I recently rescued a boy who’s FIV positive, and I’m pretty sure he has fungus in his ears since they keep getting all gunky and dirty after cleaning them. Don’t think he currently has ear mites, since it’s more waxy than “coffee grounds”. Wondering if anyone else’s FIV kitties struggle with ear infections and how they deal with them?

Doing some research I found that the Zymox Enzymatic ear solution seems to work for people really well for clearing ear fungus up without going to the vet (or if the vet prescribed treatment didn’t work), but I noticed it has hydrocortisone in it to relieve itching. Since it’s a steroid, I’m very wary about giving it to him. I tried doing more research and couldn’t find anything cautioning against hydrocortisone specifically, just the general steroids like prednisolone.

Even if I did take him to the vet, it looks like the antifungal drops they would prescribe (Tresaderm) also has corticosteroids. Would the steroids decrease his ability to fight off the infection and make it worse? If anyone has any advice/recommendations for products without steroids I’d appreciate it!

That is all

Hi all - My baby boy (well, 5 year old boy) got calicivirus last spring and now has stomatitis. He’s been drooling and itching at his mouth, although generally eating just fine. The extractions are set for 2 months from now because I’m in my first semester of law school and the vet said it should be ok to wait until after my finals. So he’s going in the next day from my last final.

I am SO worried about him becoming refractory and I would love to hear of success stories from anyone whose FIV+ kitty recovered from stomatitis 😔 the prospect of him getting worse after the surgery and needing all this special treatment with no hope of what will work is sending me into a spiral. I know I shouldnt even go there, but I need some proof that he’ll be just fine!!