My cat's ear has black, smelly liquid after bath. What to do?

It sounds like your cat may be dealing with an ear infection. Ear infections can be caused by bacterial, parasitic or fungal infection, or a combination of these, and can be associated with dietary or environmental allergies or sensitivities, immune system disorders, or a combination of the above. Your cat needs to see a vet. Your vet can look at a sample from an ear swab under the microscope and treat appropriately based on what is found. Your vet will also need to examine the ear with a scope to see if the ear drum is intact, as some medications cannot be used safely if the eardrum is ruptured. Ear infections can be very painful, and can sometimes progress to include the middle or inner ear, where they can cause neurologic signs or permanent hearing loss. Please book an appointment to have your cat seen by a vet as soon as possible. Good luck!

Poor Spookette! It sounds like she may have a pretty bad ear infection. Ear infections can be due to mites, bacteria, or yeast in cats. I'd recommend scheduling an examination with a veterinarian so Spookette can have her ears checked out. A swab can be taken from the ears and evaluated under the microscope to determine if the cause is mites, bacteria, or yeast. She will likely need prescription ear medication to treat. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and I hope Spookette's ear issue resolves quickly!

It's probably earmites, they usually look like ground coffee or dried blood, very irritating for your cat, you should take her to the vet ASAP in order to get it treated, it is not life threatening though.

Great question! There is an OTC ear cleanser called Epi-Otic that you can get from your vet's clinic. It helps break up wax and dirt, and it's easy to use. Just put the top of the bottle in Abby's ear, squirt a little in, and the massage the base of her ear. You should hear it squishing around in there. That will help clean her ears. That being said, if Abby is always scratching her ears and there's a lot of black in there, I would be concerned that she has an ear infection. I would have her seen by a vet to check her ears because an ear infection will require prescription medications to treat.

Poor Kiara! Normal cat ears should not have any visible wax at all - so if you are seeing yellow, brown, or black waxy material in the ear, this means that she either has an ear infection or ear mites. Treatment will depend on what type of infection is present, so I would recommend taking her to the vet for an exam when you are able to. He/she can take a sample of the discharge for analysis to determine the problem and will prescribe appropriate medication to treat it depending on what is found.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Judging from the picture you provided, I see black waxy material and also a tattoo that has been done on the inside of the pinna. The tattoo is likely to indicate that she has been spayed and it is in the pattern of a circle with a linear line through it. That is not a concern at all and will be permanent. The black wax may be due to ear mites or an ear infection though. I would recommend having a veterinarian examine Fluffy so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Smokey. She will need to see her veterinarian as she appears to have an ear infection. The veterinarian will use an instrument called an otoscope to look deep within each ears canal. Redness, swelling and discharge are all signs of infection. Next, a sample will be collected from each ear and evaluated under the microscope. This will determine if the infection is bacterial, yeast, mites or some combination. This will allow the doctor to prescribe an appropriate medication and cleaning solution. I hope this information helps!