Conference misery::feline_v1

    First of all, you should probably take your cat to the
    vet.  The fact that he is shaking his head and scratching
    them so much suggests that it might be mites or a bacterial
    or fungal infection (all treatable with eardrops or ointment,
    but some treatments take longer than others).
    
    As to cleaning the normal earwax/dirt, if that is necessary...
    as long as you are at the vet, ask him/her to demonstrate.
    
    I use Q-tips.  Just be careful to keep the Q-tip *vertical*.
    The bottom of the ear canal turn horizontally toward the 
    eardrum, and if you push in this direction you could cause
    pain and injury to the cat.  
    
    "Normal" ear cleaning shouldn't require frequent cleaning of
    lots of debris.  Koshka had a frequent accumulation of crud
    in her ears, but no apparent discomfort -- she seemed to take
    no notice of it.  But I finally decided to get it checked out,
    and, sure enough, she needed 10 days of drops in her ears.
    She didn't like it, but now she doesn't have to fight me over
    frequently ear cleaning, so she "won" in the end -- but why
    couldn't she understand that at the time???  ;-)
    
    Let us know if this gets better,
    
    	Penelope

    I agree with Penelope - I'd have his ears checked for
    mites or an infection of some sort.
    

    I agree, Mites are nasty I believe they can cause deafness, 
    loss of equilibrium and more.   Symptoms match, and 10 days 
    of drops are well worth it.   If you have more than one cat,
    you can prevent the spread of Mites by using drops of Mineral
    oil in the uninfected ears.  (Mites don't like oil baths.)
    
    Marilyn
    (recent Mite fighter)
    

    Yes, to the vet.  As for your cleaning her ears, should that become
    necessary, I've found that getting them used to being handled as
    part of petting sessions is a way to lead into things that would
    be otherwise considered indignities.  Sweetie lets me rub his gums
    with a cleaning gauze, because I worked up to that by stroking the
    sides of his mouth a lot and sort of eased into the cleaning business.
    I've actually heard of a cat who died from a neglected ear infection.
    

    Definitely take him to the Vet to determine what is causing the
    problem and the Vet will show you how to administer the medication
    and how to swab out the ears lightly with cotton balls or tissues.
    
    When I found my third "purree" in April last year, he had an ear mite
    infection which took awhile to clear up.  Then he subsequently came
    down with ear infections since then requiring medicated drops. 
    I was swabbing his ears out using Q-tips until the Vet told me Q-tips
    could be packing the wax-like dirt down into the ear canals causing
    more problems.  He also suggested in between times that I flush out
    the ear canals with warm, soapy water or Murine Ear Wax solution.
    The Vet said my cat is always going to be prone to having this ear
    condition and will need this care always; something to do with his
    skin or breeding.  
    
    Pat and "D.P. Gremlin"
    
    due to a skin problem.  He's such a good boy about the whole process
    of cleaning his ears though and never tries to fight me.  It probably
    gives him such relief not to feel the need to scratch at his ears, that
    it's worth putting up with those times.
    
    

    With an eye dropper, put a few drops of mineral oil in each ear
    for a few days.  Chances are he's got ear mites rather than dirt.
     If the mineral oil doesn't do the trick, get to a vet pronto.

    A few years ago, I had a cat that had a very stuborn case of ear
    mites.  It took quite a bit of time to find the best combination
    of medication/treatment interval.  All the while I worried because
    I knew that the mites are bad news to kitties.  Now that the worry
    is over, I relize that I have no idea what harm ear mites do to
    kitties.  My little one had no itching or anything like that - just
    the dark ear discharge.  Does anybody know what a neglected kitty
    would end up with if the ear mites go unchecked?
    
    Marion
    

    Re: .7
    
    Not to frighten everyone, but...a few years ago I was reading a
    book whose name escapes me -- it was the author's story of several
    of her cats.  She said that one morning she noticed that her cat
    Joey(?) was holding his head at an odd angle.  It turned out that
    he had some sort of ear infection that she had not noticed, because
    she didn't regularly check his ears.  It was too late for him. 
    Now, who knows what was actually wrong here -- some random infection?
    an abscess?  can ear mites cause this?  I have no idea, but I sure
    do check my cats' ears now.  I guess their being in the skull makes
    an infection serious.
    

    RE: .7
    
    My Nikolas was feral and had very bad ear mites. One of his ears
    developed a hemotoba. It is all scrunched over and wrinkled, and
    is not very soft or pliable.
    
    Deb

    Re: .9
    
    That's hematoma, I think.  My dictionary says "a swelling filled
    with extravasated blood." extravasate = Pathol. to force out from
    the proper vessels, as blood, esp. so as to diffuse through the
    surrounding tissues.
    

    OK, let's get really correct...it's a subdermal hematoma.  Regardless,
    it sounds ugly.  Now I know why I left the nursing business...BLECH!
    I'm glad I never had to worry about my boys' ears...it's the only
    part I haven't had to clean!!!  They seem to take care of each others
    quite nicely.  From some of the ear mite stories I've read here,
    I'm glad I just get to do dirty faces and dirty bottoms (after all,
    that's what I was trained to do best!).
    
    Mary

    .11  Wish I'd known that this mornining, Mary.  Had 'one' of those
    jobs you were trained to do best on D.P.  :-)
    

    	It was just dirty ears. The vet said to use the Murine ear drops.
    This cat was not very friendly to me until I started to clean his
    ears with the Q tips. Now he looks forward to it. When I pick him
    up and carry him to the bathroom where I keep the Q tips he just
    snuggles in my arm and starts to pur and has the most contentd look.
    He also comes to me more often.
    				Arnie