What Are Ear Mites?
Ear mites are an eight-legged parasite commonly found in the ears of cats and dogs. There are several species of ear mites, but the most prevalent is Otodectes cynotis. Ear mites are so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye, but the animal's behavior will help you to know they are present. Ear mites not only cause extreme irritation but can also promote further infections.
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Life Cycle
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Ear mites live their entire lives, about 2 months, on the host animal. Adult females will lay eggs in the ear canal or the surrounding fur. After a four-day incubation period, the eggs will hatch into larva which will feed on the ear wax and oils for about a week. At that time the larva molt into a protonymph, which will then molt again into a deutonymph. The deutonymph, which is neither male nor female, then mate with the males. The deutonymph that become females will already have eggs from the mating and those that become males will go on to mate with other deutonymph. This entire life cycle from egg to adult takes about 3 weeks.
Causes
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Ear mites are transmitted from one animal to another, so if your pet has ear mites they contracted it from another animal. If you have other animals in the household, you should treat them all since it is highly likely they are all infected. Ear mites are not transmittable to humans.
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Symptoms
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The most prominent symptoms that are readily noticeable to the owner is shaking of the head and excessive scratching of the ears. Other symptoms include hair loss, strong odor, inflammation of the ear, scabs around the ear and a black or brown waxy secretion. The irritation and excess wax in the ear canal can lead to additional bacterial or yeast infections.
Diagnosis
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Since ear mites are barely discernible by the naked eye, a conclusive diagnosis can be made by a vet swabbing the ear and looking at the contents under the microscope. The ear mites look like tiny tick-like creatures. Some vets may be able to detect the tiny white specks in the crusty black wax using an otoscope (hand-held device to look inside the ear canal).
Treatment
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The first step of successful treatment is to remove all the black wax from the ear and ear canal. This is best accomplished using an ear bulb (which can be purchased at any drug store) filled with warm soapy water. Flush the ears until the ear is free of debris. Caution, do not use Q-tips to clean the ears as it can drive the wax deeper into the ear compacting it and making it harder to remove.
Once the ears are clean there are several medications available, most contain pyrethrin insecticide and are used once a day for three days. Treatment is then halted for a week at which time the ears are cleaned again and treatment applied again once a day for three days. Repeat this cycle again to treat for the entire 3-week life cycle of the ear mites.
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References
- Photo Credit commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otodectes_cynotis.jpg
