ear mites, poor balance and failure to thrive in a 6 month old cat - any advice?

6 month old female, much smaller + weaker than her brother.

When I got her 1 month ago, she was v thin, like a skeleton. The guy was just carrying it inside his coat. I don't think they were feeding it properly, or at all. And it is most likely that she was too weak to hunt for herself. I have still never seen her successfully hunt anything, although she shows interest sometimes, but she is too slow and clumsy I think. Diarrhea during sleep for first few days, possibly because of suddenly eating more food? Not cleaning herself very well. The fur around the tail and back passage was completely solid with dried bm. Tried a bath but that was way too much drama, so just tried to carefully snip off the worst of it with scissors.

Originally I got this cat because I was concerned that her brother would be lonely. But it was a mistake since they don't get along. He always wants to play fight with me and with her. But it is too rough and she starts growling and flicking the tail. Then he attacks the tail. So unfortunately there is some "bullying" going on. I have to constantly supervise them when they are together. And when I am out of the house, they have to live in different sides of the house. The brother is slowly understanding that attacking her is banned, but it is a v slow learning process involving many sprays with water.    

She to have health problems, but she did put on a little weight. I understand that males will be a bit bigger, but she is literally about half as big and as heavy.

- Staggers, especially after waking up. Staggers over to one side usually  
- Sleeps very deeply, having vivid dreams, twitching, moving body. Sometimes falls off a chair or window sill during sleep.
- Poor appetite, especially in the mornings. Eats less than half the amount compared to the brother. Tried feeding her separately, seems to eat even less. Prefers dry feed to wet but I give a bit of both. Has poor coordination when eating so she eats slowly with lots of head movements. Often dropping the food from her mouth. Drinking OK.
- Walks with a side-to-side swaying of the hips, like a young kitten who has not got perfect balance yet, with the legs spread slightly apart.
- Poor balance but head not tilted to one side. Can't climb, jump or walk along ledges well. Sometimes almost falls over just sitting down, when she is cleaning herself. It's kinda sad to watch her struggle to do normal "cat things" sometimes. Rarely tries to run anywhere.
- Inside the right ear, brown-black material. Itchy - I see her scratching it, but there is no skin lesion from scratching.

I have been reading online and rarely ear mites can cause an ear infection which sometimes can give problems with balance. Treatment for mites is ivermectin ear drops, but struggling to find this product. I read about some home remedies like neem oil, castor oil, olive oil or even coconut oil. Apparently the oil suffocates the mites. But it needs to be done a few times per day for several days. Tried with sunflower oil (all I had). Syringed a tiny bit directly into the ear canal, and then massage / rub the ear to allow it to work in. Cat crying, not enjoying it. Afterwards she spent a long time grooming the ear, probably got a bad taste in the mouth. I don't know if it will tolerate this treatment from me twice a day for a month. Probably it will try to run away first =(

I really don't know what to do with this cat. Feel like it is a losing battle. Vet is not a great option right now, since there is a language barrier I will struggle to get much benefit and follow their advice. Both cats will need sterilization soon I guess, but I was waiting until they are fully grown. Sometimes I think it might have some kind of epilepsy because of how it is sleeping. If anyone knows what is wrong or what to do, please let me know, thanks!

It's likely the cat has more wrong than ear mites, although mites can get really bad and need to be treated asap. She really should see a vet to get checked and treated for parasites, which is also very likely. Cats usually recover really well once the underlying problems are treated. I'm all for home remedies, but when the situation is severe enough, I get to a vet and use stronger treatments so the cat gets better quickly. The language barrier is difficult, but the vet should be able to do an exam and give you medication without detailed information from you. They do it all the time in shelters.

We have always had rescue/feral cats and they can learn to get along, but it takes time. Right now we have two male ex-feral cats that took us over a year to get to trust us. Now they snuggle with us and are wonderful cats. We also have another rescue cat that hates all other animals and it took a while to get across to all of them that the aggressor gets yelled at for being a butt-head. Right now she is sleeping 1 foot from one of the ex-ferals. Time and patience and a lot of love is the key. I wish you and your cats the best.

Robin Katz wrote:It's likely the cat has more wrong than ear mites, although mites can get really bad and need to be treated asap. She really should see a vet to get checked and treated for parasites, which is also very likely. Cats usually recover really well once the underlying problems are treated. I'm all for home remedies, but when the situation is severe enough, I get to a vet and use stronger treatments so the cat gets better quickly. The language barrier is difficult, but the vet should be able to do an exam and give you medication without detailed information from you. They do it all the time in shelters.

We have always had rescue/feral cats and they can learn to get along, but it takes time. Right now we have two male ex-feral cats that took us over a year to get to trust us. Now they snuggle with us and are wonderful cats. We also have another rescue cat that hates all other animals and it took a while to get across to all of them that the aggressor gets yelled at for being a butt-head. Right now she is sleeping 1 foot from one of the ex-ferals. Time and patience and a lot of love is the key. I wish you and your cats the best.

Thanks for advice. Parasites as in worms? Or fleas? I do see them scratching sometimes. But when I comb their fur I don't find any fleas. I read the article on this site about dichotomous earth. Found a lot of such products available to buy, so I might get some and start a regular combing schedule.

I can give them detailed info. Even if it is just a prepared written note with everything carefully translated in advance. The problem is understanding what they say, and following their advice.

It is day 2 of the ear mite treatment, and there is a lot less discharge visible in the ear. Not sure if it is mostly from the cat obsessively grooming to get rid of the oil. Can't say she is enjoying it. But I am getting faster at doing it, and using less oil with less spillage, so it causes minimal drama.  

I believe internal parasites might be an issue as well. Worms and such can cause symptoms that can appear as issues with the nervous system such as the stumbling and issues walking.

Timothy Norton wrote:I believe internal parasites might be an issue as well. Worms and such can cause symptoms that can appear as issues with the nervous system such as the stumbling and issues walking.

I didn't know worms could cause any serious problems, that's not good.

It is about day 4 of the oil treatment. The ears became visibly spotless inside... not sure if because of the treatment itself or because of the obsessive cleaning the cat does afterwards. Trying to use minimal amount but hard to get it directly into the ear sometimes because of struggling. Best method is to do it while she is sleeping... can get one ear done perfectly at least. She wakes up from this, but overall much less drama. I am not happy that some oil is ingested during this grooming, it is probably not healthy for it. Not sure if it is my imagination, but she feels a bit heavier, she is doing small jumps successfully sometimes, and not seen her falling as much. Trying to play with it once per day to get it to chase a toy on a string, and to climb a wooden beam, to improve coordination, strength and balance.

Some people advised 2-3 times per week for 3 weeks, another advice was twice a day for 7 days. Then 7 days rest. Then twice a day for another 7 days. I decided to do both cats, because they often sleep next to each other and I saw a tiny deposit of brown material in one of the ears of the male. I read that ear mites are transmitted extremely easily between cats, so I figured better to do both.

Does anyone have any experience of this treatment? Does it really work? Or am I just tormenting these poor animals for no reason?

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M Ferguson wrote:  Parasites as in worms? Or fleas? I do see them scratching sometimes. But when I comb their fur I don't find any fleas. I read the article on this site about dichotomous earth. Found a lot of such products available to buy, so I might get some and start a regular combing schedule.

It is day 2 of the ear mite treatment, and there is a lot less discharge visible in the ear. Not sure if it is mostly from the cat obsessively grooming to get rid of the oil. Can't say she is enjoying it. But I am getting faster at doing it, and using less oil with less spillage, so it causes minimal drama.  

I mentioned parasites (internal) because almost all feral cats have them and they can do a lot of damage if left untreated. At a minimum they sap energy from the cat. After adopting a stray kitten and giving the dewormer, we saw huge clumps of worms coming out of him and into the cat box. Ugh. Poor thing was bloated with them.

Regarding the ear mite treatment, if it looks improved and the cat feels better, keep at it. My experience with feral cats and ear mites is that just grooming won't work or cats wouldn't have mites at all. Those things itch and cause a lot of inflammation deep down into the ear.

Diatomaceous earth (DE) is good on the cat fur if needed for fleas. When they groom and ingest the DE, it doesn't seem to do any harm and may help with any internal parasites. There is more info online if you're interested.