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Common ear diseases
Inflammation of the
external ear
Inflammation of the middle ear
Inflammation of the inner ear
Injuries
Mites
Hematoma
Sunburn
Dermatitis
Congenital deafness
Note on Literature:
Mostly the access to the referenced Journals is not for free, one has
to pay for the article.
Where a free access to the full text is available, the link is
provided.
You may find all those Journals and articles, at least an abstract at:
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NCBI, PubMed |
Enter the name of the
disease as keyword in the search-menu. |
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| Anatomie von Hund und
Katze (German, Anatomy of dogs and cats) |
Frewein, J.,
Vollmerhaus, B. |
1994,
Blackwell, Berlin |
|
Ear Disorders of Cats |
Michael Richards, DVM |
08/01/2005 |
Inflammation of the
external ear (Otitis extena)
Is an inflammation of the external ear canal.
Symptoms:
The cat scratches and rubs her ears quite frequently.
It shakes its head often.
One may see or smell an abnormal ear wax production.
The cat has pains, if you clean her ears.
Causes:
There are several causes for the inflammation:
 | Abnormal conformation or anatomy of the ears |
| Water, debris or hairs in the ear |
| Allergies, like food allergy or contact allergy |
| Trauma |
| Tumor, like squamous cell carcinoma (a malign carcinoma of the
skin or the mucous membrane), adenomas of the sebaceous glands,
adenocarcinoma (carcinoma of the glands) |
| Foreign bodies in the ear |
| Parasites, like mites |
| Autoimmune disease, like lupus, erythematosis or pemphigus |
| Dermatitis |
| Polyps |
| Seborrhea |
Treatment:
Depending on the cause treatment is made with antibiotics,
antifungal drugs, anti-allergic drugs, glycocorticoids (steroids) to
relieve pain and against further infections.
It is important to clean the ear, before the medicine is administered,
cleaning is done with a special liquid prescribed by the veterinary.
ATTENTION: Do not use any Q-tips! These might push the infection and
the ear wax deeper into the ear canal.
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Inflammation of the
middle ear (Otitis media)
Symptoms:
| Frequently scratching and rubbing the ear |
| Overproduction of ear wax |
| Frequently shaking the head |
| Head tilt |
| Pains when touching the head |
| Pains when opening the mouth |
| Hearing loss |
| Less or no appetite, vomiting |
| Nystagism |
Complications may be sinusitis, but also meningitis, also yeasts
may be a cause. Also tumors, polyps, parasites, trauma can be a
possible cause.
If the inflammation of the middle ear is not treated, the ear drum may
be disrupted.
Causes:
Inflammation of the middle ear may be caused by viruses, but very
often by bacteria (streptococces, staphylococces) entered through the
nose or the mouth (for example rhinotracheitis).
Also an inflammation of the external ear, which is not treated
properly, may lead to an inflammation of the middle ear.
Depending how severe the disease is, the ear is flushed with a warm
salty solution, puncture of the ear drum will be necessary to reduce
pressure and pain, and a drainage is made. The cat gets antibiotics
for 3-6 weeks.
If the inflammation is persistent, a surgery might be necessary.
Literature:
| Zur topographischen
Anatomie des Gleichgewichts- und Gehörorgans der Hauskatze
(German, Topographic anatomy of the equilibrium and sense of
hearing in domestic cats) |
Hartmann, F. D. |
1992, Dissertation,
University for Veterinary Medicine, Munich |
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Inflammation of the
inner ear (Otitis interna)
Symptoms:
Affected are the sense of equilibrium as well as the sense of
hearing. The head of the cats is tilted (towards the non-affected
side!), mostly they cannot walk upright, also very often connected
with nystagmus (involuntary movement of eyes).
The disruption of the equilibrium is generally called labyrinthitis.
Causes:
The inflammation is mostly called by bacteria, if the inflammation
of the middle ear had not been treated.
Attention: The inflammation may also affect the brain!
Causes may be the same as for the inflammation of the middle ear.
Treatment:
The same as for the inflammation of the middle ear.
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Injuries
Injuries can be caused by bites, scratches, chemicals, and many
more.
Symptoms:
Check the ears periodically, injuries can be detected very easily.
Wounds caused by bites or scratches may become inflamed severely and
fast.
In cats the frequency of inflammations due to injuries is
significantly higher than in dogs.
Treatment:
The wounds are cleaned with iodine or chlorhexidine.
As wounds caused by bites or scratches are very painful, be careful
when cleaning, the cat will probably try to bite you. To prevent
inflammations a broad-band antibiotic will be suitable.
As many wounds caused by bites are infected with Pasteurella multocida,
mostly amoxicillin is used..
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Mites (Otodectes cynotis)
Symptoms:
The cat scratches intensely and frequently, shakes the head, or the
ears are almost 'black' and have a strange odor.
ATTENTION: Mites are very contagious!
The mites are mostly located in the external ear canal, but they may
extend outside the ears down to the back. Mites can cause severe
inflammations.
It is absolutely necessary that the ears are inspected with an
otoscope to exclude yeasts. The mites can easily be seen, due to the
light they move out from the ear wax and move around in the ear.
Treatment:
The veterinary will prescribe a liquid antibiotic, which is given
into the ear, for example Surolan.
ATTENTION: Do not use Q-tips, these may lead to an ear inflammation!
If the skin is also infested by the mites, often an ointment against
fleas may help.
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Aural hematoma
A hematoma is a swelling inside the pinna filled with blood.
A hematoma, which is not treated, may become hard and cause a so
called "cauliflower ear".
Symptoms:
| Head shaking |
| Swelling of the pinna |
Causes:
The reasons are not yet well understood. These might be mites or
bacterial infections, which cause scratching of the ear.
Treatment:
A puncture with a needle is not very successful, because the
hematoma often reoccurs.
Mostly a surgical resection is the best solution. The wound is not
closed, eventually a drainage is made. The cat will have to wear an
Elizabethan collar to prevent from scratching the ear.
Also antibiotics will be administered as prophylaxis against
inflammations.
ATTENTION: Do not clean the ear with Q-tips!
Literature:
|
Aural Hematoma |
American College of
Veterinary Surgeons
Abimbola O. Oshin, DVM, William Daly, DVM |
8/13/2004 |
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Sunburn (Solar dermatitis)
Symptoms:
At the edge of the ear scales are accumulated and the edge reddens,
the hair is lost, and as the disease progresses the ear will swell and
crusts will appear. The cat scratches often its ears.
Attention: Solar dermatitis may also mutate to malign tumors (squamous
cell carcinoma).
Causes:
Cats with white ears are sensitive to sun-light, the pinna may be
sunburn and the edges may become inflamed.
White cats with blue eyes are most sensitive to UV-rays.
Treatment:
Prevention is better than any treatment, do not expose the cat to
the higher dosage of UV-rays during lunch time (11:00 - 15:00). You
may also try a solar-cream.
Affected breeds:
All cats with white ears of all breeds, white cats, cats with a
Van-pattern, bi-coloured cats with white ears.
Literature:
|
Katzenohren und ihre Krankheiten (German, Cat ears and
diseases) |
Schweizerische
Vereinigung für Kleintiermedizin (Board of Swiss Veterinaries for
Small Animals)
Dr. med.vet. Andreas H. Hasler |
Katzen Magazin 5/2001 |
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Ear dermatitis
Symptoms:
| Head shaking |
| Scratching and rubbing the ears |
| Pains around the ears |
| Hair loss on the pinna |
| Bad odor from the ear |
| Bleeding |
Causes:
| Bacteria |
| Parasites |
| Mange |
| Lichen |
| Allergy, food allergy, contact allergy, reaction on specific
drugs |
| Pemphigus |
| Trauma, can be a secondary disease due to a foreign body in the
ear, a tumor, etc., injuries caused by chemicals (for example
cleaning material) |
| Crushing disease |
| Cancer |
| Solar dermatitis |
| Seborrhea |
There may be many causes, therefore the veterinary will take a skin
graft and set on a culture, eventually he will also make a blood and
urine test. But, quite often blood and urine may be within the limits.
Treatment:
Depending on the cause treatment might be quite different:
| Antibiotics, antifungal drugs |
| Inflammation suppressing medicines |
| Antihistamines |
| Hormone substitution therapy |
| Medicine against parasites |
| Change of food, a special diet |
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Congenital
deafness
Symptoms:
Deafness in white cats is likely to appear in connection with blue
eyes. But also odd-eyed cats may be deaf, they are deaf on that ear,
where the blue eye is located.
Cats may have defective hearing or may be deaf at all, deafness can
also occur only in one ear.
The researches of G. Strain with 256 cats have proved, that 12% of
white cats were unilateral deaf, and 38% of white cats were bilateral
deaf, which gives a total of 50%: in white cats without blues eyes
deafness occurred in 17% of the cats, in cats with one blue eye
deafness occurred in 40% of the cats, and in cats with two blue eyes
deafness occurred in 85% of the cats.
Causes:
Organ of
Corti (Inner ear, in the Cochlea)
At the outer edge of the Cochlea ganglions (Scala media) there is
the so called Stria vascularis, which produces the endolymph
containing K+-ions. Those ions are necessary that the hair cells in
the Organ of Corti can function properly and can transmit the sound.
In congenital inherited deafness the Stria is degenerated, which
causes the degeneration of the hair cells, and thus the loss of
hearing ability. Researches of the stria vascularis have shown, that
the melanocytes (pigment cells) are missing and that the development
of the melanocytes in white cats is suppressed shortly after birth.
The ability to hear develops up to the 3rd week, and already starting
with 3-4 weeks after birth a rapid loss of the hair cells begins which
leads to deafness.
Treatment:
None.
Deafness is tested with the BAER-test (brain stem auditory
evoked response).
Affected breeds:
All white cats of all breeds, mainly those with blue eyes or odd
eyes.
Literature:
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© katzenzeitung 6/2007 |
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