Ear issues

[Donna G.]

My cat, Nicky has been diabetic for about 5 years. He is currently doing well on Prozinc twice a day and has been on same dose past few years with good numbers and well controlled. About a year ago he somehow managed to get fleas, although he is an indoor cat and he also had ear mites. He does go out on our screened in porch in nice weather, but not out in the backyard. Could have caught them from there. We have no other pets. Went to vet and was given ointment for ears, Animax, which cleaned up the mites and they administered Revolution plus flea treatment, which I now must use monthly—he is flea and ear mite free. About five months ago his ear irritation came back, brown wax buildup, vet gave us drops to use tresaderm which cleared up the inflammation she saw after examination. After five days had to reduce the dose and stop the tresaderm drops due to it making his blood sugar rise. All was ok for awhile but last few weeks see brown ear wax building up again! Just came back from vet, she cleaned ears and said no inflammation or mites and recommended doing blood work for allergies. Said ok. Not sure what’s going on. My cat’s food is the same, fancy feast pate, Sheba or fancy feast half portions. Feed same flavors—chicken, turkey, salmon, whitefish flavors. Cat’s litter is the same, I use paper litter. We don’t have a lot of area rugs—I vacuum weekly the wood floors and the few small area rugs. Don’t use harsh chemicals when cleaning, I have allergies myself. I’m not sure why the ear wax buildup is starting again, thought to post here if anyone else has had their diabetic cats with ear issues. Could it be they are prone to them from simply being diabetic? This has only started since last year. Vet explained due to diabetes we can’t use steroids and other treatment due to blood sugar, which I understand. She asked if he’s scratching a lot, said no, but after a few days he may paw or shake head and so I look in ears and if I see wax buildup I gently clean with soft gauze. Vet said don’t do anything until blood results for allergies come in. They did prescribe a gentle at home ear cleanser, which I used about 2 weeks ago, but the cat wasn’t happy with it so I didn’t use again and figured better go back to vet. Any feedback appreciated. I feel like the vets office thinks I’m being a fanatic but my cat never had this much ear wax until the past year. Thanks—sorry for the long post.

 

[squeem3]

I don't think ear issues are more common in diabetics than non-diabetics. It wouldn't hurt to rule out a possible food sensitivity or allergy. You can do a food elimination trial at home for a couple of weeks. Cats can develop food issues as they get older. Chicken is known to be a very common protein cats can develop sensitivities / allergies to. Sometimes filler ingredients can be the culprit. Symptoms vary. On another cat board, there were cats who had food allergy symptoms that ran the gamut from itchy skin to tummy issues to litter box issues and everything in between. My cat has allergies to the most random fillers but his only symptom is fur loss He also has allergies to the common proteins and those give him an IBD flare up.

There are ear cleaning wipes that may be more tolerable to your cat. Ask the vet. There are ones you can buy at pet stores and prescription ones.