggs taking just four days to hatch and a further three weeks to develop into an adult mite ready to breed.