Cat Ear Infection

Our cat started scratching his right ear a lot a couple months ago. We took him to the vet. They said he had no ear mites or infections. But they suspected allergies. We went home with some ear drops. It improved for a little bit, then a few weeks later got a lot worse. His ear developed a bad smell and he started having facial paralysis. We went to the vet again (several actually) and they now suspect that he has an inner ear infection but they can't say for sure since they can't see that far into his ear. His ear drum was in tact at the time. Now during our third visit, they think it may have ruptured since he had been bleeding a lot from the ear and his balance has been affected when he walks and jumps. They gave us an antibiotic for him but we are not sure it is working. On top of that he is now barely eating which our vet thinks may be nausea related to the balance issues. So they will be giving us some medication for nausea. We are very worried about him and our vet does not seem to know what to do for him. They told us that to even confirm that our cat has an inner ear infection, he would need advanced diagnostics (CT scan, and a culture). But the nearest place that can do this is a 3 hour drive away. So we are wondering is antibiotics the right course of action and would advanced diagnostics be necessary? We are also super worried about the blood, is this normal for an inner ear infection? Thank you for your help!

Hello!  What an unpleasant situation for everybody.  Undoubtedly in such circumstances a referral to an expert is best for the patient and most helpful, and also from the vet's point of view (who must be concerned that they do the right thing to help the patient).  This way, you can ensure that the best of knowledge is being employed - it doesn't always solve the problem, but at least some of the most advanced  knowledge available is  being accessed and appropriately used (we can't all be experts on everything).  On a practical level, I would never encourage clients to beat themselves up over resources they don't have;  it's all about doing the best we can for the patient with the money available.  Some specialists may be generous with their phone time but unfortunately everyone is extremely overworked at the moment.  Occasionally there are online or practise-wide forums where vets can talk through anonymous cases.

It is not common to see bleeding from the ear canal itself, especially not from the inner ear (it must be going through the ear drum to get out if this is the case!)   If you do see a specialist, I would be extremely interested to hear what is found.