The cat is a very active pet. He loves to climb trees, jump, climb into hard-to-reach places, and even sometimes fight. But such pranks do not always end well; the cat quite often inflicts various injuries on itself.
One of the most common problems with our furry friends is a disease of their ears. How to determine the location of the injury or understand the cause of concern for your cat? First you need to observe the symptoms.
Symptoms
If your cat's ears are swollen, the following symptoms may appear:
- fever;
- smell from the ear;
- redness or swelling of the skin;
- the cat walks with its head tilted, shakes or holds it, scratches its ears with its paws.
There may be several reasons why a cat’s ear is swollen. Consider the main ones.
Ticks (otodectosis)
This is one of the common feline diseases. In 80% of cases, it is he who is diagnosed. The disease is caused by a tick called Otodectes cynotis, which parasitizes on your pet's skin in the upper layers of the epidermis.
The appearance of ticks is possible when healthy people come into contact with a sick animal, and can also enter the body with the help of fleas or flies. Many may ask: “Why does my furry ticks, because we are constantly at home?”. The answer is simple: a person himself could infect, for example, on shoes or clothes, although for us this parasite is not dangerous!
Mostly kittens up to a year old or adults with a weakened immune system get sick. Moreover, the disease mainly begins in the summer, because ticks love heat.
Treatment
If a cat’s ear is swollen due to ticks, what should I do?
To defeat the disease, the following stages of treatment must be observed:
- Treat the ear canal with an antiseptic. Remove all crusts, scabs from the damaged area, treat from pus. As an antiseptic, you can use hydrogen peroxide. When cleaning the ear canal, use cotton buds.
- The use of anti-tick drugs. After treating the animal’s ears, massage them thoroughly.
- If the disease is running, you may need acaricidal injections.
- If your pet is very worried about itching and irritation, then you can use the antibacterial agent "Otonazole".
- For effective treatment of an ear tick, care must be taken to strengthen the pet's immunity. This can be done by adding healthy minerals and vitamins to the diet.
Otitis (middle ear disease)
If the cat’s ear is swollen, the cause may be otitis media. It is most often caused by parasitic diseases, allergic manifestations (pollen, dry food, dust), bacterial, viral, fungal infections, injuries. In addition, it may be poor hygiene of the ear canal.
The factors that provoke otitis media are hypothermia, reduced immunity, moisture in the ears, genetics (a predisposition in the British and Scottish fold).
Main symptoms
If the cat has a swollen ear inside or outside, the symptoms are:
- animal anxiety;
- redness and irritation of the skin of the ear;
- pain effect;
- purulent discharge;
- decrease in animal activity;
- lack of appetite.
Specialists classify inflammation in three types: outer, inner and middle ear. If the cat has a swollen ear outside (with otitis externa), the affected tissue is on the surface and does not affect the eardrum. With such otitis media it is quite easy to cope.
Otitis media is the most common and most often becomes chronic. With this type of disease, inflammation extends to the eardrum. The most dangerous is inflammation of the inner ear. It affects not only the eardrum, but also the vestibular apparatus. Inflammation is accompanied by purulent discharge, which can pass to the brain, in addition, it is this type of disease that can lead to deafness of the animal.
Symptoms of otitis media include:
- the animal tilts its head;
- warped muzzle;
- a problem with swallowing (due to a violation of the facial nerve);
- trembling of the eyeball (the disease spread to the brain).
Disease treatment
If your cat’s ears are swollen, what should I do? If your pet finds the symptoms mentioned above, it is urgent to contact the veterinary service, where you will be prescribed qualified treatment.
Treatment begins with cleaning the ear canal from scabs, dirt, pus using antiseptic drugs. If the inflammation is purulent, a deep surgical cleaning option is possible. After cleaning, the ear is treated with special medicines. But remember: you cannot choose a drug on your own! You can harm the animal. Your task as a host throughout the treatment is to provide your pet with a warm room, without drafts and dampness.
As a prophylaxis of otitis media, it is recommended to prevent overcooling of the animal, not to wet your ears when bathing, and to observe hygiene of the ear passages.
Hematomas
There may be another reason why the cat’s ear is swollen - hematoma. It resembles a swelling that is triggered by hemorrhage in the area between the cartilage and the skin of the ear.
The formation of a hematoma can serve as mechanical damage, since the ear of the skin has a very thin structure, which is equipped with many capillaries. If the vessel is damaged, blood accumulates between the tissues, after which it acquires a bluish tint. Such injuries are most often caused to cats that freely have access to the street. Your active pet can be injured anywhere from falling from a tree to a brawl with a yard dog. Sometimes the cat itself causes damage to the vessels, when scratching the ear.
Hematoma Symptoms
- a change in the external shape of the ear (swelling, sagging);
- increased temperature of the ear cartilage;
- pain effect;
- animal nervousness;
- mild swelling in the affected area.
Hematoma treatment
If the cat has a swollen ear, how can I treat it? At the initial stage of hematoma, it is possible to apply cold. Frozen foods from their freezer are ideal for cooling. You can cool the eye for no more than 15 minutes. If the wound is open, do not forget to disinfect it. In case of a bleeding wound, a dressing must be applied. And the specialist of the veterinary service will take care of further treatment and diagnosis.
If the cat has a large hematoma and you are afraid to bring an infection into the wound, then in this case the surgical method is used. The doctor makes an incision in the hematoma area, after which the wound is cleaned of darkened blood, at the end of the operation, a suture and a bandage are applied. After such an operation, you should make sure that the cat or cat is not able to comb your ear. To do this, you can use a special collar.
To prevent hemorrhage, follow these rules:
- try to be near the animal while walking;
- identify and treat ear diseases in a timely manner;
- timely rid the animal of parasites.
Abscess
With tissue damage, a purulent-inflammatory process called an abscess can begin.
An abscess in an animal can occur as a result of an injury, damage to the skin with infection there.
One of the factors provoking a purulent abscess is reduced immunity in the animal, age and associated diseases. The consequences of an abscess can be serious, purulent mass can penetrate deeply lying tissues and cause serious harm to the body.
Symptoms of an abscess include:
- decreased appetite, lethargy of the animal;
- the cat constantly drinks water;
- the abscess area has swelling, redness, fever.
Abscess treatment
In order not to harm your pet, going to the doctor is the best help, but if you need to do it urgently, and the cat has normal temperature and small damage, then try to help your cat yourself. What do we have to do:
- Shave a place in the abscess area.
- Wash and sanitize hands.
- Squeeze pus with sterile wipes.
- Clean the affected area from pus using a sterile cotton swab.
- Treat the wound with hydrogen peroxide.
- To fill up a wound with streptocide.
Neoplasm
It includes sarcomas, papillomas and fibromas. Their symptoms are not always clear. Most neoplasms are only visible with large sizes. The main danger of a tumor is that with its growth, a serious threat to hearing acuity may occur. Treatment is carried out only in a clinical setting, often surgical intervention is necessary.
Summarize
Do not self-medicate! With the urge to help your pet, you can cause irreparable harm. Veterinary specialists will correctly diagnose the problem and prescribe professional treatment. Take care of animals!