Ear Mite Remedies

Hand Sanitizer

Posted by Cherri (NEWARK, NJ) on 04/13/2007
★★★★★

A lady here stated that she used hand sanitiser to get rid of ear mites in her cats' ears. She said it took "a few applications". My question is: how many applications did it take, and how long did you use this treatment? Any response would be greatly appreciated. Thanx!

Hand Sanitizer

Posted by Lisa (Winfield, PA) on 04/01/2007
★★★★★

hand sanitizer works great for ear mites in my cats it also kills them. just put a dab on your finger and rub it into the ear. only takes a few applications and they are gone

Hand Sanitizer

Posted by Marie (Sacramento, California) on 05/19/2007
★★★★★

My recently rescued male cat had ear mites so bad one ear canal was swollen nearly closed. He was delivered by a cat lover who's plate was full, but was kind enough to include an over the counter ear mite remedy. Wow that ear mite medicine made the gray skin inside his ears peel and and turn bright pink. Applying every other day was obviously going to cause sever damage in 3 weeks treatment. The long and short of this story is he arrived on Jan 4, 07 today in June 15, 07 and the problem is better but not cured. Olive oil, Vaseline, hand lotion any thing that wouldn't kill the cat and maybe smother the mites has been tried in addition to using a systemic flea/tick product. The current problem is the waxy discharge is sticky (it was bloody) and getting it out of his ears next to impossible. Thank you 4/1/2007: Lisa from Winfield, PA for suggesting Hand Sanitizer! The cat and I are very comfortable when I am treating his ears, the scratching stopped long ago, so there wasn't much danger of pouring Hand Sanitizer on an open wound. It cleaned him up better than any thing I have tried. I held him petting his favorite spots, for a few minutes until the Hand Sanitizer dried and I didn't have to worry about him getting it in his eyes or mouth. Great service you provide, bummer I didn't find you in Jan! I will send a progress report,

Garlic in Olive Oil

Posted by Lisa (Everett, WA) on 02/07/2007
★★★★★

We took in a kitten or rather young cat that was hanging out in our back yard. We bought a tag that said "Please call Lisa @ 555-5555 if this is your cat. She was really tame and we started letting her stay in our home longer and longer until she no longer sat by the back door wanting to get out. After two weeks we brought her to the vets for a check-up because there were other rather wild cats hanging around. We figured what they were hanging around for, but she really wasn't our cat, but then we said, to heck with it and took her in for shots and a check-up. The Vet reported that she was pregnant and had ear mites, but that he couldn't treat them without risking harm to the kittens. So we've spent the past month watching her struggle with ear mites. If only we looked at your natural remedies earlier we could have at least soother her discomfort with your recommended treatments. We will never neglect our pets again or wait for the local Vets to answer all of our concerns. Thank you so much

Garlic in Olive Oil

Posted by Theresa (Kailua, HI) on 02/20/2007
★★★★★

I loved reading everybodies remedies for ear mites in cats. We have been fighting ear mites in our kitten. The vet cleaned out the ears and said that Revolution would take care of it. It didn't. The next time the vet used a small amount of Frontline on a Q-tip to clean out the ears and reapplied Revolution. The ears still appear to have mites. They have the black crud build up. We are trying the olive oil and garlic, but different then one we read. In home remedies for humans too strong of garlic can cause blistering on the ear drum. Therefore with this in mind I warmed a couple of slivers of fresh garlic in olive oil then removed the garlic. Then using a q-tip dipped in the oil mixture I am cleaning out the ear. I understand this will not be aggressive enough should it be in the inner ear but am hopeful with the outer. I have also reapplied the revolution.

Garlic in Olive Oil

Posted by Meg (Coromandel, New Zealand) on 02/25/2007
★★★★★

hi. I tried garlic olive oil on my puppy as I used it on myself for ear infection and thought it was worth a try when I got a pup with bad earmites and it just made it worse so I took him to vet who told me never, ever to put anything into dogs ears as they have deep ear canels and it has no way to come out again and can cause major problems for dogs. he said all medical dog remedies are alcohol based so that they evaporate over time - anything else will cause problems for dogs so if you want to try something at home perhaps use a light alcohol base? I am currently attempting olive oil and garlic on my 3 cats who all have earmites, one of them has them really badly - I have also tried resolution out of desperation and it did seem to work for about a week, but they are back (if ever gone) and the cat that has the bad problem had a reaction to the resolution and is constantly itching all over now. I will get in some apple cider vin. to try for him.

Have little faith in vets and I try to find things that work and have some luck - manuka honey is really good as antibiotic internally and externally for animals and they like it. Chamomile teabag soak for any eye problems. These are 2 tried and trusted ones for me.

Pure Aloe Vera Gel

Posted by Deb (Des Moines, Iowa) on 04/04/2007
★★★★★

Years ago, my Grandmother spent a majority of her summer, running her dog to the Vet's because of ear mites. Then she decided to take the pet to another Vet. who was a Man who believed in "old time" remedies. His advice to her for the ear mites was pure aloa vera gel. Just break off a small end of one of the stems and using a Q-tip, swab the ear and within a few days, the mites were gone and most importantly, the Aloa is very gentle on the pet not to mention it cures without harmful chemicals.

Mineral Oil

Posted by Jennifer (Illinois) on 10/31/2005
★★★★★

i have been told by a vet in new jersey to use baby oil in my cats ears. it drowns the ear mites. i didn't have baby oil in my home so i used cooking oil. and it has worked.

Mineral Oil

Posted by Sharon (Vancouver, BC) on 09/17/2006
★★★★★

I have been using mineral oil for years.. unless you think there is an infection this works very well..if an infection is suspected you might need the vet for something to heal deep inside.. I like the idea of first cleaning it out with green tea, too bad I had not looked this up first before Itreated the cat.. I might try that tomorrow morning.. thanks for this site.

Mineral Oil

Posted by Candice (USA) on 03/14/2007
★★★★★

Hi! I just wanted to reply to my previous remedy for mineral oil. I treated our 9 cats with the oil and so far all is well! Try not to use too-too much...haha otherwise they get funky hair do's!!! haha otherwise it worked perfect thanks, and good luck!

Mineral Oil

Posted by Candice (Victorville, USA) on 02/17/2007
★★★★★

Hello. I just spent my saturday morning (today) at the vets office with one of my cats. She had been shaking her head lately for the past 2 weeks; and when I looked inside her ears (at first it was only in one ear), there was reside in them resembling small coffee grounds. Two nights ago she scratched her ear raw inside one of them. So I decided it was time to take her to the vet. He went ahead and started putting the MINERAL OIL in her ear and massaging it in (via the outside of the ear, so that she wouldn't shake it all out, right away), and then he used the long, medical Q-tips to remove some debris (the blackish gunk). I helped him hold her as he did this and he notified me that this should kill of of the living ear mites and to reapply in a couple of days, because of the eggs. So its gonna be a process but apparently mineral oil is what is used by professionals. I am going to try it but kind of weary of the q-tip! yikes...I am not going to try and go too deep in the ear since I am not a professional. I hope this helps someone! I will repost again to tell you if this worked! Thanks.

Mineral Oil

Posted by Lynn (Pottsville, PA USA) on 04/14/2007
★★★★★

BACK IN THE 1970'S I USED A VETERINARIAN WHO SPECIALIZED MAINLY IN CATS AND ALSO DID RESEARCH ON CATS AND THEIR DISEASES, ETC. I HAD 12 CATS AT THE TIME AND HE WAS A GREAT BELIEVER IN NATRUAL WHENEVER POSSIBLE. HE RECOMMENDED I USE MINERAL OIL IN EACH OF THE CATS EARS CLEANINING THEM DAILY. IT WORKED SPLENDIDLY. THIS VET LEFT HIS VETERINARIAN BUSINESS IN THE 80'S AND WENT INTO FULL TIME RESEARCH. WHAT I LEARNED FROM HIM HAS SAVED ME MUCH EXPENSE AND HAS BEEN INVALUANLE OVER THE YEARS.

Olive Oil, Vitamin E and Yellow Dock

Posted by Sandi (Victoria, Canada) on 04/05/2008

I have been using the natural olive oil and vitamin E treatment for my cats ear mites as suggested in several articles online. My question is, does the vitamine E oil damage my cat if ingested. He shakes it out and then it ends up all over his fur. I know it is not good for humans to take vitamin E pills if it is not needed because it builds up in the system. Thanks in advance for any answers!

Olive Oil, Vitamin E and Yellow Dock

Posted by Ala (tucson, arizona) on 06/04/2007
★★★★★

I first rid a cat of ear mites using a mixture of olive oil and vitamin e back in 2004, following the advice in the book natural remedies for cats. Yesterday I noticed my cat had signs of mites. I cleaned the ear of debris and massaged in olive oil. Today I bought vitamin e and the yellow dock and gave him a dose of olive oil and then the yellow dock (9 drops in 1 TBS of water). We'll see if this works, but I bet it will. I treated the nonaffected ear yesterday, but not today. My cat is a little wary of me messing with his ears, so I'm focusing my efforts on his bad ear at this point!

Advice

Posted by Charlotte (Stockbridge, GA) on 05/18/2007
★★★★★

I really appreciate all the information I've found here. Just a bit of advice for those of us helping our pets to get rid of earmites. It's important for anyone dealing with ear mites in their pets to know that the initial cleaning out (either with medicine or with natural remedys) only kills the living mites. The eggs will remain in the animal's ears. The life cycle of a mite is about 3 weeks. Unless you are using a medicine that kills the larve and eggs, it is best to continue treatment for an entire month to insure all mites are eliminated. Even if the animal stops showing symptoms, make sure to continue treatment for the entire month. Hope this helps.

Vitamin E, Hand Sanitizer

Posted by KashkaMama (Boston, MA) on 08/14/2007
★★★★★

Wanted to say thanks for all the great advice here - I noticed one of my guys shaking his head at the beginning of last week and thought he'd gotten into a fight with his brother. When he was still doing it the next day, I looked and there they were. Looks like they have not been 'moved in' for too long, thankfully. After reading the comments here I decided to try using a mixture of about 80% Vitamin E oil (cutting open the gelcaps and squeezing the oil out) mixed with 20% Purell with aloe. I used cotton balls to wipe his ears out and then a clean one to 'drizzle' the mixture further down the canal. He was not happy at first but was not in pain at all. Afterwards, he glared at me for an hour but then came over to knock his face into my hand. It's a few days later now and while they have not gone completely (because of the breeding cycle, of course) his ears are much cleaner and when he sees me starting to make his 'mix' up he comes over to me and waits. Wanted to also remind everyone that the eggs can live on the fur around their ears so you want to pay attention to keeping that whole area cleaned, too.