Ear Mites
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Susan sent the following, which was inspired this piece compiled from information found at :http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ear_mites.html

I don't know what made me think of this stuff today, BUT if anyone has trouble with ear mites, they should consider this product. All of my dogs had ear mites when they arrived. I tried a bunch of stuff and then ordered this product from England (not available in USA) and it cleared their ears up immediately !!!!

It's just a tiny bottle of a powder that you blow a bit of into the ear....dries them right up.

Susan

Ear mites are tiny infectious organisms resembling microscopic ticks. The mite can just barely be seen as a small white dot with the naked eye but usually must be detected by examination of a sample of ear wax under a microscope. Infection usually produces a characteristic dry black ear discharge commonly said to resemble coffee grounds. Because of the classical appearance of this discharge, infection is often diagnosed based on the presence of such discharge though without visual confirmation of the mite under the microscope, it is possible to be led astray. The discharge is composed of ear wax, blood, inflammatory biochemicals, and ear mites themselves.

THE BIZARRE EAR MITE LIFE CYCLE

The mite lives on the surface of the ear canal skin, though sometimes migrates out onto the face and head of its host. Eggs are laid and hatch after 4 days of incubation. The larva hatches from the egg, feeds on ear wax and skin oils for about a week and then molts into a “protonymph,” which in turn molts into a “deutonymph.” The deutonymph mates with the adult male. What seems especially bizarre to us mammals, is the fact that the deutonymph has not yet developed a gender at the time it mates with the adult male.

After mating, the deutonymph molts into either an adult male or an adult female. If she becomes a female, she will be gravid with eggs as a result of the mating. If he develops into a male, there are no consequences to the mating and he is ready to mate with deutonymphs of his own choosing. The adult mite lives approximately two months happily eating ear wax and skin oils. The life cycle (the time it takes for an egg to develop into an adult mite ready for parenthood) requires 3 weeks.

Most ear mite cases are found in cats. Dogs can be infected as well but, since dogs more commonly get ear infections of other types, ear infections in dogs rarely involve mites.