My 6-month kitten has a white ear scab. Is it ringworm again?

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. It looks like a small, scabbed-up wound. As long as it is not bothering Koda, she is not scratching the ear excessively and there is no discharge around the scab, you should monitor her at home. It should fully heal up in 5-7 days. However, if the ear becomes swollen or painful, you will have to take her to your local vets for an appointment.

I would get this seen by your vet to be on the safe side. It may be a healing scab but it looks a little suspicious of ringworm, and that can be easily spread to other pets and people in your household. Another possibility is an allergy to plastic if they have plastic bowls for food or water, but those lesions tend to be located on the chin and lips, not to one side. Your vet will do an exam, probably pluck some hairs from that spot for a fungal culture and may examine some of the cells under a microscope to see if they can identify the cause. Based n these results they should be better able to tell you why this happened and how best to treat it.

A lesion like that could be a bacterial infection or ringworm (which humans can get). Your best option is to have Mocha examined and tested for ringworm. Make sure to protect the area from rubbing and scratching and she should wear an elizabethan collar at all times. Here is a link about ringworm just in case: https://www.petcoach.co/article/ringworm-in-cats/ I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

If you are referring to the small circlular dot on the skin in front of the opening to the ear, it is possible this is just a spot of pigment in the skin- like a freckle. I cannot tell for certain with a photo, but if the area is not raised or irritated that would be my suspicion. With ear mites or infection we see redness and discharge down inside the ear canal/ear hole. If it is a raised scab in that spot, and inside the ear hole looks clean and not red at all, it could just be a small wound. If you notice redness or discharge in the ear canal, an exam is needed. Or if your cat is scratching at the ears or shaking his head, he should be examined.

It is difficult to diagnose without actually seeing the lesion but it could be an infection or possibly a squamous cell carcinoma which is more common in white cats. If your vet is not able to diagnose then you should find another vet in your area that can examine your cat.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Lizzie. She appears to have an inflamed area with a scab on it. Has she been scratching her ears or shaking her head? The most likely scenario is an ear infection. This is usually itchy and the patient can cause self trauma from scratching. A lot of times there will be brown to black discharge coming out of the ear. The ear canal, however, is deep and there can be an infection that is not even visible from the outside. She will need to see her veterinarian to determine if this is the case or if she has a small mass growing. I hope this information helps!

I would be really suspicious of ringworm. Although there could be other causes as well such as stick tight fleas, frost bite, infections, etc. I would encourage you to have him evaluated by your veterinarian soon. In the meantime please practice good hygiene after handling him as ringworm is contagious to people as well. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.