Caring For Your Cat's Ears- Do You Know What To Do? By Jean Morgan At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

When you are a loving cat owner, you know that your cat is solely dependent upon you for her care. Part of caring for your cat and ensuring she stays in good health is caring for her ears. It is something that neither you nor your cat will likely enjoy at first, especially if she is not accustomed to you doing it, but after a while, you will both get used to the routine.

In general, you will need to take your cat to the veterinarian at least once a year for a regular checkup, and in between if she gets sick or injured. To prevent illness and disease, you should make certain that you look at your cats ears every so often, and if you notice anything unusual, call the veterinarian right away for an appointment. If you catch a potential feline ear problem early on, and seek treatment, you can usually cure it with medication before it turns into a major issue for your cat.

You should clean your cats ears at least once a week, again no fun for you or the cat, but it must be done to prevent infection. You can visit your local pet supply store to purchase a commercial feline ear cleaning product, or ask your veterinarian for his suggestion. When you are grooming your cat, squirt some of the ear cleaner into your cat’s ear canal, and then gently rub the base of the outside of her ear with your fingers, which will help loosen up wax and dirt that may be lurking in there. Use a cotton ball to then gently wipe out your cat’s ear, and continue the process until you don’t see anymore dirt in your cat’s ear. In cats who are prone to ear problems, or who have been neglected, you may have to do this as often as two times a day, at least for a couple of weeks.

Just like with cleaning your own ears, you can use Q-tips or swabs on the outside of her ear, but never actually try to place one inside the ear canal, as this may only worsen the problem, or actually damage her hearing.

If your cat really resists the entire ear cleaning process, it may be painful for her, so you should schedule an appointment with the veterinarian, just to make sure everything is okay. If she gets a clean bill of health, then you know it is just her being temperamental, and that what you are doing to clean her ears is not actually causing her physical pain, she just doesn’t like it all that much.

When performing this weekly feline grooming session, you should also be looking for any signs of potential ear problems, such as swelling, foul odor, or just anything unusual, as it could be a warning sign of a potential problem that should be treated promptly. If you cat does come down with an ear infection, you should make certain that you clean her ears before every application of medicine, to make certain there is no dirt or wax build up blocking the ear canal, which might prevent the medicine from getting inside the ear. Cats get ear infections, ear mites, and many other ear problems, all which you can help prevent with proper cat ear care.

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