Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi there,

I adopted two 18month old female cats 1 week ago. After a few days letting them settle in, I took them for a general check up at the vet as there was no record of previous vaccines etc. All was fine other than 3 out of 4 ears had a waxy build up and need drops twice a day for 10 days.

We're on day 3 and things are going badly. I've been having to hold them in a blanket to be able to apply the ear drops without them wriggling away and they hate it, and are now avoiding me, especially one of them. They spend all their time now hiding in my flatmates room, as she is not associated with medicating them. I'm really worried that having them associate me with such negative experiences so early on is really going to stop them bonding with me. I can't even play with them any more and try to have positive interactions the rest of the time to ccombat combat medicating them as they just hide under her bed and won't come out and I don't want to stress them out any further. Advice would be appreciated, I'm just worried they are not going to want to bond with me after this and I really want to build up a good bond with them

It's much too early to be putting them through this, just for a bit of wax build up! Poor things, they've just gone through the upheaval and uncertainty of finding themselves in a new strange home, now this mad person throws a blanket around them, ties them up, and pokes them in the ears! Of course they're scared of you now!

Give the medication a rest completely until they're much better settled in, and concentrate on rebuilding your bond with them. Let them hide in your friends room. Go in and visit them, but you need to do some "grovelling" with them to regain their trust. Have a look at the thread on introducing shy cats to see how I worked on my two - I'd suggest you use these tactics on yours too. Don't worry, they'll come round, and meanwhile a bit of ear wax won't do any harm.

If and when you do start treating them, ditch the blanket routine as well. Once they have your trust, you may be able to do it while they're sitting quietly, distracting them with treats. Just stay calm and relaxed yourself, do it gently but quickly, let them go as soon as it's done and give them more treats and reassurance. I've tried the blanket routine on some of mine in the past and it frightened them so badly (and I don't blame them!) I vowed never to do it again, and have never needed to in all the pills, medications and other medical things I've done to my lot over the years.

Thanks for such a quick reply.

I am reluctant to stop the treatment and leave the poor girls with infected ears which will be uncomfortable and may cause more serious health issues if left alone, especially as I've already started treatment and don't want them to potentially develop into more resistant strains leading to more complications treating them.

I totally understand them hiding under the bed - its safe with lots of spaces to hide between boxes - it just makes it harder after treatment to give them some reassurance. For example I let them go as soon as they're done beibg treated, but then because of positioning of the bed I don't want to make them feel cornered by me approaching with treats / toys for 'after care'.

Just feel a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place of making sure they get appropriate medical care whilst trying to let them settle. Don't feel like I have the liberty of not having to resort to the blanket/towel technique at the moment, though I agree with you it would be much better for them to not have to go through it. I think this is just going to require a lot of work after treatment / follow-up vet visit. Poor girls

did the vet do any checks to determine the cause of the wax build up? if it's a bacterial infection oral abs could be an alternative to drops, and if it's ear mites there are reliable spot-on treatments available

for both of them to have this wax I would suspect ear mites myself - when I took on a rescue cat he had terrible ear mites, and wouldn't let me near him, but I managed to get a bit of Advocate on him when he was asleep and it did the trick almost immediately

you could try discussing alternatives with the practice vet nurse - they are often more aware of the problems in administering treatments than the vets who prescribe them and then leave the owners to get on with it

If you let them wait under the bed till they've calmed down, then just tiptoe in quietly at some stage and spend just a short time with them, they shouldn't find it too threatening, but they do need to associate you with good things as well, so I'd still persevere.

But Kay makes a good point, do have a chat with your vet about alternative treatments.

Don't worry, they will forgive you eventually, but it's early days for this sort of handling and you're right to tread carefully.