Itchy Ears, Kitty Going Crazy--Need Advice Please

Poor Weeble can't catch a break.

Sept. 6th was the first time the ear business showed up. She had always been a little itchy around the ears and chin, but as I rubbed her left ear to heat it for a BG test, she took off running and spent the next 6 hours with her ear folded over, twitching and scratching. She went to the vet the next day they didn't see anything and said it was likely allergies. She returned to her normal level of scratchiness, with periods of more flicking and scratching, but not as intense as that one day.

Monday it came back, so I put Enzyme drops in I'd been given by the vet and three hours later she was going crazy again. She went back to the vet yesterday who looked more thoroughly and washed out her ears (she was obviously flicking and shaking the rest of the day from this). They saw nothing and said the right ear was dirtier. We also noticed her chin was a bit swollen from the scratching. So today, her right ear has been driving her crazy all day. I did find some flea dust near the base of her tail, then noticed that I had found a flea on the dog two days before the first episode. So, I gave her some Advantage tonight. However, the itch doesn't seem to be on the surface of her ears, but inside the ear canal. Obviously, the operative word in seems, but the way she flicks and tilts her head and folds her ear really makes it seem that way.

I am loathe to give her antihistamines because she's a twitchy sort--possibly due to some brain stem issues and pre-seizure symptoms. But she's so miserable that I'm seriously considering anything that would bring her some relief. Any other thoughts or ideas?

 

I feel for her. Pearl has allergies and her chin and ears just *continually* itch. We are trying the duck and pea diet to see if it will help. So far it hasn't really but they do say it can take 8 to 12 weeks. At least she likes it. Gets a bit bored with it but oh well. Unfortunately, there jsut doesn't seem to be much you can do except try to find the source. Maybe once the advantage works she'll feel better.

 

She'd actually been on that diet up until a week ago testing to see if food allergy was causing her IBD. It wasn't. I've considered it, but the ear thing showed up while she was still on it. I'd be up a creek if it was, because it was the only way I could get her off dry food (she's diabetic and in remission). There just weren't any other kinds of canned foods she would eat.

Have you tried antihistamines? I feel so terrible, I'm ready to go the store right now.

 

You seem pretty sure that it's allergies, so this probably doesn't apply, but... Early this year my Charlie was holding his eat folded, shaking his head, and pawing at his ear, and his ear was very dirty. (He was also suffering from vertigo, which it doesnt seem that you kitty has.) It turned out after many vet visits to be a yeast infection in his ear! We got some (free!) yeast drops from the vet and it cleared up within a few days.

 

I was going to ask if the Vet checked for a yeast infection, Onyx whohas food allergies started that ear itching and holding his head funny etc and after several trips to the vet they finally found the yeast infection, got it treated and with in days it healed. But I had to request that they check for the yeast infection, since normally all they look for is ear mites. But with him the inside of his ears were very red and even had a slight yeasty smell to them when you would clean them.

Mel

 

Oh, I'm not sure of anything. But the drops I gave her the other day that seemed to exacerbate the itch are for yeast infections--Zymox drops without the steroid. I guess it could be coincidence, but I think I need at least a day or two before I try that again. I'm already kind of feeling like I made it worse by getting her ears flushed out.

What you both describe does sounds awfully similar to the symptoms she's having--but her ears don't smell. How else can they diagnose something like that?

 

I'm honestly not sure how my vet arrived at that diagnosis, but it was the right one, apparently. Charlie was put on malotic drops and it cleared right up. I've read some stuff about those drops causing hearing loss (usually temporary, and more frequently in geriatric dogs (it's only technically approved for use in dogs, but I guess lots of vets also give it to cats)). Luckily we had no problems on it and it helped fast.

 

The Malotic Driops:
"By virtue of its three active ingredients, gentamicin-betamethasone-clotrimazole ointment has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fungal activity." The anti-inflammatory is a steroid (betamethasone) and can raid BG in a diabetic kitty. I uses a similar treatment for my Twigie and her BG almost reached 500.

 

My Trina has been using the antihistmine hydroxyzine for the past 3 months. She started scratching out of the blue & itched the hair off of the area between her ears & eyes & made it bleed & scab. I had to keep an ecollar on her for a few weeks to let the skin heal. I felt so bad for her. But so far the hydroxyzine has been working well. She has recently started itching a little bit near her ears & also licking her feet & nibbling them. I am hoping the itching doesn't progress! At first I thought she was having a reaction to her thyroid medicine Tapazole but now I'm leaning towards an allergy to pollen, dust or maybe food. My mom was just at the vet & her dogs are itching & the vet said that ragweed is out now & causing alot of pets to itch. Maybe an antihistamine would work for Weeble.

 

I didn't know steroids are bad for sugarcoats. Charlie used it quite a while before he became diabetic.

 

My cat ended up in the hospital after each steriod shot. Ok the first was yrs ago (DVM told me steriod shot had nothing to do with hospitalization), Now the second shot (different DVM) put him in the hospital. I later found out some steriods can induce diabetes and oral steriods are more controllable in regards to the dosage and effect on the body compared to the injectable. KHAN is has a food allergy. Now due to being diabetic I went to Fancy Feast Savory Salmon feast which is found on the under 10% carb- no gluten list (found here on this site). I dont' want to keep him on just seafood forever due to mercury level precaution but I want to simplify what the possible causes are. Humulin N once injected seems to make his ears really red and warm and he scratches and licks about 1 hr after the injection. Overall his hair on his ears is finally coming back and his belly hair is now fuzz when before he was completely bald and smooth as a baby butt! His neckhair is coming back after he scratched it bald. Thyroid was checked 5 times!. My other cat's ear were really really red- and were checked for yeast and mites.. I found out later red ears can be a sign of an infection - high fever.. it is confirmed she now has a rupture anal gland and is on antibiotics.

 

Do you all recommend any particular brand of antihistamine? I know the go-to is Benadryl, but for me at least, it makes me a little tired/jumpy but not with Claritin. Obviously I'm not my cat, but I'm assuming that loratadine (the active ingredient) seems to have less side-effects. The hydroxyzine even makes me a little nervous because of her pre-seizure symptoms.

 

Chlorpheniramine is another antihistamine. Dose is 2 mg bid.

 

Even one flea bite can set off an allergic reaction. It sounds like you treated the cat with Advantage, but be sure to treat the dog too with an appropriate product.

When Min (GA) would get into itchy fits, we used benadryl pills and also topical benadryl anti-itch cream for the scratched-up spots between his eyes & ears. The vet didn't think the cream would help, but it really did when used with the pills. After cleaning the area with a damp warm paper towel, then letting it dry a bit, I would rub the cream gently into the skin. Luckily that was where his fur was sparse anyway.

Danny has had a lot of ear issues. Definitely get your nose in there as long as possible after any med or earwash use, and try to see if there is any smell at all. It may just be faint. Also smell the q-tips. You can try ear washes like Malaseb to get gunk out, but you're better off with vet products than the so-called 'gentle' commercial products. The Dr Foster Smith ear wash/wipes made Danny's ear skin crack and bleed. Awful!! What finally worked for Danny, after years of trying various things and numerous cultures, was tri-otic. It does have a bit of steroid but that was needed to take down swelling; otherwise we were going to start thinking about ear canal surgery. Due to the steroid I was expecting a BG spike, like Danny experienced with Tresaderm (see chart for BG impact), but surprisingly the tri-otic didn't have any significant effect on the BG. Danny's ears have been wonderful lately.

good luck,
laur

 

Well, now she's overgrooming. It does seem to be an all-over thing now. I'm adding some Omega 3 to her food and will talk to the vet about Benadryl tomorrow, I guess. Would a reaction to fleas last this long? I guess I'm just really desperate for it not to be the food. It took so, so long to get off the dry (7 months) and part of that was finding a food she would eat and wouldn't upset the IBD.

I remember her overgrooming when she was on the duck diet, but her diabetes was in full-effect at that point. Sigh. I guess I can only try one thing at a time and hope I hit the magic formula sooner rather than later.

 

As Larry said, Chlortrimeton (Chlorpheniramine maleate) is another good option. I give it to Mr Tinkles BID for allergies...seems to have no side effects at all, and stopped his sneezing in 20 minutes. I buy the generic at Walmart, very inexpensive as well. I would check with the vet first though.

 

We used Chlorphen when Attie turned up allergic to metrodiaznole. It was a half of a 4mg tablet twice a day. I now keep it on hand. Attie was itchy miserable from it too. In case you don't realize it is available OTC.