Do my kitten's ears look like they have mites?

Question

He's a ~12 week old rescue, and his ears look a bit mangy. He's going to the vet in about a week, but I'm wondering if it's necessary to take him sooner, especially since we've adopted another rescue kitten who might be vulnerable.

If it's important, he's got an upper respiratory infection and is on antibiotics and L-Lysine.

http://www.wtadler.com/picdrop/IMG_6373.JPG http://www.wtadler.com/picdrop/IMG_6372.JPG http://www.wtadler.com/picdrop/IMG_6374.jpg

(Click on images for full size)

Are these signs that my kitten has ear mites?

Update, a year later: It was ringworm, not ear mites. Successfully treated with a (terrible, stinking, staining, but effective) lime sulfur dip.

Answer 1

Had fostered 1 rescue cat with 4 of her kittens (around 8 weeks old) before. As they were from factories areas, there were a lot of mites and ticks on their body and inside their ears. In order to prevent my own house cat to get infected as well, we isolate this family from my cat. The ear of the kittens looks exactly the same as the ear of the kitten shown in the picture.

Since the vet is close for the weekend, and we need a temporary solution (seems the same as yours, as your kitten will only be visting the vet after a week)

The temporary solution before visting the vet:

My mother used some tick comb to remove the ticks on their body, and used cotton wool dipped with a bit of Sesame Oil to wipe off the mites inside their ears (Noted: Just use a little of seasme oil will do, else your cat's ear will be very oily; No worries, the smell will wear off after few days). Using of sesame oil is not an old myth as it really works perfectly! Though I am not quite sure of the real reason behind, but my mother explained that the reason of using Sesame Oil is because bugs such as mites and ticks "dislike" the smell and will "flee" away from the area.

We brought this family to the vet for health checks and vaccination before bringing them to the shelter; and the veterianarian give them some ticks removal spray to fully remove the ticks and the eggs of the ticks from their body. However I am not sure if the tick removal spray is applicable to your kitten as it has upper respiratory infection. It is still the best for you to consult your veterianarian.

Answer 2

Use corn oil, the oil soothe the kittens ears and the oil suffocates the fleas and ticks in ear use cotton ball with oil on it. Don’t fill up cats ear with oil it just take the funk/ bugs down into ear canal