Following are selected posts to the Holisticat (TM) Mailing List on the subject of ear mites. There's a lot of information here, and the posts are arranged in ascending chronological order. If there is a particular word you're looking for, it's probably best to utilize the "Find in Page" function in your edit menu!

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Re: Ear mites From: Kathy B. Date:  9/20/98

Hi all

Aurora, the only other thing I could come up with for ear mites is to add garlic to the oil and vitE mix. The oil will smother the mites.

 You want to warm the mix in a dropper bottle in warm water till it's body temp. Squirt a little in her ears and don't let her shake it out right away. (Less is more, just a few drops will do.) Then massage the area for a minute or so (it'll probably be less if her ears are bugging her, she may not let you). Then let her shake away, if she's so inclined, and wipe away the excess, gently and only on the outer part. Use a cotton ball or tissue, not Qtips. You can continue this every 2nd day for a week or so and see how she's doing after that, re-evaluate. Oh, and if the discharge in her ears looks like gritty stuff, that's ear mites. Good luck and take care

Kathy and the cats

<< I think  Lady has ear mites, she was itching like crazy yesterday.  Does anyone know of any natural remedies for ear mites? >>

There are two that I think are good.

First, yellow dock make into tea can be put into the ear.  The books say one dose will kill, but I believe in overkill with this, so would use it for about 5 days.

The other is colloidal silver.  Just put a few drops into the ear.  Again, I would repeat for several days.

Elaine Crews, N.D.

Hi everyone

I use a treatment for mites that I get from my holistic vet called McKillips Solution.  It is the absolute best thing I have ever used.  It
reduces inflammation, works by drying out mites, yeast, fungus, and bacteria.  It doesn't stain fabric and best of all it's extremely gentle
and doesn't burn or hurt their ears.  It's kind of pricey I thought - in the $16-$18 range but I use it for all my animals.

Candy

Hi Heather, and everyone!

I found the article on ear mites in Whole Cat Journal - and it's really interesting.

Dr. Robert A Lopez, DVM, past president of the New York State Vet. Assooc. and an SPCA consultant infected himself w/ ear mites to see if they would survive in a human ear.  He says that immediately he heard scratching sounds, itiching sensations then started, and all three sensations merged into a "weird cacophony of sound and pain that intensified from that moment on".  He says the activity continued for the next 5 hours and then leveled off.  When he went to bed the activity increased and he said sleep was impossible.  The activity again leveled off andd then started over at about 7am.  Evidently, nighttime is when they really like to feed.  He said at night he could feel them crawling across his face, and by the second week his ear was filled with debris, and he couldn't hear out of his left ear.
After a month his ear was completely full of debris and he could hear nothing at all.  He then flushed out his ear using only warm water and mopping up w/ cotton swabs.  Within a week his ear was free of all debris and a month later his hearing had returned to normal.  He repeated this experiment two more times with similar results.  During the experiments he said he developed an inner ear infection and that during the night when they really came alive it was like having a megaphone over your head.   They can cause infection, damage and deafness.  He said if your cat has black goo in it's ear, that they've definately got it, and that they get it by contact
with other animals.

He said the first step in treatment is to flea treat the entire cat as this will discourage the mites from escaping to the cat's coat.  Following that a gentle ear cleaning is the first step to making the cat mite free.  he recommends a cleaning of the ears followed up by a treatment of mineral oil. (I would use some other kind of oil, maybe the oil from a Vit. E. cap).  He says to "clean out the ear w/ soap and water on a cotton swab thoroughly and frequently, several times a week.  After that apply a drop or two of min. oil to a clean cotton swab and clean every few days.  Don't push down and don't go too far down.  There are scabs and blood clots down there, so be
very very cautious."

Elaine Crews, N.D. suggests that in addition to cleaning the ears you can use homeopathic remedies to treat the infesation.  She recommends Sepia 30C for cats with dirty and itchy ears.  (Does anyone think this is too high a potency to fool around with?  I'm not at all expert homeopathics, I'm just repeating the article.)   As an herbal, she also recommends yellow dock to combat ear mites.  To prepare the yellow dock she said you should "make a cup of tea with one capsule of yellow dock.  Stir and let steep until it has reached a tolerable temp.  Strain through a coffe filter to remove all the bits and pieces of herbs.  Using a dropper put about .5cc into the ear
canal.  Gently massage the area before you let go.  Then take a cotton swab and clean out the debris."  She prefers to repeat the procedure daily for five days.  She also recommends colloidal silver.  Using a dropper, squirt .5cc into the ear canal and massage.  If your animal is prone to infections (as you said your d*g was), "combine white vinegar with water in a one-ounce bottle.  Use three drops of vinegar in purified water.  Warm to body temp. before using.  Put six drops in each ear twice daily.  This can also be used
after other ear treatments to maintain the proper acid balance.  If the ear is irritated, the cat may object.  Another alternative is saline wash. Vitamin E and Aloe Vera are good for healing the injured tissue."

There are some other things you can do according to this article, so if none of these work, let me know and I'll be glad to tell you what else the article suggests.

Blessings,
Debbie and family

<<  what should I use to kill earmites in cats?  >>

You can make tea from yellow dock.  Using an eyedropper, put a bit into each ear and mush around.  Clean debris with a Q-tip.  Use daily for about 7 days. Or colloidal silver.  Directly into the ear.  Daily for 7 days.

Elaine Crews, N.D.

On Thu, 10 Jun 1999 KECrews@ wrote:
<< You can make tea from yellow dock.  Using an eyedropper, put a bit into each  ear and mush around.  Clean debris with a Q-tip.  Use daily for about 7 days.  Or colloidal silver.  Directly into the ear.  Daily for 7 days.>>

Hi Elaine and everyone,

Can anyone confirm this - I was under the impression that one should never use Q-tips in a cat's ear, just cotton or gauze.

The yellow dock tea works really well.  I know a human who can attest to it's efficacy.

Sandy, owned and operated by the mountain cats

Nope swabs are okay.  Being the youngest staff member  I get a lot of the fun jobs like cleaning out ears.   I was instructed to use the gauze and the swabs.  Just don't stick the swabs too far down or you can injure the ear. Mostly we use the swabs to get into the corners and crevices where the gauze wouldn't do as good a job or if we are getting a sample to test.  If your cat is really wiggly get a helper and go slow though.

Tea

We have a cali that has had allot of trouble with ear mites. Recently we tried hydrogen peroxide and that seems to work pretty well. No ill effects, except to the mites!

If they start comeing back we might try some of the things we've seen here - We appreciate this list, and all the good ideas we see.

Anyone else H.P.?
<SNIP>

Hi Jim,
I am presently using hydrogen peroxide to treat what the vet says is probably precancerous skin condition on my cat, Ali's pink nose.    I have rotated from Colloidial Silver(CS), to Grapefruit Seed Extract(GSE) to Hydrogen Peroxide(H2O2).   All have had a remarkable impact,  going from two substantial scabs to discolored skin (freckles), to a clear nose, but with the CS and GSE they came back right away.

They are just to the point where they are two freckles with the H2O2.  It will probaby take another week to get them to go away, then I'll have to see if I can keep the nose clean.

At this point I would say the Hydrogen Peroxide, followed by the GSE, then the Colloidial Silver did the most effective job.   However, with the GSE and H2O2, it is easy to adjust/increase the concentration, while the CS is a constant 10ppm.  Also, the concentrations I use are conservative, as need to be when experimenting with these things.

I use all these products on myself as well, with good results, internally and externally. ( For those who may not know, only FOOD GRADE HYDROGEN PERXOIDE should be take internally).  The 3% from the drug store containes chemical stabilizers, and should not be taken internally.

Diana

Hi all

<<I am looking for a natural, homemade recipe for treating ear mites.>>

Chris, this recipe comes from Richard Allport's book "Heal Your Cat the Natural Way." 3 tsp olive oil with 500 IU vitamin E will work to kill mites. CJ Puotinen also suggests that garlic and mullein may be useful additions to this oil. (I would think the garlic would have to be close to liquid, though, before you'd want to put it in a pet's ears.)

Puotinen also gives good directions for administering the oil: Put the oil in a small dropper bottle and heat it to body temperature by putting the bottle in warm water. Gently put the drops in your pet's ear and hold the ear flap down so she can't shake it out. Massage the area around the ear canal while holding the ear straight up for 30 seconds or so. Let go and let the pet shake her ears, and then wipe around the area with a cotton ball. When cleaning up after, don't go any deeper into the ear than the outside flap.
Does this help?

Take care
Kathy and the cats

<<CJ Puotinen also suggests that garlic and mullein may be useful additions to this oil. (I would think the garlic would have to be close to liquid, though, before you'd want to put it in a pet's ears.)>>

Since I enjoy dabbling around with herbs, I have an herbal recipe for an ear oil that uses garlic and mullein - it takes some time, but I have found  it to be helpful in situations where there is some irritation in the ear. I have not had an animal with ear mites for a number of years, so don't know if it would work for that.  Since garlic oil can go rancid in a short time I infuse the garlic first overnight in some apple cider vinegar, then it's strained along with the oil made from the mullein.

Leah

In a message dated 7/14/99 10:58:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time, CEANORTH@writes:

<< I am looking for a natural, homemade recipe for treating ear mites. >>

Instead of a "recipe", why don't you just use colloidal silver?  It's  excellent.  Or yellow dock in tea form.

Elaine

In a message dated 7/20/99 1:10:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time, PippiJr@ writes:

<<  Collodial silver right into the ear?  Undiluted? >>

Yes, I have done it several times.  I use 5-10 ppm potency.  Right in the  ears, right in the eyes, right in the nostrils, right into the mouth.  Never  have had a problem.

Elaine

In a message dated 7/16/99 8:06:01 AM Pacific Daylight Time, kashmir@ writes:

<< Chris, this recipe comes from Richard Allport's book "Heal Your Cat the  Natural Way." 3 tsp olive oil with 500 IU vitamin E will work to kill mites.  CJ Puotinen also suggests that garlic and mullein may be useful additions to  this oil.  >>

Hi Kathy,

It looks like the recipe is working! Thank you and sorry it took me so long  to thank you!

Chris