Black bumps in cat's ear.

Dr. Marie replied:

Thanks for the great picture of these black bumps in your friend's cats' ears:



Have these been diagnosed as melanomas? Because they look much more like something called ceruminous cysts.

Ceruminous cysts can appear in cats when there are chronic ear problems. If I had a client who had several cats in one household that had ceruminous cysts then I would wonder if ear mites were present because this would be a contagious reason for chronic ear problems. The chronic irritation in the ear can lead to these cysts.

Sometimes ceruminous cysts can be treated with a prescription steroid medication in the ear but sometimes they do need surgery to go away.

There are other things that could cause lesions like this such as certain types of cancers but it would be extremely unusual to see this in three cats at one time.

I would highly advise that at least one cat sees the vet and gets checked for ear mites. If they have chronic ear mites then it may be necessary to use a prescription strength ear mite product on every cat in the house otherwise they will keep passing the mites to each other.

The vet can decide whether steroids may help the ear as well.

I hope things improve soon!

Dr. Marie.

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Dr. Marie replied:

I'm not sure what else I can suggest. A topical steroid may help but this would need to be prescribed by a vet.

I wish I could add more!

Dr. Marie.