ear mites

Question
I have two cats. One cat is almost 3 years old and the other is maybe 3 or 4 months; he was a stray and he has all the symptoms of ear mites and there is visible gunk which looks like coffee grinds, my other cat Button does not show any "in the ear" visible signs only his scratching of his ear, shakes his head, and his ear bends down on occasion.I have been treating them both for ear mites. I have noticed the inside of Button's ear which I remember had all gray skin tone now  has some discoloration such as white patches. Should I be worried about this discoloration? Also, do I need to wash all of our bedding and anything else our pets have come into contact with? Last but not least... can humans get ear mites from cats????

Answer
No, humans cannot get ear mites from cats, but they sure can get it from each other. Whatever you are using doesn't seem to be working very well. You need to get some ear mite medicine from the vets or get them injected at the vets with some ivermectin. It has to be done there or you can kill them if they get too much.


Flea control on the cat itself also helps kill the population because the mites will crawl into the fur sometimes.
I am not sure what this coloration would be from but it could be the medication is changing the color.

The things the cats sleep on should be washed in hot water to kill off any eggs and mites. But most importantly, get these two to your vet and get some good treatment medication.