Four eared cats have two ears and four ear flaps

This is a quick note and a cross-post. I am a little irritated by the news media who have recently written about a Tennessee kitten with "four ears". There's lots of excitement within the news media about this. They like anatomical curiosities. It's a bit like the Victorian voyeurism of freaks at freak shows. 

Four eared cats have two ears and four ear flaps. Image: MikeB

But they get it wrong. When a cat has "four ears" they actually have four ear flaps - the bit that we see and which captures sound - but internally they have two middle ears and two inner ears. In other words they have two ears but they have for ear flaps, one extra which is normally much smaller than the original one due to a genetic mutation about which the scientists don't know anything almost because this is quite a rare condition.

That's the picture. I wanted to correct what the newspapers are saying. Because they almost blindly shout from the rooftops that this cat has four ears when he does not. He has two ears because the word "ear" describes the entire anatomy including the ear flap, the middle ear, and the inner ear.

In another act of misrepresentation I would argue, they have called this ginger tabby and white cat with a long face and large ear flaps (possible Oriental Shorter genes somewhere in the) "Audio". That's the opposite to what he should be called because 'audio' means producing sound whereas ear flaps capture sound. Another anomaly!

------------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

How do I clean my cat's ears?

I guess the first point to make is that cats don't need their ears cleaning routinely. In fact, you might never need to do it and probably won't need to do it throughout your cat's entire life. I would argue that it is only under exceptional circumstances when there is an excessive amount of wax, dirt or debris visible in the ear that you should consider cleaning them. It would be unlikely, in my view, for ears to be this dirty under normal circumstances. Seeing some wax in the ear is not a reason to clean them because the wax is there for a purpose i.e. to maintain ear health and to capture bits of debris which head towards the eardrum.

Cleaning a cat's ears. Screenshot.

My reference manual for this article is Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook by four American veterinarians. They say that for small amounts of waxy debris a damp cotton ball or a cotton tipped swab works well. A cat should tolerate it. The vets stress that you should not put any cleaning solution in the ear but use a special cleaning solution from your veterinarian. In America this might be Epi-Optic but just check with a veterinarian first; I would. This is applied to the external ear canal and after application you massage the base of the ear to loosen the dirt, debris and ear wax. You then gently wipe out the ear with a cotton ball.

In the ear flap that there are ear folds and creases and these areas can be cleaned with a cotton tipped swab moistened with oil or a cleaning solution. You don't push the cotton-tip swab into the ear canal under any circumstances as this will make matters worse by jamming the debris towards the eardrum where it will be impossible to get out. You'd have to go to a veterinarian to have that removed professionally.

They also say that you should not use ether, alcohol or other irritating solvents to help you clean your cat's ears. They can cause pain and inflame the tissues inside the ear. Cats will probably object in this sort of ear cleaning so you may have to restrain them. You should try and keep calm and quiet while doing it and provide them with a treat afterwards.

Restraining a cat is quite difficult, I think. Cats can generally struggle against restraint. I also think that you have to work quickly because there will be a time limit based upon how long your cat accepts it. Some will be more pliable than others. 

I think if you hold a cat by the scruff of their neck it will restrain and subdue them but only for a certain period of time perhaps around 15 seconds which sounds very short but this is the kind of time-limit one has, I think, for doing these sorts of procedures. Perhaps two phases of 15 seconds might be the way forward.

The alternative is a towel wrapped around them. This is probably better provided the cat accepts it. It will provide more time.

Here is a video on the topic. I have not seen it except for the first 20 seconds or so. The advice may differ to that provided here.

Cat Ears Warm to Touch

The reason why the ears of a cat are warm to the touch is because the blood vessels are very near the surface.  The blood circulates around the body. The body temperature of a domestic cat is 100 to 103°F.  This is 37.7°C to 39.4°C.  

This is quite a warm temperature and when you touch the earflaps of a cat you more or less feel this temperature less a certain amount because you are not in direct contact with the blood and the blood will cool temporarily as it passes through the flap.

The fact that the ear flap (pinna) is so fragile and thin and that the blood vessels run near the surface within the flap, provides an opportunity for a veterinarian and a cat owner to administer medication via the ear flap.

Certain medications placed against the ear flap are absorbed into the bloodstream. One such medication is transdermal Methimazole.

Transdermal means through or across the skin. You can see a video on this page about the application of this medication which is for feline hyperthyroidism.

What Does a Cat Signal with Its Ears?

A cat's ears are expressive because they are very mobile. They are mobile because there are many muscles to control the earflap. A cat's ears can change direction so the ears can pick up sound from different sources and they can also be placed into different postures. Each posture is a reflection of the emotional state of the cat.

There are 5 basic ear signals which are related to the following moods: relaxed, agitated, defensive, alert and aggressive.

RELAXED

When a cat is relaxed the cat's ears point forward. They also point slightly outward. The cat quietly listens and quickly picks up interesting sounds over a large frequency range. A cat's hearing range is wider than ours and can pick up much higher frequencies.

ALERT

When a cat picks up an interesting sound, the position of the ears indicate an alert mode. The cat stares at the point of interest and the ears become fully erect. The ears rotate slightly so that they point directly forwards. As long as the cat looks towards the interesting sound the ears remain pricked up. If while the cat is focused on this particular sound, another sound is emitted somewhere else one of the cat's ears will turn and face that sound. Only the ear points towards the new sound as the cat remains looking at the original interesting sound. Sometimes a cat will listen behind him by swiveling his ears to the rear (actually half to the rear) while looking ahead. This is commonplace in fact.

AGITATED

An agitated cat will be suffering from frustration, apprehension and might be in a state of emotional conflict.  The cat's ears will demonstrate a nervous twitch. A particular wild cats species called the caracal has the longest ear tufts of all the cats and the tufts is black. These tufts will move more than the ear itself and are used as a means of communication or to provide signals to other cats. The Maine Coon has, for a domestic cat, the longest tufts of hair at the end of its ears of all the domestic cats.

Another purebred cat that has more than the usual amount of visibility in respect of its ear tufts, is the Abyssinian.

Ear damaged in fight

DEFENSIVE

A defensive cat displays flattened ears. The cat's ears are pressed tightly against the head. This protects the ears if a fight starts. There are many photographs on the Internet of stray and feral cats with torn ears from fights so you can see why a cat has developed a method to minimise damage to them.

When viewed from the side, the flattened and ears are almost invisible and the head has a more rounded profile. The well-known cat breed the Scottish Fold has ears that are permanently folded down against its head which gives the appearance that the cat is permanently in a defensive mode.

AGGRESSIVE

An aggressive cat has a special ear posture. The cat's ears are rotated but not fully flattened. This posture allows the back of the earflaps to be visible to the opposite cat. This is a position which indicates to the opposite cat that the cat is ready for action and trouble. It is a preliminary behaviour and a signal that the cat is ready to fight. The signal can be made more pronounced and obvious in the species of wild cats because on the back of the earflaps they often have white or light coloured fur in the shape of a filled circle or similar shape. This makes the rotated ear even more visible than usual.

The position of the cat's ear under these circumstances is a warning to the opposite cat. The ears are not signalling that the cat is defensive. The cat is signalling that its ears are ready to be flattened into a defensive position in preparation for a fight; hence that this position is a signal that the fight will imminently start.

You will see the light coloured hair referred to above on the back of the ear flaps of wild cat hybrid domestic cats because their wild cat parents have those spots. The ear spots are called “ocelli". In the wildcat hybrid the spots are not as bright as they are on his or her wildcat parent's ears.

Cat Sunburn

CAT SUNBURN -- News 8th July 2013: Murray has won Wimbledon under hot sunny conditions than extend across the UK. The forecast is for more sun and heat. Great but strange ;). Cats can get sunburned, even in Scotland! This is what happened to Luna. Scotland is not known for its hot weather but it does have its moments. Ruth aka Kattaddorra, a regular and valued visitor to PoC recently wrote about cats in hot weather. There are things we should be aware of and should do.

Luna

White cats are particularly vulnerable to sunburn because their fur has no pigmentation (melanin) which is why it is white. The lack of pigmentation reduces the protective properties of the fur. The parts of the cat's anatomy where the fur is particularly thin are the ear flaps. They are also in the direct glare of the sun at a 90° angle to it. This ensures the sun's rays have maximum burning effect.

Cats are not aware that their ears are getting sunburned. The problem can become very severe to the point where the only option is for the ears to be amputated. Removal of badly sunburned ears removes the risk of skin cancer. Cats Protection in North Ayrshire is now looking after her. She looks a bit odd. I like that. It makes her special. She deserves a nice home and some shaded resting places.