Chiggers & cat ears?

 
  Our poor cat is suffering again with chiggers in his ears.  He hasn't raked open the areas in front of his ears yet, but he's close to doing it.  Wife is wiping his ears out daily now with warm water and tissues, trying to remove the crusty's left behind by the little bastards.  Problem is that the little bastards get down into the folds within the ears and are hard to get out without the hurting the cat.
  Have any  of you cat people had issues with chiggers? If so, what measures have you done, remedies have you used to get rid of them?
Our local vet seems pretty useless, says "Not much can be done till the first rains come"  First time last season we had them out and all he did was dig his finger in to remove the clumps he could reach, (Pooey wasn't too happy about that) 
  Wife got this stuff called Chigger X  on line last season, we applied it and pooey ended up cleaning the stuff off and got really sick from it, (No warning on the container) so, the stuff got tossed.
  Any suggestions, remedies?
Thanks

I've had similar problems with my cat. My vet made up a little cream in a squeeze bottle that cleared it up quickly...can't remember what the ingredients were. Just applied it to the affected area a couple of times.

I was in a feed store the other day and I saw some similar product. I think it was an oil. I'll try to get the info for you.

It should be an easy fix.

Try looking at your pet/feed store for an oil with Pyrethrin in it. There's something similar called Permethrin which my local store says is harmful. They also spoke of applying olive oil to the ears- to suffocate the chiggers.

Good luck to you!

According to eHow...

"Follow the treatment prescribed by the veterinarian. Treating chiggers in cats consists of either a two-part pyrethrin-based dip or the application of a topical antiparasite drug like Tresaderm."

Better information.....

From a Sacramento vet:
"I've never heard of chiggers in cats. He might mean ear mites.
We treat ear mites with ivermectin...same stuff that kills heartworm."

With regard to proper names....

I think that whether we're calling them chiggers vs mites, were talking about the same thing. Probably a scientific name vs a popular one. You may see little reddish brown specks, like paprika, in the ears, or patches of that color.

Good luck, and don't believe that there isn't any cure. There is.

look up Trombiculiasis

 

 Yeah same thing, chiggers/mites.  Apparently our cat has some allergic reactions to them, we've tried the Tresaderm, it didn't help. we've done the olive oil bit, just seemed to annoy him, she tried a cream from our local pet/feed store, but it seemed to sting when carefully applied around (Not on) his cuts.  Fortunately, he hasn't tore up his forehead yet, we're believing that our daily ear wipes are preventing that.
  Thanks for the suggestions so far!

As said above, ivermectin is a good ear mite treatment for cats. You should have a heart worm test done on the cat before using it and be very careful about dosing if you are using the stuff formulated for large animals as you could easily overdose.  Revolution (Novartis) is a anti flea treatment for small animals that also controls ear mites. It contains a drug similar to ivermectin and is applied topically and would need a heart worm test before use also.

good luck with the ear mites.


Chiggers, as a Missouri kid, chiggers are the bane of humanity and all other living things.  Chiggers are in my top 3 reasons for never moving back to Missouri or anywhere east of the rockies really...  I could tell you how much I despise chiggers but I might not know words strong enough...