Cat problem: How do you flip a cat's ear backwards?

[Imzadi]

When I took Kitty to the vet a while back, it was determined she gets harmless but annoying yeast infections in her ears. I'm supposed to take a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol & gently swab the gunky buildup out of her ears, so she won't keep scratching inside her ears to get it out.

I watched the vet, who had somehow quickly flipped my cat's pointy ear flap (or whatever you call it,) completely back and easily swab the surface of the hole out.

No problem I thought. Only, now when I go to do it, my cat completely flattens her ear back and down & scrunches her ear hole up, so that I can't even grab the ear flap, let alone flip it back. If I even just try to reach in, her ear is so flattened down & scrunched, I can't even get a cotton ball in.

Also, I'm worried about how far down can I flip the ear back. I don't want to accidentally bruise Kitty, or somehow break the cartilage when bending the flap backwards.

There must be some trick to doing this.

 

[Michelle67]

I don't think cats have cartilege until pretty far back, close to their head. My thinking is that you would probably want to grab the tip and then use a free finger to press in the center of the back of her ear to flip it inside out. Next time my cat walks by I'll try this theory for you. Why not, she already hates me today, I've done her eye drops AND Advantage.

Okay, just tried...couldn't catch her. I'll get back to you later. She's pretty mad.

 

[Imzadi]

Why not, she already hates me today, I've done her eye drops AND Advantage.

Okay, just tried...couldn't catch her. I'll get back to you later. She's pretty mad.

 

[DarthKTrava]

Maybe your cat has seen this pic:

Perhaps when you grab kitty to give her the meds, sit there and pet her for a bit before trying to apply the medicine. See if you can get her to relax first...

 

[EthansMom]

Is there anyone in the house who can hold your kitty while you clean out her ears? A cat's ears can be completely bent backwards with no harm to the cat... As a kid, I used to flip my cats' ears backwards just to annoy them... I found it funny to watch them shake their heads back and forth to get the ears to pop back in place.

In all likelihood, your kitty just doesn't want you touching his/her ears because they are already irritated. I'd pick up the cat gently, give him/her some good loving and soft words. Then, if possible, have someone else hold the cat while you clean the ears. If you don't have anyone else in the house, you might try wrapping a towel or small blanket around your cat's body so you can hold him/her with one hand and clean with the other.

Good Luck!

 

[Imzadi]

I have no problem cornering Kitty & getting her to stay in one place. But I can't get clear access to the ear, as they aren't straight up like this to fold back:

Instead, she flattens them back & down even worse than this, and I can't lift up the ear to fold it back:

 

[Michelle67]

As a kid, I used to flip my cats' ears backwards just to annoy them... I found it funny to watch them shake their heads back and forth to get the ears to pop back in place.

Me too. Shhhhhh, don't tell my mama. I also used to pull my cats face and ears back with the palms of my hands to make her into a seal. That poor cat took a lot of crap off me...

Okay, I had to use a different kitty for the experiment, because I still can't get close to the one who has suffered her eye drops and Advantage today. My daughter's cat is only half as mad, since she only got the Advantage. She's a nicer cat anyhow; less likely to take my arm off. Anyhow...she flattened her ears too. I slid my thumb inside her ear from the top, then rotated my wrist/thumb around so the length of my thumb was laying inside the ear flap close to her head and then just laid it back. Quite similar motion to peeling an orange. Is this making sense? She was not amused, but I didn't hurt her a bit, and her ear fell right back into place as soon as I let go. If it doesn't, just give it a gentle stroke from the back and it will.

Good luck with Kitty.

 

[pppiglet]

I don't worry about flipping it back, just grab the tip and open to get drops in. Massage for 90 secs and then the hard part is getting the cotton ball in to wipe out. Much easier if you thin out the cotton flat on your finger.

My cat has had a chronic ear infection for the last 5 weeks. First she was on Tresaderm and it seemed to clear the yeast and then Baytril to get rid of the bacteria. Well, seems the Baytril isn't working and the dirt is getting worse. She goes back to the vet on Saturday, but I just read tonight that chronic ear problems can cause ringworm, and darn if it doesn't look like she's got that now. Poor baby, after 5 weeks, when she see's me coming is flattening her ears and running and hiding under the bed. I was so sure she would be cured after the Baytril, but now it's worse!

 

[Imzadi]

Okay, I had to use a different kitty for the experiment, because I still can't get close to the one who has suffered her eye drops and Advantage today. My daughter's cat is only half as mad, since she only got the Advantage. She's a nicer cat anyhow; less likely to take my arm off. Anyhow...she flattened her ears too. I slid my thumb inside her ear from the top, then rotated my wrist/thumb around so the length of my thumb was laying inside the ear flap close to her head and then just laid it back. Quite similar motion to peeling an orange. Is this making sense? She was not amused, but I didn't hurt her a bit, and her ear fell right back into place as soon as I let go. If it doesn't, just give it a gentle stroke from the back and it will.

Thanks, those directions worked.
It was funny how you have a spare cat to try it out on. Only, now they both are probably equally mad at you.

Poor baby, after 5 weeks, when she see's me coming is flattening her ears and running and hiding under the bed. I was so sure she would be cured after the Baytril, but now it's worse!

Awww, poor kitty!

Have you changed her food recently, and the infection has gotten worse? Or you might try changing her food. As I had already suspected, my cat has a fish allergy. Most cats do, as fish is not indigenous to their natural diets. Cats don't go into the water to fish for their meals.

The vet said she might also or instead, be allergic to wheat too. Right now, I'm ruling out the fish.

I changed out all her cat food, which used to be Purina. She seems to be doing better. But, I gave her a can of Nine Lives beef flavor the last couple of days, (also by the Purina company.) It has no fish listed, but that also seemed to inflame her yeast problem. Maybe it was the soy protein in it.

 

[Michelle67]

Thanks, those directions worked.
It was funny how you have a spare cat to try it out on. Only, now they both are probably equally mad at you.

Probably. She ran in my daughter's room to hide as soon as I let her go. We have three cats. The first one I was going to "torture" is my husband's cat. She hates me anyhow so she was my first candidate. Haha... If I hadn't gotten ahold of my daughter's, I'd have gone after the third one, but she was outside at the time. She is such a love ho she would have purred insanely the whole time just because I was touching her.

Glad the instructions worked, and hopefully Kitty is all better soon.

My husband's poor cat has a chronic fungal infection in one eye that comes back every so often. She had a corneal scrape twice (conehead kitty, very undignified...boy did she hate me then, being the sucker who always has to take the cats to the vet) to no avail, and now she has a standing prescription for a steroidal antibiotic. I get it whenever she has a flare up. It's all flared up right now, so I'm attacking her with the eye drops once or twice a day. It's a little like taking your life in your hands...or at least a couple layers of skin.

 

[pppiglet]

On mine I haven't changed the food recently. I have 9 cats and took them all off of fish products around six months ago. I'm thinking it's wheat. She loved to eat wheat toast with me in the morning. (just a couple bites). I think she just built it up in her system until it turned to an allergy. I stopped giving it to her when the ear problem started. Poor baby sits behind me at breakfast just begging for some wheat toast!


She only eats Fancy Feast and it has to be the "grilled" one. I emailed them and got a list of their products that don't contain fish. It's REALLY hard to read the print on their cans. Who knew that Gourmet Chicken has fish in it?!