You notice some gunk in one or both of your cat’s ears and are tempted to clean out the dirt. Don’t, especially not if the debris keeps accumulating, your pet’s ears smell bad, she’s scratching or swatting at them, or she keeps shaking or tilting her head. It means her ears are not just dirty. Something’s wrong that requires a veterinarian’s attention.
You could also end up doing more harm than good. The tissue lining the ear canals is very delicate and easily damaged. Moreover, if you use a cotton swab, you could end up pushing the debris further in rather than removing it. Unlike our own ear anatomy, the feline ear canal makes a sharp, 90-degree turn as it goes down and in. Thus, the cotton will only end up pushing wax and other debris further inside and damaging the ear canal’s skin. It will also muffle sound by making the dirt impacted. It can even potentially puncture the eardrum.
Getting to the cause of the dirt
There are a number of reasons for a cat’s ears to keep looking dirty. The most common ones:
Ear mites. If your cat’s ears have a dry, crusty, black discharge — in some cases it looks like coffee grinds — she may very well have ear mites. They can drive a cat to distraction, causing her to scratch her ears to the point of causing small wounds that lead to secondary infections with infiltrating bacteria or yeast. She may keep shaking her head, too.
The vet will make a diagnosis by examining some of the “dirt” under a slide, then prescribe medication that is either given orally or applied between the shoulder blades. If you have more than one cat, she may very well end up having to prescribe the medicine for all of them. Ear mites jump from cat to cat all too easily.
Allergies. Allergies — to something in the environment, in rare cases to food — can also lead to crud in the ear, perhaps in the form of pus. The allergy has to be diagnosed so the offending substance can be removed from the cat’s environment (or diet).
Polyps and accompanying otitis media (middle ear infection). Infections can impart a foul odor to the ears and may be accompanied by a waxy buildup or other form of discharge. The solution comes not in continually cleaning the ears but in combating the infection with drugs such as topicals that have an antibiotic component.
When the gunk is not about an illness
One in a while a cat is prone to a buildup of debris in her ears that has nothing to do with being sick. If that’s the case, your veterinarian will let you know and will also advise you on 1) whether your cat’s ears need to be cleaned by you on a regular basis and 2) what “regular” means. In some cases it’s once a week; in others, once a month; in still others, it’s just once or twice until the dirt clears up.
What you won’t be advised to do by your vet is “drill” into your cat’s ear with cotton at the end of a stick. Instead, she’ll probably tell you to use a cleaning solution. Some of the brands recommended by Tufts veterinary dermatologist Ramon Almela, DVM, include Epi-otic, Otoclean, Malacetic Ear Cleaner, Oti-clens, Triz EDTA, Epiklean and Douxo micellar solution. (Cleaners with hydrogen peroxide or alcohol can cause undue irritation.)
The way to use the cleaning solution is as follows:
a) Gently pull back your cat’s ear flap.
b) Dribble a small amount of the solution into the ear canal opening. (That’s all it will take to fill the canal.)
c) Massage the base of your cat’s ear (on the outside) for 5 to 10 seconds. That will prompt your pet to shake out the solution. Wax and other debris will loosen in the process.
d) Wrap some gauze around your finger to clean out the excess solution and dirt. Stick to where your fingers can reach gently. This is not a scrubbing expedition, which can damage your cat’s ears.
e) If you don’t get out every last bit of wax or other gunk, it’s okay, and actually preferable to going at it compulsively. It’ll come out in the next cleaning.
