Otitis externa and otitis media in cats in Assiut : a retrospective study of presenting signs, causes, diagnosis and treatment

Abstract EN

In this study, records of cases admitted to the Small Animal Clinic (SAC), Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) at Assiut University, between years 2007-2011 for investigation of signs of otitis were reviewed and data analyzed.

Points of analysis comprised presenting clinical signs, results of otoscopic examination, identification of cause of otitis and outcome of treatment of each cat.

Treatments used for these cases were either ivermectin injection or topical treatment with antimicrobial/anti-inflammatory ear drops as well as a ceruminolytic agent for cleansing the ear to increase effectiveness of medications used.

Total number of cases with signs of otitis was 76 cats.

Otitis cases comprised 19.8% of the total cases presented at the SAC in the study period.

The most common presenting signs were head shaking, itching and ear wax in 67.11% of cases.

21.05% of cases were presented with severe inflammation, pain and alopecia around the ear pinna.

A small number of cats were presented with signs of alopecia around the ear pinna and concomitant ring worm (3.95%).

The remaining 7.89% were presented with very mild ear scratching in one or two ears.

Sex was not a confounding factor as both males and females were equally represented among cases (51% males: 49% females).

Turkish Angora and Persian cat breeds were over-represented (39.5% and 35.5% respectively).

68 cats were treated with ivermectin injections (1-4 injections) and ten cats were treated with topical antibacterial and anti-inflammatory.

67.11% of treated cases completely recovered and 32.89% of treated cases were not brought back for follow-up visits and therefore information regarding full recovery was not available.

When evaluating a patient with otitis externa, it is important to determine the primary cause as well as the predisposing and perpetuating factors of the otitis so as to manage the otitis properly.

The first diagnostic procedure that should be performed on a patient with a complaint of otitis externa is an otoscopic examination.