Accepted Answer

Hello Garth

Much ear wax can cause temporary deafness and cleaning the ears accompanied by treatment for the ear mites and infection is very important. If you are unable to clean her ears at home, it would be advisable to take your cat to see her vet for an ear clean. This may be able to be done while she is awake, but may need a light sedative to ensure that the procedure is done thoroughly.

Your vet would also need to assess whether her ear drum is intact, as damage to the ear drum can result in deafness. Once the underlying cause of a ruptured ear drum is removed, it often can repair with hearing returning to the affected ear.

Middle or inner ear infections are not always very obvious, and these can also impair hearing. The only way that this can be diagnosed is tentatively by direct observation of the ear drum (pus and discharge can sometimes be seen behind the eardrum causing it to bulge), but confirmation requires x rays and even sometimes an MRI scan.

Damage to the nerve supply to the hearing apparatus can cause deafness, but this can be difficult to assess and diagnose in animals, unless noted on MRI scan.

As you can see, the cause of possible deafness can either be very straight forward and simple to resolve or can be due to more complex conditions. Try cleaning her ears at home first, but if you aren't satisfied with the outcome then rather get your vet to have a look at her. Good ear cleaning products are available over the counter at your vet surgery - please don't get them from anywhere else!

I hope this has been of some assistance to you and that the deafness problem can be speedily resolved.

LindaR

Expert:	LindaR
Pos. Feedback:	100.0 %
Accepts:
Answered:	2/4/2009

Cat Veterinarian

15+ years in small animal practice with experience in feline medicine, surgery and critical care