“Should I clean my cat’s ears?” is a question that people direct at Google but, strictly speaking, it is incomplete. What I mean is this: you don’t think about cleaning your cat’s ears unless there is a reason to do so. The default attitude is to do nothing except, from time to time, to inspect their ears. The better question is, “Should I clean my cat’s ears if there is an excessive amount of debris and wax in the ear canal?” That is asking whether a cat owner should carry out ear profound cleaning or whether they should leave it to a veterinarian or vet tech as a veterinary clinic.
To quote a group of excellent veterinarians who wrote the best book on veterinary cat care for the layperson, “Routine ear cleaning is not required.”
You can expect to see some wax in the ear canal of a domestic cat because it’s purpose is maintain the health of the tissues. This is exactly the same for humans.
The veterinarians I refer to go on to say, “However, ears should be cleaned when there is an excessive amount of wax, dirt or debris”. But you don’t do this by inserting an ear bud into the ear canal of your cat which is the sort of thing which might instinctively come to mind. Please don’t do that because you can make things a lot worse.
Certainly, you can clean the outer ear (the pinna or ear flap) with a cotton bud but you can’t stuff it down the ear canal.
Personally, I have never cleaned my cat’s ears. I inspect them regularly and they are always clear. He is about eight years of age now. I do nothing special except provide the best cat caregiving I can. Proactive measures are the best and that would mean keeping the environment clean and healthy, providing an excellent diet and plenty of tender loving care plus play. The cat can deal with the rest.
To clean a very dirty ear
I’m going to quote the veterinarians on this but I think there needs to be a word of warning. You have to be really cautious and sensible to make sure that you don’t harm your cat. And many cats will object to ear cleaning which might mean that you have to restrain them. They might also object to that! This must be a big barrier and I’m inclined to think right now that if you believe your cat’s ears need cleaning you should book an appointment with your veterinarian.
It will probably be worth the money. Anyway, here goes.
Apply a few drops of either one of the following to the external ear canal: warm mineral oil, olive oil, a dilute vinegar solution (three drops white vinegar in 1 ounce of water) or a special ear-cleaning solution from your veterinarian such as Oti-Clens in America (my preference). There are many others which I’m sure you can find on Amazon.
Once you’ve added the solution you massage the base of the ear to loosen dirt, excess wax and debris followed by gently wiping out the ear with a cotton ball. The debris will loosen and migrate out of the canal over time, I presume.
Note, you do not put anything in the ear canal other than a liquid. The point is obvious. If you put something solid down the ear canal you simply push the debris further in towards the eardrum. This will compact these substances and make them harder to remove.
Do not irrigate your cat’s ears with liquid such as ethers, alcohol, or solvents. They will cause pain and swelling.
That’s about it. There are two major points to emphasise if I’ve not overemphasised them already! Don’t clean your cat’s is unless you really need to and if you are unsure see a veterinarian. Secondly, you use the liquids mentioned and not a solid object when cleaning the ear canal, which is the tunnel that goes from the outer ear to the eardrum. Behind the eardrum is the middle ear and then behind that is the inner ear.
P.S. The book referred to is: “Cat Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook”.
Below are some more pages on ears.
