My cat keeps scratching her head

[shannon2444]

My kitty is scratching her head and making it bleed. I took her to the vet last month where they said it might be fleas but she doesn't have fleas because I keep Frontline on her, plus we check her for them. The vet also checked if she has skin mites and the vet said "no", we checked for ringworm and that was a negative too. The thing is, she only scratches her head, neck, chin and ears. The scratching started at the ears. Is it possible that my cat has ear mites and the vet overlooked it? She also has dark waxy stuff in her ears... but the vet said nothing about that... Maybe I should switch vets? Any ideas?

[Redhenful]

Sounds like it could be ear mites...
but wouldnt the frontline take care of that?? not sure??
Or she could have an ear infection...did the vet do a ear swap on her to test for infection in the ear?

[LilithHeartfilia]

My cat is rubbing her head with everything she finds and it could be an ear infection but still, i don't know what's going on... (sorry for the miss spelling, i am Mexican)

[LilithHeartfilia]

My cat is rubbing her head with everything she finds and it could be an ear infection. I don't know what's going on...(sorry for the miss spelling, i am Mexican)

[LivingInHope]

You might have a vet take a culture and see if he has an ear infection if the medicines you are trying don't take care of the scratching.  Our cat a while back, I notices was scratching and rubbing at ears extra and it turned out she had an ear infection.

[sprinkles870]

My cat is doing the same thing and i have had him for eight years and have not changed his food or litter. I have started him on ear mite medication and gave him a flea dip just in case that seems to be helping but we will see he still has another 5 days to go with the ear mite treatment. also just some added info about him, he is an indoor cat I did watch a friend's cat for a couple of days and I think thats where it came from. Has your cat been to or around anything he normally isn't?

[LissaKaye]

I am in agreement with Aligator.  It sounds like an allergy.  I would recommend not giving anymore frontline for now and changing her food to a more natural diet.

That dark waxy stuff you see is cat ear wax...  it grabs the dirt so that most dirt doesn't enter the ear canal and cause infection.  I just wipe it out with a tissue from my cats ears. Most of the time they don't seem to mind.

What food are you feeding you cat?

[aligator79]

It sounds to me like he has an allergy.  What kind of kitty food are you feeding her?  It could also be a reaction to the frontline. There are so many things that could be the issue.  Poor kitty

[emsauce]

Sorry about your cat...
I got my cat as a kitten from the pound and when we got him, he had worms and all sorts of diseases. after a month of curing all that we had to take him to a different vet because he was scratching his neck and chin... so this may not help because his ears were fine.
but he'd scratch till he bled and tore out patches of hair.. It turned out that he had a skin fungus
so I dont know about your cats ears but your cat may have a skin fungus... the vet did a really simple black light test to find out although he says that doesnt always find the skin fungus.
simple prescribed shampoo did the trick

good luck with your cat

[bluebutterfly2222]

It does sound like it could be ear mites or an ear infection.  (I don't believe Frontline controls ear mites.) Another consideration  might be an allergy, but that often manifests with paw-licking as well.

If you have been otherwise satisfied with your veterinarian, I'd say consider giving him/her another chance to dx the problem. Otherwise, ask your friends for a recommendation of someone they have found to have medical expertise, good communication skills, and compassion--for BOTH  pets and their "parents."

Best wishes...