Cat Ear Problems To hunt and survive at liberty, a cat depends on the ear as much on the sight. His auricular flag erected and mobile - is designed to locate and to gather with rapidity the noises. The waves of the sound enter the auditory conduit up to the eardrum, a thin membrane that vibrates when they activate. Then, the vibrations go across the three small bones of the middle ear until the snail, in the internal ear, which turns the sonic vibrations into messages that goes through the auditory nerve towards the brain. In the internal ear there are also the semicircular channels, an organs full of liquid that control the balance. To each side of the cranium of the cat there is a resonance camera, which it makes more sensitive to determined sound frequencies, especially those of the acute shrieks and the blow noises that do the small animals that constitute his prey. A cat can hear sounds up to two octaves more high that those that the man hears. However, like this one, his sensibility can diminish the acute sounds with the age. This can get to estimate when the cat is 4 years old. What can go wrong?
For being so prominent, the ears of the cat turn out to be bitten, crushed or scratched easily in the fighting cammocks. The veterinarian must examine and recover the deep wounds to avoid the danger of infection. The cats with the white ears are specially inclined to the solar burns, which can originate skin cancer. If we see some sign of reddening, swelling or loss of hair, it is necessary to do what the veterinarian sees the cat immediately, they can be pre cancerous symptoms . If the cancer has developed already, it is possible to be necessary to extirpate part of the pavilion of the ear- or everything- to prevent that the cancer is spreading to the head. This does not affect the normal hearing. The frequent shake of head and to scratch itself can be a sign of an infection of mites, specially in the kitties. These tiny parasites normally are present in small number, but sometimes they multiply causing an enormous irritation. There can be secretion of dun ear-wax. The treatment consists on antiparasites drops in the ears: it must be applied to all the cats that have contact with the infected cat. It is necessary to treat also the part of the neck with powders antifleas for cats, to prevent the eggs of the mites from sticking to the hair and could cause a new infection. Other symptoms can come from bacterial infections and from fungi of the ear. Of a strange body - as a seed of grass- or of inflamed polyps or tumors in the internal or middle ear. It is necessary to examine any problem of the ear without delay, because a not cured infection can cause deafness. The veterinarian will examine the cat with an otoscopio and also he can do X-ray to him. It is possible that the cat needs a sedative or the anesthetic one. The infections are treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory products. |
