Hi! I’m looking for some advice here. My indoor cat aged 11 recently developed an ear infection.

I didn’t notice the early signs of the infection, but I came downstairs last month and noticed his ear has started drooping due to swelling and it was red/inflamed. I took him straight to the vets that morning. This was on the 18th November. I was told to put him on steroid tablets for 5 days to reduce the swelling and then when the swelling had gone down that he needed a medicine applied to his ear to treat the infection. They took a swab on the 18th and a day later called me to say that the infection was bacterial, not parasitic (ear mites). I did as I was told - but over the weekend the swelling did not go down and my poor cat developed a massive aural hematoma.

The vets that I was registered with wanted to charge £400 minimum just to have his ear drained. I couldn’t afford this (currently on maternity leave) so I phoned around looking for different options.

On the 25th November I took him to a different veterinary practice. They performed an ear exam and the vet confirmed there were a lot of ear mites present. He had a drain placed in his ear, I was told to give Canaural ear drops for 3 weeks to treat the mite infection and keep the area clean. Again, I did as I was told.

On the 16th December after treating the mites for 3 weeks with the prescribed ear drops he went back to the vets. He had the drain taken out and I was told one ear was clear and the other was quite dirty but the mites had gone. I kept his cone on until the wound from his drain had completely closed and then I noticed he was still shaking his ear and more fluid had began to fill his ear.

I took him back to the vets on the 20th December, I was told that one ear is clean still but the other still had a lot of dirt (ear wax). They performed another ear exam, couldn’t see any mites just wax. They did a swab and said whilst they couldn’t see any mites on the microscope swab, for the amount his ear is itching and the wax it’s telltale signs of mites. He had his ear drained again. He’s now back on steroids, I’m cleaning his ears with ear cleanser and he’s back on the Canaural ear drops, whilst I’m getting less wax out of his ear whilst cleaning he’s still very itchy and the vet said that if his ear continues to fill with fluid, the next step will be surgery. Does anyone have any advice please or have dealt with a similar situation? My cat seems so fed up with having to have this cone on all the time to stop him from scratching. Thanks!!