There’s a lot to having a new four-legged member of the family, and there’s many things to learn when you’re caring for a kitten. There’s food to buy and places to set up for the kitten to sleep, play, eat, and go to the washroom, but caring for a kitten also means you’ll need to look at things you might not expect.
Caring for a kitten also means the new owner needs to be aware of any problems with their ears. Although kittens generally don’t require any special eye care except the occasional cleaning and inspection, older kittens should have their ears cleaned with a few drops of light mineral oil or a specially prepared solution.
Until you become an expert, caring for a kitten can be a little daunting. The inside of the feline ear should be moistened with a few drops of solution, but only the more experienced owner should use a cotton swab to clean it away. Novices should always only use a finger-held cotton ball.
Of course you mean well, but caring for a kitten is quite often a thankless task. If your animal doesn’t take well to the ear cleaning procedure, it’s best to wrap kitty in a towel to restrain the claws and get a friend to help you.
But a good cleaning isn’t always the best way to go about caring for a kitten. Sometimes your kitten might suffer from ear mites. Constant scratching at the ears with the paws is a sure sign of infestation, and if you see red inflammation on the inside of the kitten’s ears, take the animal to a vet but don’t attempt to clean the kitten’s ears yourself. A black caking or crusting is another symptom.