Stray cat's ear - your thoughts on what?

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doombuggy

doombuggy

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I noticed yesterday that the stray cat's ear looked a bit "fleshy." Note the photos below were taken from my phone earlier this evening. Not great but he doesn't really stick around after eating the food I give him:

dallasear.jpg


This is a closer shot, but he was eating so his head was moving:

dallasear2.jpg


Can you see how "fleshy" his ear is? I was thinking that I can get some kind of ear wipes to help clean the ear mites, but he's still a little wary of me after the rescue attempt that failed miserabley. My friend told me last night that he's probably more feral than I thought. Looking at this ear, makes me think that he has been living outside alot longer than I though.
 
I can't really tell what the ear looks like from the photo, but a cat I had long ago had an aural hematoma. We'd been on vacation. When we came home, his ear was swollen. We took him to the vet where he was diagnosed and it required surgery.

Here's an explanation frompeteducation.com. Plenty more articles if you google it.
 
I can't tell either. I had a feral once that had patches on it's ears and no hair in those areas.
Vet gave some steroid cream and that helped a lot.
Does it look anything like these pictures?

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/slideshow-sk ... ms-in-cats

Can you trap it and take it to Vet.
Someone in rescue once told me that this never failed for them when trapping a cat.
Get some thighs from KFC. Take the meat off the bone and hang it at the back of the trap.
The cat loves the smell and it always worked for them.

Good luck.
 
I clicked on both links, and I don't think it's either. His ear is normal color, so I don't think it is a ruptured blood vessel. Is it hard so see shince his head was moving some. When he was finished his dinner tonight, he was hanging out in the grass when I reached out for his dirty dish. He came over, probably thinking he'd get more food, but realized he wouldn't, and proceeded to kind of head but my hand. That made me feel good.

He seems to be able to hear in that ear w/o a problem. He probably has some ear mites, but i think that his ear might just be more fleashy there. It's towards the bottom of their ear, near that extra little pocket that they have. His ears seem small to begin with, so it is possible it's some birth defects.

After the bad result I had trying to rescue him before (he freaked out when I put him in the garage; I got a very bad cut and fleas in the bargan), unless i can get some help, i will just continue to feed him. I am guessing that he is at least a year old and is a loner, but can take care of himself. I think he saw Cedric by chance one day about 6 or so weeks ago (Cedric likes to look out over my back porch and right now it is opened, but will be enclosed in a few weeks) and when he saw me, he came up to the door and started crying/begging for food. He's smart enough to know I have a cat which equates to cat food for him. :lol: So he gets Friskees Pate, and sometimes gets the expensive stuff that I forget Cedric doesn't like. drinking11
 
i took this a little while ago with my regular camera. The red is actually brown...it was dusk, so the flash went off.
dallas001.jpg

The ear looks REALLY fleshy here. i never see him picking at the ears though. His other ear doesn't look quite the same, but I am not sure, as this is the side I usually see. :-D
 
Oh i hope someone can tell you what to do for this!

I know you need someone to help you trap him but i'm thinking...
If he goes in the trap there is no danger of him scratching you then.
I don't know what to tell you about the fleas tho.
I have trapped many over the years(around 80 total , maybe more) and put them in the back seat of my
car and took them to vet. I never got fleas or even thought about it. I guess i am really lucky.

If you can't catch him i wonder if you could put antibiotic in his food. I have done this for some.
does a board member live close enough to help you?
 
You're right. Very, very fleshy. I'm wondering if maybe the bites you see (mites? Ticks?), maybe there are some deeper in the ear behind all that flesh that may be infected or absessed? It would be nice if you could tell if it's painful, but I'm guessing if you tried to touch or squeeze the ear, you'd pay a price for it. Really nice that he head butted your head. He's feeling safer near you.

Carl
 
I don't have experience with cats having ears like that, but I volunteer with a ferret rescue and many of the surrenders have ears like that due to having untreated ear infections. They call them "cottage cheese" ears, and there is really nothing that can be done aside from keeping them clean to prevent any new infections and treating them if they do occur. Obviously, cats aren't ferrets, so it could be something else more serious. Once you're able to, I'd take him to a vet to have it checked out.
 
Looks like a hematoma from ear mites to me- I had it happen to a few of our farm cats years ago and it often looked like that- just extra "fleshy". A trap/vet visit is in order if you can swing it.
 
Looks like a hematoma - no clue as to the cause, could be lots of things. The dogs we take in out here in the middle of nowhere have them quite often when they finally find us or we find them. Many times it seems to have happened from a scratch that got infected inside. My vet drains them then stitches the ear together (front to back) to help it heal. I've had 2 cats show up with them - one I know was from another cat attacking him but the other I could find no reason for...until it drained and a huge splinter came out along with the crap.
 
maryjoandsmokie said:
Squeaky and KT.
You must be an angel.
Click to expand...

Nope, I'm not an angel - but I get blessed with lots of furry Angels. Some of them are sent here to teach ME something....I don't question any longer, I just 'do'.....
 
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