My cat has ear infections. Is ear canal ablation the last resort?

Poor cat. Her balance issues are very suggestive of an inner ear infection, which also means that she probably has a ruptured ear drum due to the chronic ear infections. Some pets are prone to repeat ear infections because of stenotic (narrow) ear canals, polyps inside the ear (quite common in cats, also will have nasal discharge), and a thyroid issue (not as common in cats). I would recommend getting Daisy back to the vet for oral antibiotics to treat the inner ear infection and just a sterile saline wash to clean the ears out, since no topical medication is safe to use in a ruptured ear drum. Then I would seriously consider checking for polyps and if not found then consider having a total ear ablation surgery for Daisy. This involves removing the inner ear canal which will essentially prevent any future ear infections from occurring. This is a drastic procedure and should be thoroughly considered after discussing the pros and cons with your veterinarian. But considering the se

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. I am sorry to hear that Bronte has such a bad ear infection. If her ear is as inflamed as the vet says it is, then an ear canal ablation sounds like it would be the most appropriate next step. I am surprised to hear that it is $5000. That seems quite high for this type of surgery. I would call around and ask for prices on a total ear canal ablation and see what you can come up with. I generally end up charging about $1600-2000 at our clinic. If the ear is not bad enough to the point where the ear canal is calcified, a lateral ear resection may be appropriate and should be a cheaper surgery than completely removing the ear canal. As far as medications are concerned, I would probably use pain medications, antibiotics, anti inflammatories and antifungal drugs along with topical therapy. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Poor guy. I can understand your frustation here. It seems you will have to be a bit more aggressive with his treatment moving forward. You will have to get an ear bacterial culture done to determine what antibiotic will resolve the infection. Then once you find this combination of antibitoics, they can be used to develop a formula to treat the ear. You may even have to get this formulation compounded through the following compounding companies: roadrunnerpharmacy.com wedgewoodpharmacy.com If this still does not resolve the issue, then surgery is the cure for this. Ear abalation is a surgery where the complete ear canal is removed, which will resolve the ear infections once and for all, since there is no canal for the bacteria to grow anymore I hope that you get some resolve for Bailey soon! Best wishes and take care.

This appears to be ceruminous cystomatosis - very common in Himalayan and Persian cats. It is a benign neoplastic condition but sometimes becomes a problem when lesions enlarge and occlude the ear canal, which disrupts normal self-cleaning. With just one cyst present I would not be overly concerned but if more start to appear and/or they get larger then you may need to have treatment done. Cryotherapy and/or laser treatment is usually the first line of treatment. It does not cure the issue then surgery to remove the entire ear canal is needed (TECA). At this stage I would just recommend monitoring it. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

It is important to remember that not every medication treats every ear infection. Since this has been an ongoing issue, I recommend asking your vet to perform an ear cytology to microscopically evaluate the ear discharge. This will determine if the infection is caused by bacteria and/or yeast. Cultures of the ear discharge may also be necessary if the infection seems to be resistant to the medication currently being used. Surgical procedures (such as a total ear canal ablation, also known as a TECA) are available, but are generally only performed by specialists. These procedures are generally considered a last resort, as they remove the ear canal and cause deafness in the affected ear. The cost could run several thousand dollars, depending on your location and the availability of specialist surgeons. Before jumping to the surgical route, I recommend further consultation with your vet or a veterinary dermatologist. I hope that all goes well for Wolfey!

Hello, The surgical procedure to cure chronic ear infections in dogs is called a TECABO, which is a bit different than the tube placements they use in people. If you're interested in pursuing this, a consult with a soft tissue veterinary surgeon would be the next step. Here is a link to learn more: https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952082 I hope this helps! Thanks for using Boop by Petco.

I'm sorry to hear that Baby Kitty's ear has been such a problem for her! Surgery is generally the treatment of choice for aural hematomas, but these issues can also develop scar tissue over a period of at least 6-8 weeks. If Baby Kitty has an ongoing ear infection, this could also exacerbate any head shaking, preventing scar tissue from forming appropriately. No surgery ever offers a definitive guarantee, but it seems that surgically addressing the hematoma would be less invasive, less painful and likely less expensive than removing the entire pinna (ear flap). The only pinna amputations that I have seen have been due to cancerous masses on the ear because the surgery can be very painful and cause a significant amount of bleeding. Consider discussing this with your vet and have her ears checked to assure that an infection is not present and causing irritation. I'm glad to see that she has an e-collar on - keep it up! Avoid using the transdermal medication on her right ear for the time

If the antibiotics are helping, it's probably a middle ear infection indeed. a sample needs to be taken from the ear and sent for culture and sensitivity, then the best antibiotic can be chosen according to the result. the course of treatment must be longer next time, at least 4 weeks as these infections take a long time to resolve.

Ear mites and underlying allergic disease (that can predispose to recurrent ear infections) are possible and should be ruled out. A physical and otoscopic examination of the ear canal are enough to rule them out. Bacterial swabs and culture can be used as well to rule out resistant infections. I would recommend to discuss all these options with your veterinarian. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation (where you can post pictures ) if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

The discharge inside the ear needs to be cultured so you can know what is growing in the ear canal - what bacteria, yeast, etc. That way the vet will know what medication to use to get it to clear up. The ear may also need to flushed out under anesthesia. There must be an underlying cause. Cats typically don't get ear infections chronically like dogs. It is not likely to be a food allergy. More testing needs to be done.