Natural Remedies For Ear Infections In Cats
By Darlene L. Norris
Your kitty has an amazing sense of hearing, which helps her to catch mice and other prey. In the wild, her survival and the survival of her kittens would be dependent on her incredible hearing ability.
Your cat has an L-shaped ear canal, which helps to protect her eardrum from damage. But this design can cause problems when moisture, earwax, insects, and other things get trapped in there. This can lead to your kitty developing an ear infection, especially when ear mites are involved.
If your furry friend is shaking her head or holding it to one side, or is scratching or rubbing her ears, she may have an infection in her ear. You may notice a discharge or a bad odor, too.
An ear infection is the reason for many vet visits, and the usual treatment is a course of antibiotics or antifungal drugs. Unfortunately, there's an increasing problem with bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics. Plus these drugs can affect your kitty's immune system, making her less able to resist infections in the future. The result can be repeated infections, which leads to more antibiotic treatment. It becomes a vicious cycle.
You can break this cycle by looking at your feline friend as a whole, instead of focusing on one problem. Her diet is the first thing you should consider. You may want to consider making her food yourself. But if you don't have the time, try to find a good commercial food that doesn't contain wheat, corn, or artificial colors or preservatives. Good nutrition is essential to your furry friend's health.
Natural remedies can also help. Strengthening your buddy's digestive system will help prevent food allergies, which can manifest as ear problems. Give her bromelain supplements to help her digestion.
Your kitty's adrenal glands produce a natural steroid that reduces inflammation due to infections. Giving her 250 milligrams a day of vitamin C will help her adrenal glands work better. Be aware that too much vitamin C can cause diarrhea, so cut back on the dose if this becomes a problem.
If her ears have brownish-pink wax in them, your buddy may have a yeast infection. You can treat this by cleaning her ears with plain old white vinegar. This treatment not only removes the crud from her ears, but it also restores the proper chemical balance in there.
Dilute the vinegar half and half with water. Pour a small amount in her ear and massage the area so it can run in. Wipe out her ears with a cotton ball. Repeat this once a day until she's better. Don't go poking around in her ear with a cotton swab, as you can do more harm than good.
Be sure your kitty doesn't have ear mites. These little bugs are the root cause of many ear infections in felines. To treat mites, put five or six drops of warm olive oil or almond oil into her ears, and massage them gently. Repeat this every day for at least two weeks. This will smother the mites and help heal the irritation they cause.
Pau d'arco tincture is a natural antibiotic that kills fungus and bacteria. Mix equal parts of olive oil and pau d'arco tincture to make an herbal oil treatment for infections in your kitty's ears. Put five drops of this mixture into her ears two or three times a day. Repeat this treatment for a week.
Homeopathic remedies strengthen your furball's immune system. The remedy used depends on your kitty's symptoms and how she behaves. If your kitty likes to be warm, Psorium is recommended. Sulphur is given to felines who prefer cool places. Rhux Tox is the best remedy for very itchy and sore ears, while Graphites is given to cats with a bad-smelling, thick, sticky discharge from their ears.
If you're unable to clear up your feline's ear problems on your own, take her to the vet, especially if she's tilting her head, walking in circles, or has drooping eyelids. These are symptoms of an inner ear problem, which does require veterinary care.
Darlene L. Norris has been owned by many cats over the years. Now I've combined my love of cats and my life-long interest in herbs at my new website, http://www.your-cat-care-guide.com Here you'll find lots of info to keep your cat healthy with herbal and homeopathic remedies.
Learn how to treat your kitty's ear mites and ear infections WITHOUT pesticides or antibiotics. Visit my page on Ear Mites and Ear Infections now to learn how to heal your kitty with natural remedies.
