Ear scratches

I have a 1 year old male cat who keeps scratching behind his ears. It has caused big sores and he won't stop, I tried cleaning his ears, applying mite medication, flea baths, and even putting claw caps on him. I put antibiotic ointment on the sores to keep them from getting infected but he keeps scratching.

Hello - I'm sorry to hear about this frustrating condition and hope that I can help a little.  Scratching of an ear is a symptom, in the way that limping is a symptom.  Ten people who suffer with limps can have as many different underlying diseases; 1) one leg shorter than the other 2) a foreign body in the shoe 3) a toe-nail clipped too far down 4) yeast infection 5) a burn wound 6) a veruca 7) a fracture 8) missing bones since birth 9) a snapped tendon and 10) untreated diabetes.   Why am I telling you this?   Because people understand limps and you will immediately appreciate there is no one treatment which would fix all 10 of these problems.  Unfortunately, the same is true of itchy ears.  There are many things that can lead to this situation but without knowing what is going on in this particular case, your vet is unlikely to guess the correct treatment first time.  You are also unlikely to guess right first time, let alone we who have never met the patient.  I can give you a 'differentials' list for itchy ears.  However, it is your vets' role to fins the underling cause.  A lot of vets check that the ear-drum is as intact as they can be certain of, then initially 'try' a drop or cream.  However, this approach usually relies on clients returning for a recheck when the trial hasn't worked, in order that investigations can be continued.  'Itchy ears' sounds like a minor thing - a thing that a tube of cream can easily clear up - but it is frequently more complex and get deteriorate very quickly, so I'm afraid that it's a symptom that needs to be taken seriously.

Possible causes of itchy ears in a cat

1. Skin disease e.g. allergy
2. Parasites e.g. fleas and ear-mites
3. Pain in the head (including teeth) shoulders or even elsewhere in the body
4. Headaches / blood pressure changes
5. Neuropathy (nerve pain)
6. Polyps or lumps in the throat / inner ear canal
7. Skin cancer
8. Skin damage e.g. a bite wound
9. Neck pain, even secondary to lameness
10. Very rarely, it is suggested that there could be a nervous compulsion, but often in these cases the vet simply hasn't detected the source of the pain.
11. Ear infection
12. Foreign body, haematoma in the ear
13. Tumour or polyp in the ear

Vets often start by checking the ears and may provide conservative treatment in case the symptoms prove to be temporary or easily controlled.  After that, investigations often begin.   I hope that something in this list might prove valuable to your finding the cause of your cats' symptoms.