What is the meaning of ear mites?

What are the reasons for ear mites in cats? 

How could we know that is in our pets? 

How do we get rid of ear mites naturally? 

What is the meaning of ear mites in cats? 

Firstly, let us know what ear mites are? Before talking about home remedy for ear mites in cats. 

Ear mites are common trouble in pets (cats & dogs), especially in kittens. 

They are very small creatures that live on the ear surface in pets (cats & dogs). 

They keep their life cycle in pet ears, feeding on discharge in the ear canal. 

Ear mites in cats: Causes & Symptoms

Ear mites are spider-like creatures that could be in any place with poor hygiene or outdoors where your pet gets them in its fur. 

Your cat may get them by contacting another pet carrying ear mites. 

How do you know that your cat has ear mites? 

You notice some symptoms that ensure your pet has ear mites. 

Symptoms:

• Shaking its head. 

• Red & inflamed ears. 

• Scratching its ears. 

• Irritated & itchy. 

• Rashes or sores over ears. 

• Black dry discharge of ear with a bad smell. 

What would you do to avoid getting ear mites in your cat? 

You should use a home remedy for ear mites in cats as care, not a cure because your pet can easily get ear mites and keep them in its ear canal.

When you have a cat or even a kitten, you care about its health and purgation against any creatures which harm it. 

Ear mites spread quickly in kittens. 

You should take some steps for keeping your pet free of ear mites. 

• Continuously, you clean the ear canal with Olive oil, Coconut oil, or OTC solution which is available for pets. 

• Use cotton or tissue to remove any debris or wax out of the ear that ear mites feed on. 

• Vacuum your home frequently to remove mites and their eggs because one egg can reach your cat ear. 

Note: Keep your pet healthy with a good diet. As such, your cat has a strong immune system and healthy skin could make it not an ideal host for ear mites. 

How do you eradicate ear mites in cats? 

When you are sure that your cat has ear mites in, you should contact the veterinarian to diagnose and determine the best cure for your pet. 

Until this time you can use a home remedy for ear mites in cats, it will not be the best solution after infection but it can help to some extent. 

Home remedy for ear mites in cats

Natural products which almost are in every home could be an available solution. Natural remedies are characterized by being free of chemicals and safe to some extent. 

Top 5 home remedies to get rid of ear mites in cats:

1. Oils. 

2. Aloe vera. 

3. Organic honey. 

4. vaseline. 

5. Apple cider vinegar. 

1. Oils:

• Olive oil:

It is the most common home remedy for ear mites in cats and is used for many other cases. It has antibacterial properties. Put a sufficient amount of Olive oil into the cat ear cavity.

It cleans the ear canal from debris which you can remove with a cotton pad. It also works as a moisturizing agent which reduces itching and irritation. It also promotes healing. 

Note that cotton swabs should not be used. 

• Coconut oil:

 It is known for its benefits in different problems for humans and animals. Use coconut oil after warming, put in some drops and gently massage your cat ears.

Someone mixes Garlic oil with Coconut oil, it is effective but you must take care that your cat can't lick it because garlic oil is very toxic to pets. 

• Essential oils:

Such as Eucalyptus oil, Lavender Oil, and Tea Tree oil. Any of them could be used as a home remedy for ear mites in cats after dilution. They are dangerous if used in their concentrated forms.

So you must dilute essential oils with a carrier oil like Olive or Coconut oil before application on your pet ears. Be careful that your cat doesn't lick essential oils. It also has moisturizing properties. 

2. Aloe Vera:

It is an effective home remedy for ear mites in cats as it is good for healing. It also decreases the inflammation and pain sensation of your cat's ears. You apply aloe vera on your cat's ears until the mites are eradicated. 

3. Organic Honey:

You must be sure that it is raw honey which means honey before the pasteurization process. This process preserves honey for a long life but also destroys some of its health benefits. 

Organic or raw honey contains antioxidants that help in healing wounds. It also has antifungal and antibacterial properties. It acts as an antiseptic also for including a natural form of hydrogen peroxide. 

Take a small amount of raw honey with a cotton ball and rub it into the ear canal of your cat. Let it for 20—30 minutes, then remove with warm water. You repeat this process twice daily if you can and your cat permits. 

4. Vaseline (petroleum jelly):

It is characterized by its highly effective healing wounds and small cuts. It also has strong antifungal, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties.

It will decrease swelling and irritation of the ears. You just rub vaseline into your cat's ears twice to three times daily till getting rid of mites. 

5. Apple cider vinegar:

It is known for its great benefits. It has antibacterial properties and also reduces the cholesterol and blood pressure of animals. It is a good home remedy for ear mites in cats, but it should be diluted with water 1:1.

Put the diluted solution in a spray bottle to spray gently into the cat's ears and take care about the acidity of the solution and not to spray on any open sores. Do this once or twice daily for 10 days. 

What will happen if ear mites in cats are not treated? 

Ear mites are easy to treat after knowing the types of home remedy for ear mites in cats. But if you let your pet without a cure, it will cause damage to its ears. Mites love living in-ears but it also can penetrate all the body if it is not treated. Your cat may lose its hearing and mites cause deafness of one or a pair of ears as the last consequence. 

Summary:

You must take care of your cat's cleanliness. If you notice any change in its behavior, check it quickly. It may have ear mites. It causes irritation and scratches your cat and may injure its ears. It will be better to get rid of mites at the beginning and by using an available home remedy for ear mites in cats.

Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles in the dermis. It is a characteristic part of mammals. 

It consists of three layers: Cuticle (outermost layer), the Cortex (middle layer), and Medulla (central and innermost layer). 

Types of hair:

Hair type is based on hair's curl pattern, the shape of the hair follicle determines what type of hair you have. 

Which can be straight, wavy, curly, or coily. There is a positive relationship between the asymmetrical hair follicle and is curly.

Your hair type is determined by genetics. It can be affected with time by your hormones changes, some medicines, heat, and Chemicals. 

Before talking about shea moisture low porosity shampoo, let us know what is the meaning of porosity? 

Porosity determines hair's ability to absorb and retain moisture. You may think that is a normal or easy deal, but you couldn't imagine that it is an important thing that can affect all hair products you use.

Rather than wasting your money and time on products that don't match your hair porosity. 

You can eradicate this problem by a simple test for your hair to know your porosity type. Or with the help of a hair expert. 

What is hair porosity? 

Hair porosity is how cuticles lie on the hair follicle, flatted cuticles disable the movement of moisture in and out of the hair. 

On the otherwise, raised cuticles create tiny pores that allow moisture to move in and out of the hair. 

Types of hair porosity:

There are 3 types of hair porosity:

• High

• Medium

• Low

Highly porous hair takes moisture easily in, but it also escapes quickly and does not retain. Low porous hair can't absorb moisture easily, but once the moisture is in it is easy to retain.

In between, there is medium or called normal porosity hair also which has raised cuticles, which easily absorb moisture and retain it. 

Briefly, 

• High porosity hair is characteristic with easy absorption moisture but is quickly lost. 

• Medium or Normal porosity hair is characteristic with easy absorption of moisture and keeping in.

• Low porosity hair is characteristic with difficulty absorbing moisture but easily retained. So it is preferred to use products that eliminate this disability like shea moisture low porosity shampoo. 

How do you know your porosity type? 

There are two tests, you can do one of them. The Slip test and The Water test. 

1. The Slip test:

Move your fingers up and down in a single strand of dry hair, if they move easily and quickly, your hair has low porosity. If you feel some resistance when moving, your hair has high porosity. 

If it was in between, your hair has normal porosity. 

2. The Water test: 

Wash your hair well with shampoo to remove any product in it then take a single strand of your hair and put it gently on a cup full of water. Wait for 3 minutes, then notice what happened to the hair. If it is still on the water surface, you have low porosity hair. If it floats in the middle of the water, you have normal porosity hair. If it sunk at the bottom, your hair is low porosity type.

Note:

The Slip test does not need effort or time, but The Water test is more accurate. 

Shea moisture low porosity shampoo and properties:

If you have low porosity hair which means that there are no spaces between cuticles as they tend to overlap one another and hold tightly. It isn't easy for water and other products to deliver moisture to the hair shaft. 

Characteristic of low porosity hair:

• Products keep on your hair surface instead of being absorbed. Try to apply a moisturizer or hair oil to the deep of your hair, you will notice after about half an hour that the product is still on the surface. Your hair can absorb a little amount of your product or even not. 

• Washing and drying take a long time because water takes a long time to be penetrated through hair follicles. Then once water gets into it is difficult to dry. 

Instead of wasting your time and money by using products which need high amounts of them and effort to penetrate. You should choose products that suit your low porosity hair. The best formula for this type of hair is a shampoo, and shea moisture low porosity shampoo is very recommended. 

Best products for low porosity hair whose formulas contain emollients such as Shea butter, Coconut oil, Mineral oil, and Jojoba oil. Low porosity hair also benefits from products rich in humectants like Honey or Glycerin which hold moisture in low porosity hair. 

Advice:

Choose light and liquid-based products which are easily absorbed and retained. One of these products is shea moisture low porosity shampoo, as it has these properties. 

Shea moisture low porosity shampoo:

Firstly, we need to know more about shea butter. What is shea butter? 

Shea tree is called the "Tree of life" as it can solve different problems of hair, health, and skin. Shea butter itself is known as "Mother Nature's conditioner" as it has softening and moisturizing characters. 

Shea butter contains high concentrations of fatty acids which make it best for cosmetics. Shea butter also has healing and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also called a "Skin superfood" because of nourishes the skin, promotes its clarity, and gets rid of some issues like dryness, dark spots, discoloration, stretch marks, wrinkles, and blemishes. 

Shea butter is used widely in hair products as it nourishes and moisturizes hair from root to surface. It also protects hair against dryness and gives it brittleness. 

Shea moisture low porosity shampoo is recommended;

As its main constituents are:

• Omega 9 (Oleic acid):

It maintains the softness and radiance of hair. It stimulates the growth of long, strong, and thick hair. It eradicates dandruff. 

• Palmitic acid:

It softens hair without leaving a greasy or sticky discharge. It has an emollient property. 

• Omega 6 / vitamin F (Linoleic acid):

It moisturizes and stimulates hair growth. 

• Stearic acid:

It is an emulsifying agent to bind oil with water. It also protects hair from damage without making it feel heavy. Has cleansing properties that eliminate dirty and excess sebum from the hair. 

• Polyphenols:

They are characteristic of the ability to keep moisture in the hair. 

Summary

You should be careful about your hair care routine and know suit products for your hair porosity type. As we mentioned before, low porosity hair is difficult to moisturize, so shampoo is recommended for low porosity hair specially shea moisture low porosity shampoo. Because of all of the shea butter properties we mentioned, it is the best ingredient your shampoo should contain. 

By: Dr/Safaa Tarek 

If you are interested, read more about:

Cantu Products For Curly Hair

The Best Products For Low porosity Hair

Bed bugs are very tiny insects, they are reddish-brown, they are like an apple seed in size.

They feed on the blood of humans and animals. 

They are active at night, so they live near where humans sleep. They can be in mattresses, headboards, box springs, and many other places where they can bite a sleeper. 

How do you know that there are bed bugs at your home? 

Firstly, we need to determine if we have bed bugs for sure, before thinking about home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. 

It isn't easy to know that bed bugs exist in your home, because of their size. So, some signs illustrate if you have bed bugs. 

Signs:

• If you wake up with a red spot on your skin that didn't disappear during the day, unlike mosquito bites.

• If there are red stains on your bed or mattress which could be dried blood. 

• If you notice black dots on your mattress and bed as it may be bed bugs' fecal matter. 

Till you get rid of bed bugs you can cover all your body, as they can't go under clothes. 

We have to know that there isn't a relationship between the cleanliness of your home and getting bed bugs. 

How do you get bed bugs in your home? 

People can pick them up when traveling and going to hotels or any place that has bed bugs because they can get into your clothes and luggage. 

You can also bring them home by purchasing used furniture as bed bugs can survive up to one year without feeding. So, you should be careful about this. 

What can you do to avoid getting bed bugs into your home? 

When traveling you should keep the acronym  SLEEP in your mind:

• S refers to a survey for any signs of bed bugs as we mentioned before. 

• L refers to Lift means looking for bed bugs on bed frames, bedding, and box spring. 

• E refers to Elevate: don't put your luggage or clothes neither on bed nor floor. 

• E refers to Examine: examine all your objectives before backing home. 

• P refers to Place: put your clothes for washing or drying on high heat for at least 15 minutes after backing home. 

After infestation by yourself or a professional team and be sure that bed bugs exist in your home, you should think about solving this problem which isn't easy and needs attention and carefulness. 

There are chemical and home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. 

Chemicals such as pesticides and insecticides are not recommended because of their dangerous effect such as Mothballs, dryer sheets, and rubbing alcohol. 

So, we will talk in this article about home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. 

Home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently:

As it isn't an easy issue, we prefer to call experts to kill those bed bugs, but we will try by using home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently and safely as such as we can. 

Some home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently which we can use at the beginning: 

1. Vacuum: 

It is your first step in using home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. You must vacuum all objectives which bed bugs can live in such as furniture, walls, bedding, box springs, mattresses, clothes, and papers. 

After vacuuming, don't forget to clean the vacuum bag before bed bugs spread again.

2. Extreme Heat or cold:

• Washable objectives: you must wash them in the hottest water they can. 

• Non-washable items: put them in plastic bags and freeze them in the freezer for at least 24 hours to be sure that all bed bugs and their eggs are dead.

3. Steam cleaning: 

It is used for big objectives like mattresses and furniture. 

4. Diatomaceous Earth:

It is one of the home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. It is natural sand that is very sharp and rough to bed bugs which can split them into pieces.

You can put it on areas where bed bugs live and leave it for 1 to 2 days then vacuum it to remove dead bed bugs and Diatomaceous Earth too.

5. Borax: 

It is one of the most efficient home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. It kills bed bugs by suffocating them.

You can use a sufficient amount and sprinkle on mattresses and leave for at least 24 hours to kill those insects.

If bed bugs won't eat borax, they'll suffer from breathing and also die. 

6. Baking soda:

It isn't an efficient method as we mentioned before, but you can use it as a temporary solution. It dries them out, not kills them. When you put baking soda where they are, they will scare and could escape from home. 

7. peppermint and lavender oil: 

A mixture of lavender and peppermint essential oils could repel bed bugs out of your home. 

8. Vinegar:

It kills bed bugs when concentrated but does not kill larvae. So to be an efficient home remedy, conjugate it with another good method from the list of home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. 

Summary

In the end, you can use home remedies to get rid of bed bugs permanently. And also you should take some precautions to keep bed bugs away from your home. You should be careful when traveling and going to hotels. Cover your mattresses and box springs. Don't leave papers, magazines or clothes on the floor. Vacuum big objectives like furniture continuously.

By: Dr. Safaa Tarek