Most cats don’t need to have their ears cleaned. But some cats are prone to ear infections and waxy buildup that can easily become something much more serious. For these felines, regular ear cleaning is a necessary part of their maintenance and grooming.

Ear infections can cause your cat’s ears to be inflamed, red, and painful. There might even be discharge or unpleasant odors coming from their ears. But a good cat ear cleaner can help to neutralize the bacteria and remove all the dirt, debris, and excess earwax, while even drying the ear canal out to prevent future bacterial growth.

If you’re like us, you don’t feel comfortable filling your cat’s ears with random chemicals. So, we did a lot of research before choosing the following best cat ear cleaning solutions to compare in our reviews. Hopefully, they’ll save you the time and expense of testing them all as we did.

A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites in 2024

The 10 Best Cat Ear Cleaners

1. MalAcetic Otic Cleanser for Cats — Best Overall

MalAcetic Otic Cleanser for Cats is a medicated formula that cleans, degreases, and dries cats’ ears, and it’s our pick for the best overall ear cleaner. It features acetic and boric acid to get rid of germs and keep moisture at bay. It’s designed for bacterial and fungal infections that aren’t advanced; it also helps prevent the proliferation of yeast and bacteria.

MalActic Otic has a light apple scent that gives it a light smell. The cleanser isn’t geared toward relieving itchy ears caused by allergies, and it’s not meant to be used on irritated skin.

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2. PetArmor Ear Rinse for Cats — Best Value

PetArmor Ear Rinse is a quality ear cleaner that won’t break the bank, as it’s our pick for the best ear cleaner for the money. It’s designed to eliminate debris and wax, and the formulation also features ketoconazole, salicylic acid, and lactic acid to fight fungus and bacteria.

It comes in an easy-to-use bottle to make it simple to get the rinse into pets’ ears without too much spillage. The product generally works relatively quickly; under the right circumstances, improvements may be seen in just a few days. It features a fragrance the company calls Tropical Waters.

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3. PetSilver Antimicrobial Cat Ear Wash — Premium Choice

PetSilver’s ear wash hits all the high notes with its natural antifungal and antibacterial formulation featuring chelated silver, which quickly eliminates bacteria and fungi. Chelated silver is a natural microbicide that prevents bacteria and yeast from metabolizing oxygen.

The product can be used for problems related to bacterial and yeast infections. The ear wash goes to work immediately, facilitating speedy healing and inflammation reduction. It’s odorless, which is a plus for pets and people with sensitive noses.

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4. Hepper Wash Wipes – Most Convenient

The Hepper Wash Wipes are a versatile product that can be used not only on your cat’s ears but its fur, coat, and skin, too. They can be used on cats and dogs of all sizes and breeds. The wipes are thick, soft, and strong, so they can tackle dirty ears and fur while being gentle on your pet’s sensitive areas. Since the wipes are so durable, they won’t tear apart in your hands, making cleaning your cat’s ears quick and easy. There are 30 wipes in each pack. The wipes are made in the USA, so you know that the company needs to meet stringent health guidelines for manufacturing. For these reasons, we believe the Hepper Wash Wipes are the best overall cat ear cleaner available on the market.

At Excited Cats, we’ve admired Hepper for many years and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding designs of this cool cat company!

At Catster, we’ve admired Hepper for many years and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding designs of this cool cat company!

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5. VetWELL EarWELL Otic Cleansing Solution

VetWELL’s Otic Cleansing Solution features ingredients such as lactic acid, salicylic acid, and benzoic acid that work together to eliminate dirt, nasty smells, and wax. It also features aloe vera to provide an extra bit of relief to irritated skin and reduce some of the itching and scratching that often accompany ear conditions.

By helping keep cats’ ears clean, the product may encourage conditions less welcoming to the development of ear infections. It has a cucumber-melon scent that helps with odor control, but it has a watery consistency.

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6. Oxyfresh Cat Ear Cleaner

This cat ear cleaner from Oxyfresh is one of the more expensive options we tested. To be fair, the bottle looks nice, but that doesn’t have any bearing on how the product performs.

The Oxyfresh cleaner neutralizes the bacteria that cause bad odors so your pet can smell fresh. Well, that’s the theory at least. It doesn’t work that well in reality since this product has a strong and unpleasant odor of its own that you’ll be replacing your cat’s ear odor with. Not quite the solution we were hoping for.

Thankfully, this formula is alcohol-free so it’s easier on sensitive ears. But considering the price and the smell, we’ll keep opting for more affordable solutions that don’t come with the same stink.

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7. Sulfodene Ear Cleaner

The Sulfodene Ear Cleaner comes in an easy applicator bottle that makes it quicker to get your cat’s ear cleaning routine done and over with. But it’s not quite as effective as other products we’ve used. This one required several applications to loosen and remove all of the earwax and dirt.

This ear cleaner helps to reduce the risk of inflammation and infection in your cat’s ears. But if your cat’s ears are already emitting unpleasant odors, you’ll need to look for a different solution because this one doesn’t do anything to combat those odors. In the end, we’d suggest skipping this entirely in favor of a more effective formula that will get rid of those nasty smells.

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8.Tomlyn Veterinarian Formulated Cat Ear Cleaner

The Tomlyn Veterinarian Formulated Cat Ear Cleaner begins fighting yeast and bacteria within just 15 seconds of application. Formulated by veterinarians, this solution is great for preventing and healing ear infections, but it’s also good for daily use as part of a normal grooming routine. Once applied, the Tomlyn solution inhibits microbial growth, ensuring that no new problems occur.

Like most of the solutions we tested, our cats had zero interest in this one. That’s to be expected. But this one also had a terrible odor that was difficult to stomach. Granted, only a few of these solutions had scents that were palatable, but we’ll opt for those ones every time.

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9. Pets Are Kids Too Premium Pet Ear Cleaner

This product from Pets Are Kids Too is marketed as a premium pet ear cleaner, so it’s accompanied by a premium price that’s far more expensive than the competition. Luckily, it contains no harmful chemicals so it’s a good fit for sensitive ears. Still, for the price, we’d rather purchase two bottles of one of the other products and get twice as much.

We did notice that our cats wanted nothing to do with this ear cleaner. They don’t particularly enjoy any of the ear cleaners, but this bottle sent them running every time. We like that it provides relief from itching and scratching, but there are other products that can do the same for much cheaper.

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10. Zymox Veterinary Strength Cat Ear Cleanser

The Zymox Cat Ear Cleanser is advertised as being veterinary strength, so it should be strong enough to clean even the dirtiest ears. It’s a plant-based formula that manages to remove dirt and wax without harmful chemicals. In our testing, it did manage to remove a lot of dirt and wax, but other issues prevented it from climbing to a higher position on our list.

First, this product isn’t for use in irritated ears, which is why many people are getting a cat ear cleaner to begin with. Once we used it, we noticed that there was a greasy film left behind in our cats’ ears. Needless to say, they didn’t seem too pleased by this, and neither were we.

But that’s not all that was left behind. There was also a terrible scent stuck to our cats that didn’t want to come off. It might be effective at removing dirt and earwax, but we can’t recommend the Zymox Cat Ear Cleanser because of the greasy film and terrible odor it leaves behind.

Buyer’s Guide: Choosing the Best Cat Ear Cleaning Solutions

While there are many different products available for cleaning your cat’s ears, there isn’t a whole lot of difference between them. In reality, you’re just looking for an effective product that doesn’t leave behind a terrible scent or dye your cat’s fur. Luckily, as you’ve seen, there are plenty of products that can fulfill this need. But how do you go about cleaning your cat’s ears once you have the product?

Getting the product is only half the battle. Let’s take a minute to quickly cover how to clean your cat’s ears so that you’re fully prepared once your product arrives.

How to Clean Your Cat’s Ears

Cleaning your cat’s ears can be a bit stressful, but if you follow these steps, it shouldn’t be difficult, and it will get easier each time you do it.

Remember, if your cat’s ears are red, swollen, or overly sensitive, then you should see your vet before cleaning their ears as this might be a sign of an ear infection or even a ruptured eardrum.

Conclusion

We hope these reviews have given you a good starting point in your quest to find the right ear cleaner for your cat. MalAcetic’s Otic Cleanser is an excellent all-around choice that’s gentle on ears, has antimicrobial properties, and helps keep cats’ ears dry and clean.

PetArmor’s Ear Rinse is an affordable option that keeps fungus and bacteria under control. Our premium pick, PetSilver’s Antimicrobial  Cat Ear Wash, uses chelated silver to deliver fast-acting antimicrobial action. Before using an ear cleaner on your cat, speak to your veterinarian to ensure it’s suitable for your pet.

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Featured Image Credit: frantic00, Shutterstock