My cat's ear drops are working. Should I finish the full course?

Judging by the pictures you provided your cat's ears look great. Typically, treatment for ear infections last usually 10 to 14 day. If your cat is no longer having symptoms of her infection, like scratching excessively at her ears, then you should be OK to stop the medication.

Although you aren’t seeing any improvement yet, continue giving the medication as previously prescribed. Sometimes it can take 2 weeks to get the infection under control. Keep in mind also that the infection may be getting better but there is still some exudate/debris in the ear. If, by the time you return from your trip, there is still no improvement, make an appointment for a recheck examination with your vet. Occasionally there are resistant infections that need special medication. Hopefully this will not be the case for Lulu. Also, if it makes you feel better, judging by the picture you provided Lulu’s ear looks pretty good! I hope the helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

Hello, sorry to hear about Sugarplum. It sounds like she may have a persistent ear infection. She may need to have her ears cultured to make sure she is on appropriate antibiotics. In addition to a longer course of oral antibiotics, she may need to have antibiotic ear drops prescribed as well. This could be associated with foreign bodies in her ears or a middle or deep ear infection. She may need to have a sedated ear examination. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Ear infections are relatively common in both cats and dogs. Some are more persistent than others. As you said, your vet took a look at the contents of the ear to determine what course of treatment might be required. Without a true bacterial / fungal culture, I could only speculate as to what the exact organism might be. The majority of ear medications, tresaderm included, are traditionally quite broad spectrum in an attempt to cover as many bugs as possible. The reason Fatboy is shaking his head is likely a combination of both the drops and the discomfort associated with the infection. If after six days of effective treatment, you are not seeing any improvement at all, you might want to call you vet and let him know. He may want to obtain a new sample to see if any progress is being made. If not, a true culture could be sent out to better target his therapy and change medications if needed be.

Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. You should give the tablets for the number of days instructed on the bottle. Typically this is anywhere from 7-10 days. I hope this helps. Best wishes and I am glad your pet Waffles is better.

Ear mites and underlying allergic disease (that can predispose to recurrent ear infections) are possible and should be ruled out. A physical and otoscopic examination of the ear canal are enough to rule them out. Bacterial swabs and culture can be used as well to rule out resistant infections. I would recommend to discuss all these options with your veterinarian. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation (where you can post pictures ) if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Because all of them are affected, ear mites would still be my first suspicion, even though your vet did not find any under the microscope (the fact that you just cleaned the ear before that might have something to do with that indeed). it can take 4-7 days for the cats to stop scratching their ears after the treatment has been started. other reasons for these symptoms include fungal or bacterial ear infections.