Animal Corner Has my kitten got ear mites?
Expert diagnosis is vital when your cat shows discomfort
QMy six-month-old male kitten keeps shaking his head and scratching his ears. There is a brown discharge from both sides. Could this be ear mites and how can I treat them myself?
AI don’t advise treating this problem yourself. There are other possible diagnoses for these symptoms, therefore accurate identification is necessary.
In kittens, ear mites are more likely as they are a particular problem in young animals. The signs in your kitten point to this and your vet should be able to quickly confirm or rule them out.
The other possible issues could be fungal or bacterial infections, and these are frequently secondary complications caused by mite infestation.
Mites can usually be seen with an auroscope, but if secondary complications have arisen a sample of the discharge might need to be taken for a microscope investigation for mites and their eggs.
The lifecycle is three weeks and adult mites can live for around two months. I have seen a few rare cases where they have caused a rash on the cat owner’s skin, but this is temporary as they cannot survive away from their normal host. Occasionally an allergy to the mite develops and the ears become red, inflamed and very sore.
Many licensed preparations exist for ear infections in cats. For a simple mite infestation, my approach is to use a spot-on treatment, licensed for ear mites and gently clean the ear. The lining of the ear is sensitive so take care to avoid causing unnecessary pain.
Q
AI am assuming this doesn’t particularly bother him, as there are no signs of inflammation, pain or nose irritation.
One possible diagnosis would be vitiligo, which occurs when antibodies attack the melanin pigmentproducing cells in the skin.
Vitiligo occurs in many breeds, including rottweilers, dobermans and German shepherds, but also crossbreed dogs. When it affects the nose there is simply a loss of pigment but the normal cobblestone appearance is not lost.
Often other parts of the body lose pigment at the same time, especially the lips, eyelids, nails and footpads. It is possible for hairs to lose pigment too, although this tends to be patchy.
There is no consistently effective treatment, but you could ask your vet at the next routine check-up, and perhaps enquire about sunblock.
There are a couple of similar de-pigmentation conditions that affect the nose only.
Dudley nose affects dogs early in life, with a complete and permanent loss of pigment. A very similar condition is snow nose, where the nose becomes de-pigmented in the winter months with the normal colour returning each summer. As with vitiligo, the normal contours of the nose in both conditions are unaffected.
More serious autoimmune diseases will obliterate the cobblestone appearance with severe inflammation, fissures in the skin and crusting, requiring a biopsy for diagnosis.