How to Treat a Pet's Ear Mites at Home

Ear mites can be a nasty problem for our pets, their ears are hot and itchy so they scratch and shake their heads making the problem worse.

Ear mites are contagious and those little bits of debris from your pets shaking head are spreading this little critter all over the place for our other pets to get making things worse for all involved!

Ear mites can be a nasty problem to deal with and it can be expensive too if you end up taking your pet to the Veterinarian.

But you can quickly and easily take care of ear mites in your pet's ears at home with a simple remedy that you probably have at home anyway.

Ear mites can be a real problem with pet rabbits but other pets can get them as well.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pet with ear mites
• cotton balls
• Mineral oil or Olive Oil
• rubbing alcohol

1. 
    
   Do not do these ear mite treatments on Cats. If your cat has ear mites take them to the Veterinarian!

   For cats you should consider taking them to the Veterinarian for treatment or possibly a shot of Ivermectin to kill the ear mites.
   
   Cat scratches can cause an illness in people that is called Cat Scratch Disease/Fever. Yes, this is a real condition and is caused by the staph bacteria that cats normally carry on their teeth and claws.
   
   Also a cat's ear canal is straight up and down so any fluid accidentally poured inside a cats ears will sit directly on the ear drum... A really BAD idea!

2. 
    
   Rabbit with ear mites, note the brown crusty scaly residue inside the ear and the surrounding tissue is hot and angry looking.

   Do this out of doors as the pet WILL shake their head and you do not want the little ear mite buggers to fly all over your home!
   
   Mix 1 cap full of rubbing alcohol with 2 caps full of warm water.
   
   Dip cotton balls into this solution then wring almost dry and gently swab the outer portion of the inside of your pet's ears.
   
   Make sure to do this to both ears.

3. 
    
   microscopic picture of an ear mite, there are several different varieties of ear mite that could be infesting your pets ears.

   Warm some mineral oil or Olive oil and dip another cotton ball in this warmed oil.
   
   Gently wash the inside of the pet's ears with this oil using the cotton ball.

4. 
    
   Mineral oil works best as an ear mite remedy

   For all other pets except cats!
   
   You can gently squeeze another cotton ball that has been dipped into the warmed oil so that some of the oil runs down into the ear canal.
   
   Gently massage the ear canal until you hear a squishing sound.
   
   Let pet shake their head
   
   Repeat applications as above once a day for 1 week.
   
   This is probably overkill as the warm oil suffocates the mites but it certainly can't hurt.

Tips & Warnings

• Once treatment is complete you should consider cleaning the outer portion of your pets ears on a weekly basis so that you can prevent discomfort and future infestations.
• Treat all pets at the same time even if they do not currently have earmites. This prevents the spread from one pet to another

Resources

• Code 3 offers discounts to police and fire personell

[edieness]

on 9/9/2009 Useful article on dog ear mites.