Everyday Randomness

Ear Mites?

I really wish the vet was open on Sundays.  Bubba’s had an ear infection for a couple weeks now, and we’ve been treating it twice a day with an enzymatic wash.  When the vet saw him a couple weeks ago he told me to just keep an eye on it, and if I noticed him scratching it or it getting worse to bring him back in.

Well hubby noticed last night that Bubba was crawling up on the futon and rubbing that ear across the cushion.  Normally he’s good about his ear drops and lays down while I put them in.  I think it’s soothing to him.  I cleaned his ear yesterday morning and put the drops in, but last night he wouldn’t let me touch the ear.

I waited until he passed out on the bed with hubby, then I got down and inspected it.  He’s scratched it so hard he’s made it bleed, and there’s a ton of dark brown ear wax.  The second I saw it I thought uh oh, he’s got ear mites.  I’ve had experience with them before, but we haven’t had ear mites on any of our pets since moving here, especially since Bubba’s ears get an every other day cleaning when he doesn’t have an infection.

I cleaned his ear out with his wash again, and I carefully cleaned out all of the wax with a cotton ball.  So far it’s only one ear, but it’s bad.  So bad that his ear was perfectly clear yesterday morning and by night time it was covered with the icky brown wax.  Luckily it’s just the one ear, so hopefully I can get him treated before it spreads.

As soon as I finished with Bubba I checked out Alley’s ears. Yep, he’s got it, too, although not as bad.  I haven’t noticed him scratching his ears at all.  Now I just have to figure out where the mites came from.  I know ear mites are transmitted between animals, but they had to get to one of my pets somehow.

Considering both of them are indoor pets except for the hour of two Bubba spends outside when it’s warm, I have a few theories .  Bubba could have picked them up when he went to the vet two weeks ago.  His immune system is already low, and his right ear was already infected, so I wonder if he would have been more susceptible to mite from one of the other dogs in the office.

I know it’s not very often that ear mites will cause problems in humans, and even then it’s normally a skin irritation, but I humans can carry the mites from one pet to the other.  A friend of mine recently had to treat her cats for eat mites, so there’s a good possibility I could have brought them home with me.

Lastly my aunt who lives across the road from me has a ton of outdoor cats.  She has barn cats, so I’m sure there’s a good chance some of them have ear mites.  There’s a possibility Bubba got close to one of them when he was outside enjoying the sun because those cats are always coming over in our yard, getting up in the windows and driving Alley wild.    Bubba’s really good with cats.  Actually he’s better with cats than he is with other dogs.

Oh well no matter how they got them, I’ve got to get this treated.  I’m about to clean both of their ears out again with the enzymatic wash because Bubba’s already looks bad again.  Later today I guess I’ll go pick up some OTC ear mite stuff to hold me over until the vet opens up on Tuesday.  I know OTC ear mite stuff doesn’t always work well, and the vet’s office is closed Monday because our vets were going to a convention.  Yes I’m in the vet’s office so much I have a full schedule that tells me when they’re going to be closed.