Feline Acne??

I read about feline acne in a previous thread. My Sunny had a black scab looking place on his chin, that eventually went away. I didn't think much of it, figured he got it from fighting with Molly, but now he has another one...and it looks like he has 2 or 3! I was going to take him to the vet...do you think it's this feline acne? What can I do for him?? Could this be why he vomitted today?? I am using ceramic dishes for feeding.

My cat had feline acne. It looks a lot like flea dirt or black heads but it was only on the chin. As it progresses it gets more and more inflamed and starts looking more like acne on a person.

The vet told me to use acne pads on it to try to clear it up while it was still in the "blackhead" stage but that didn't work and it just kept getting worse and worse. It took antibiotics to make it go away. I didn't think that his chin would ever be the same again.


Here's a picture of it in the early stages

Beandip had that on his chin, and despite switching to strictly ceramic bowls, plates, etc ...it only finally went away when I quit feeding him dry food. Thinking about it, it makes sense now...he always craned his neck over the food, dragging his chin in it to eat from the far side of the bowl.

I can't think of how it would cause vomiting.

There's an article about it here

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...tem=felineacne

As a side note, I find it kind of interesting that people often say that cats with white chins are more prone to acne. I think it's just the fact that it's obvious on their pale chins...whereas it would be hard to see on a dark colored one.

Sunny is so good about letting me do just about anything to him! These aren't the greatest pics, but I started pushing my luck with taking pics of his chin! The black scab-looking things are gone since this a.m.

Bella had these and they went away when I started cleaning her bowls at every meal instead of once a day.

I use stainless steel bowls because I can get them really hot and see anything on them easily. We also got rid of the water bowl and put out a fountain.

Vet said if that didn't work the next step was acne pads (yes people kind). If they come back I would say it's time for a vet check to make sure it's really acne.

Did they leave little bald spots that eventually disappeared too??

A few little bald spots, yes. Beandip's chin looks normal now.

Are you feeding from plastic dishes? I've read somewhere that some cats are alergic to something in the plastic material. Can anyone find something to back this info up? Or am I just nuts...

Heyyyy my cat Sky's chin looks like that! I had no idea what it was.
but we feed my cats with steel bowls.

Originally Posted by TickyTat

Are you feeding from plastic dishes? I've read somewhere that some cats are alergic to something in the plastic material. Can anyone find something to back this info up? Or am I just nuts...

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One of our cats is allergic to plastic bowls. If we use them, she gets horrible breakouts on her chin. Switched to stainless steel and ceramic/glass and it's all good now =^.^=

If you cat is prone to acne, then you do need to eliminate any plastic food and water bowls. Ceramic and stainless are good. But you also need to keep those ultra clean and wash them daily if possible. I have 1 cat prone to acne and even though I did the above, it still flared up. I realized that I had the ceramic food bowls on a plastic mat and once I also started cleaning that up with the bowls, the acne episodes nearly stopped.

Originally Posted by TickyTat

Are you feeding from plastic dishes? I've read somewhere that some cats are alergic to something in the plastic material. Can anyone find something to back this info up? Or am I just nuts...

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I don't believe it's allergies so much as the plastic gets tiny scratches in the surface which harbours bacteria.

You can get stainless feeding bowls at the dollar store - I have about 10 of them so one bowl is never used more than once before being put in the dishwasher for cleaning. I wouldn't use my dirty lunch plate to eat my dinner on so why would I ask my cats to eat their dinner out of a dirty lunch bowl that has sat out at room temperature for several hours.

IMO it's not just about plastic but also about cleaning the dishes before each meal.

Does he scratch at his chin a lot? That looks aweful the poor baby! One of my cats has the chin acne and I'm trying to wash the bowl every day, I guess we'll see if that works.

Originally Posted by EnzoLeya

Does he scratch at his chin a lot? That looks aweful the poor baby! One of my cats has the chin acne and I'm trying to wash the bowl every day, I guess we'll see if that works.

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I don't notice him scratching a lot. Actually both my cats are going to see the doctor next week, so hopefully I'll have definitive answers for all my questions, although I'm sure you all are right on the money with feline acne!