Ear Problem

[merby]

My 5 year old indoor cat has been scratching his ears, bending them down and shaking his head.  His ears look clean and there is no smell.  One of my cats brought some fleas home after a stay at the vet.  I treated them all with frontline earlier this week.  They have never had fleas before.  My other cat has scabs all over his neck which the vet said was a reaction from a flea bite.  Does this ear thing sound like it could also be a reaction to a flea bite?  Is there anything anyone could recommend I do to make him more comfortable over the weekend until I can bring him to the vet on Monday?  Would it harm him to treat him for ear mites even if that may not be what is wrong with him?  Also, he currently is on medication for another problem.

[horsecorral]

sounds like ear mites to me.  sometimes you don't see a build up.  I've never heard of fleas going into the ears, but Savas would know more about that.  We have about 20 kittens/cats and I'm just assuming it's mites.  Try the mite medicine.  As for the scabs, it could be fleas or another condition.  Several of our cats have had this condition.  It starts at the neck, the follows through to the tail.  We've done nothing but scratch them off & put peroxide in them and they're all healing fine.  Hope this is a bit helpful!

[merby]

Actually, H. Bartonella is not curable.  It is treatable but they remain a carrier of it and stressful events can make them sick again.
I did bring him to the vet today about his ears.  The vet found yeast in his ears.  She said the steroids cause his immune system to weaken which is probably what caused this.  Luckily, easily treatable.
Thanks for all the advice.

[Savas]

Well, that would be a nice, easily curable illness so lets hope for it. :)

Hopefully it isn't something a little more irritating to treat like eczema or a hematoma (burst blood vessel in the skin). Eczema can pop up do to stress related incidents and isn't exactly treatable...you can try to treat the symptoms but the condition is recurring (but not fatal!). It would also explain the fever possibly, if it was mild.

[merby]

The cats are not related.  I don't see any redness from the application area of the frontline.  I used it on them numerous times before and never had a problem.

He had a high fever got better then he recently had another very high fever and a blood test showed that he was anemic.  He tested negative for all the major diseases...Leuk., FIP, etc.  so the vet thinks he may have Bartonella.  He is back to normal but she wanted to do an extra course of antiobics and steroids. He got the first fever shortly after I brought a new kitten home.  The vet thinks he could have already had it and the stress caused him to get sick.  

[Savas]

A flea with a bad sense of direction can end up there. :)

Actually, if you just frontlined them, the fleas have a tendency to run amok and head for the orifice areas, driving kitty crazy for a day or so. But a few days later...it could be leftover irritation from the bites (they bite like crazy when they're being driven out). Your other cat has a flea allergy, it sounds like. Are they related?

The other option is frontline is strong medicine/poison. He may be having a bit of reaction to that. I

The ear mite treatment shouldn't hurt, and a just starting infestation may not be viewable. Check through the fur to be sure there isn't any redness, swelling, irritation, etc...at the site of the frontline application. If there is, don't do the ear mite remedy.

But what's this other medication and problem? I heisitate to comment without knowing all the details.