Believe me when I said I’ve had enough of dealing with ear mites for almost 3 years. I don’t know what kind of powered-up ear mites they are but the usual way of getting rid of them -as advised by the vets- didn’t work until recently when I switched up the combos.
What do you usually need
You need four things for ear mite treatments: ear cleaning solution, ear mite ointment, spot-on solution, and cotton buds. The upfront cost is high but I am here to help you cut down a significant amount.
For ear-cleaning solutions, get something that is approved by your vets because commercial ones are just… weird. I’ve tried one that was meant to be “organic” (I couldn’t find other options in the same store) and it got all my pets’ ears so red. I think it was due to an allergy? Anyway, I stopped using that completely and went back to the vet for stocking up on the Virbac Epiotic that I regularly use.
For ear mite ointments, on the other hand, I would also insist it is vet approved because it’s guaranteed to help and it’s a prescribed/controlled medicine. Besides, how much trust would you put into generic brands in your local pet shops when many businesses these days target the pet market and create products that are essentially harmful to your pets (ref: OEM pet food, pet products with no certificates or proper paperwork). I’m using Oridermyl, which is widely available in my country.
Spot-on solutions come in many different brands BUT one thing you must pay attention to is getting the ones that could kill ear mites. Did you know that Elanco (previously known as Bayer) has two types of spot-on options, one of which does not cover ear mite infestations? It’s called Advantage and it only covers fleas. For better coverage, you need to get Advocate. Another two options you can consider are Broadline (Rhone Ma) and Revolution Plus (Zoetis). You can see the differences between all three of these brands later.
Lastly, for cotton buds, any decent ones will do. I just randomly grab bundle packs in Guardian and Watson’s.
My initial routine
For Luna, I spent about 6-8 months getting rid of the ear mites by doing the following:
- Monthly spot-on application with Advocate
- Started 3 weeks with daily Epiotic cleaning and then apply a bit of Oridermyl at the end.
- Oh she hated it so much and her ears were very irritated, I later changed it to twice a week of Epiotic cleaning and ended with Oridermyl
- After that, she never got ear mites, even when I brought home a new cat that was infested by ear mites too. If I suspect that the infestation starts to happen, I just put a little Oridermyl and it’ll do.
Unfortunately, for Solar, on the other hand, it was wayyyyy tougher. It took me about 1 year to see significant results but here’s what I initially did
- Monthly spot-on application (stopped 1-2 months in between) with Advocate
- Started with almost one month of daily Epiotic cleaning and putting enough Oridermyl in his ears to prevent accelerated irritation.
- Unfortunately, his ears still got irritated so I had to alternate between thrice a week, twice a week, once a week, or every day. This relies on my own judgment a lot.
- Instead of reducing, I saw an increase instead. I went to the vet, and I asked for help. I’d do anything to reduce it, whether feeding him peels or getting him injections. Vets told me to just continue what I did.
What changed later on?
During my annual vaccination visit with Solar’s vet, I had (once again) explained to the doctor that I am way too exhausted at this point to use the regular methods and I need to use a “big gun” if there are any. She tried to get me on Revolution Plus before but what she didn’t mention to me (which she did during this visit) was that Revolution Plus uses different chemicals and is meant to be stronger than Advocate.
Well, that will do.
That will just do! I immediately grabbed a box because all the spot-on options get sold out very quickly and will take more than a month for restocks. I am not taking any chances. Not at all. So here’s my new routine:
- Monthly spot-on application (non-stop) with Revolution Plus
- Weekly epiotic cleaning and Oridermyl application
That’s it. Within 2 months, I already saw a huuuuuuuuuge difference. I’m talking about lake size vs road puddle. I maintained the spot-on solution every month and I changed significantly the way I cleaned his ears too. See, previously, I used some cleaning solution to wet the ears, rubbed the ears, clean it with cotton buds, and then put dots of Oridermyl.
This time, I changed it all up. First, I fill up his ears with Virbac Epiotic, rub them carefully, and then wipe off excess. Then, I squeezed about 1 inch long (idk, man, try to visualize it, like a one-second press but not too darn much) of Oridermyl in the ears and rubbed the ears again. So this type, whatever amount of Oridermyl I had (accidentally) pushed into the ears with the earbuds will go further down. I’ll proceed to clean the ears as usual but once I’m done, I’ll wipe the ears again to clean out the dirt and leave him be. There should be a sufficient amount of Oridermyl in the ears to work its magic, so I didn’t add more unless I need to.
He still has some ear mites left but I have never been so confident about getting rid of them now. I’m seeing significant results and it was visibly getting lesser and lesser with each cleaning. I think I haven’t felt so relieved for a long while.
How much did I spend in total
Honestly, I don’t know. I know I’ve spent a lot. We could probably take a guess from the approx amount here:
- Virbac Epiotic – on average 55 bucks, about 7 bottles.
- Oridermyl – on average 55 bucks, about 10 tubes
- Advocate – on average 115 bucks, about 15 boxes
- Revolution Plus – 135 bucks, only 1 box as of now
Approximately RM 2800 as of now.
Where can I buy them?
You can normally get them in the vet clinics but you can also get them at expos under these brands:
- Virbac Epiotic – vets only
- Oridermyl – vets only
- Advocate – Elanco booth (official brand)
- Revolution Plus – Rhone Ma (official brand)
There are cat expos and pet expos all year round between March – December. Cat parents usually focus on Ekspo Kucing (Matrade, KL) and Oh My Pets (Midvalley, KL). There are other expos of course, but the number of booths varies. These expos are when you seek cheaper bundle prices to stock up for your household.
What are the differences between the spot-ons?
| Advocate | Revolution Plus | Broadline | |
|---|---|---|---|
Fleas (they also bring in tapeworms) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ticks | Yes | ||
| Ear mites | Yes | Yes | |
| Mange Mites | Yes | ||
| Roundworms | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hookworms | Yes | Yes | |
| Heartworms | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lungworms | Yes | Yes | |
| Tapeworms | Yes | ||
| Bladder worms | Yes |
That’s about it. If you missed the part where it’s important, reroute back to What Changed Later On 😉 Alright, I’ll stop here. More cats stuff coming through!
Disclaimer: I am very much not sponsored to write this post. I wish I was sponsored because these things aren’t cheap. Anyway, I also type my blog posts after a long day of working so, excuse any errors here and there. Thank you!
| Advocate | Revolution Plus | Broadline | |
|---|---|---|---|
Active ingredients | Imidacloprid, Moxidectin | Selamectin, Sarolaner | Fipronil, (S)-methoprene, Eprinomectin, Praziquantel |
| Fleas (prevents tapeworms too) | Ctenocephalides spp. | Ctenocephalides felis | Ctenocephalides felis |
| Ticks | Black-legged or deer tick [Ixodes scapularis], Gulf Coast tick [Amblyomma maculatum] and American dog tick [Dermacentor variabilis] | ||
| Ear mites | Otodectes cynotis | Otodectes cynotis | |
| Mange Mites | Notoedres cati | ||
| Roundworms | Toxocara cati, Toxascaris leonina | Toxocara cati | Toxocara cati, Ancylostoma tubaeforme, Toxascaris leonina, and Ancylostoma brazilienze |
| Hookworms | Ancylostoma tubaeforme | Ancylostoma ceylanicum | |
| Ancylostoma braziliense | Uncinaria stenocephala | Ancylostoma tubaeforme | |
| Heartworms | Dirofilaria immitis | Dirofilaria immitis | Dirofilaria immitis |
| Lungworms | Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, Eucoleus aerophilus | Aelurostrongylus abstrusus | |
| Tapeworms | Dipylidium caninum, Taenia taeniaeformis, and Echinococcus multilocularis | ||
| Bladder worms | Capillaria spp |
