How to Control Ear Mites in Cats During Winter

1 Overview

Ear mites

Ear mites – also ear scabies, common ear parasites in cats and dogs, a few mm long, like eight-legged tiny crabs, nearly invisible. They live in warm, damp ear canals, feeding on earwax, sebum, and skin debris. They breed fast; life cycle about 18-28 days. Eggs become larvae in 4 days, then adults that breed immediately. From infection, hundreds to thousands of mites already live in the canal.

Harm of ear mites

Otitis externa, encephalitis, death

Untreated, ear mites cause bacterial infection – pus-like otitis externa, otitis media, and hematoma. Mildly, hearing loss. Deep inflammation hits cranial nerves, causing encephalitis even death.

Severe tear stains

Ear infection is a common cause of tear stains. Bacterial, viral, fungal, or parasitic infection, or swelling, pain, itch, makes the dog scratch ears with hind legs. Facial auditory and visual nerves cross, so scratching stimulates tear glands. When tears cannot drain via the nasolacrimal duct, they overflow from the inner eye corner, forming severe tear stains.

Noticeable body odor

Dust, oil, and inflammatory discharge breed bacteria and stink, causing bad body odor.

Causes of ear mites

(01) Water left in ears after bath

Owners bathing at home often pour water into ears; if not wiped dry, long dampness causes inflammation, giving mites a home.

(02) Never cleaned ears

The ear structure is complex; owners unfamiliar fear hurting the dog, and the dog resists, so ears are rarely cleaned and mites keep breeding.

(03) Lowered winter parasite vigilance

Many owners deworm actively in summer but overlook the warm canal as a parasite bed in autumn-winter; regular deworming is still needed.

How to tell it is ear mites

(01) Smell

An infected canal smells pungent and foul – obvious at once.

(02) Check outside/inside ear

An infected canal, from scratching, shows local hair loss or wounds outside; inside, reddish-brown or black discharge, oily waxy stuff like coffee grounds, made of ear oil, blood, inflammatory fluid, and mites.

(03) Watch the dog’s state

Skin with mites itches severely with local allergy; the dog unconsciously scratches with hind legs, shakes head, or rubs ears on the ground.

Correct inner-ear cleaning

Fold the ear open, hold the flap vertical, squeeze ear cleaner into the canal, filling it.

Do not release the flap; massage the ear base gently for 1-2 minutes to soften debris and mites, helping them expel when the dog shakes.

Wipe excess liquid and dander with cotton swabs or tissue, keeping the canal dry and clean (never insert a swab vertically into the canal), then spray mite medication moderately, twice daily.