Kitty Acne

Hello cat lovers, I'm new to your forum, thought I'd check it out to see if if could help me.

I checked a little bit and couldn't find an answer, so I'm hoping some of you cat experts can help me out.

My cat, Zoey, has developed "kitty acne" on the chin. Here's the backround.

She's had sores on her chin and lips for about two or three months now. We can't seem to get rid of it, but I must admit, we are timid about what type of cleanser to use on her. We don't want to hurt her with cleansers.

I've looked up some stuff, one of the main causes seem to be plastic food dishes. Well, she's always had metal dishes, and we've been washing them out with dish soap about once a week.

We just moved from our apartment to a house in May. So a few months now. She has access to all areas of the house, but she's still shy of the basement and doesn't go down there much. The house was built in 1900, the upkeep on it is okay, but not perfect, we are doing some work on it, but not hardcore or an every day thing.

The move was a bit stressful for her. She's moved once in the past and seemed to adjust well. From what I can see in her behavior, she's adjusted to this move well as well, better than expected. I was hoping the that acne would go away with time, that is was a result of her environment being tampered with, but it has persisted even though she seems happy.

I should point out - She developed kitty acne roughly around the time *before* we moved.

We want to try to clean her chin and eliminate the bacteria. However, the only thing we have to use is some generic kitty shampoo we bought years ago.

My questions:

1) What type of cleanser can we use? We are wary of the "human" soaps, because we don't know their impact on kitties. Can we use an antibacterial soap like Dial on her chin? Can we assume the soaps used for humans are okay for kitties as well?

2) What suggestions do those that have gone through this have? Any tips, hints, suggestions?

Anything would be much appreciated, and I think you in advance. Her chin is getting quite bad now, and she's got patches of sores where fur used to be. We are thinking we might have to take her to the vet just because of the open sores, because we are afraid of infection.

Cheers!

~ Stacy

You may also want to rule out ringworm. There are a couple of strands and one shows up looking like chin acne. Using a woods lamp (black light) won't necessarily show it so I would ask the vet to have a culture done.

Our kittens also have acne, though not so badly. We got some stuff from the vet which is helping - an antibacterial shampoo.

One other thing I would suggest is that you wash your bowls regularly. You say you wash them weekly, but it would be more effective if you did it daily, or before you feed each time. Use very hot water but no detergent.

If there are open sores I would suggest a trip to the vet. Good luck!

One of mine has terrible trouble with acne and spots! It's really noticeable as he has a white chin, poor mite looks all grey. When he gets spots they are dry and scabby. He's only ever had stainless steel bowls too, and my other one doesn't have it.

He did have a large spot that was very sore a while back so I took him to the vet to get it checked out - she said it could also be an eosinophilic granuloma, which can be caused by a particular type of allergic reaction. He had an antibiotic injection in case it was infected, but these spots usually clear up of their own accord after a few days, I just keep an eye on his chin and keep it clean with plain unscented soap to keep bacteria off his spots.

I noticed last night that he has another two spots so I'm keeping an eye and may take him to the vet tomorrow if they are bothering him.

My cat Veeshan has acne. The thing I found to work best is warm water on a wash cloth. Gently scrub the chin once a day. The only way I have gotten her acne to completely clear up was with an antibiotic but I don't want to give her that all the time for chin acne.

Originally Posted by kitytize

My cat Veeshan has acne. The thing I found to work best is warm water on a wash cloth. Gently scrub the chin once a day. The only way I have gotten her acne to completely clear up was with an antibiotic but I don't want to give her that all the time for chin acne.

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Yeah that's my view - when Radar had the antibiotic injection it cleared up his chin completely for a few weeks - but it came back again and I'm not going to have him on antibiotics constantly for something that isn't causing him any harm or discomfort. Other than that I've never been able to completely get rid of it since it started at about 10 months old, it clears up a bit and then comes back. It's a nuisance because I would like to show him as HHP as I think he'd do really well, but it ruins the look of his white chin.

I repeat what the other poster recommended - clean the bowls after each meal. I went to the dollar store and bought about 10 stainless steel bowls so after each feeding the kitty bowls go in the dishwasher for a thorough cleaning and sterilizing. Also, if you are using a plastic mat under the bowls, this can contribute to the acne.

Dilute some peroxide with water and wipe the kitty's chin after each meal (or morning and night). Don't use the peroxide full strength as it does in fact burn exposed tissue. I would just wet a paper towel with warm water add a bit of peroxide and wipe the chin.

I use Stridex pads for sensitive skin (NON-ALCOHOL!). It cleared it after 2 days and now I just use when I notice a speck or two. The pads are very handy as they are premoistened and just the right size. They don't have a medicinal smell, either!

I've used Hibiclens successfully for feline acne. Or any other anti-bacterial soap with chlorhexadine as the active ingredient.

Thanks for the tips, when I go shopping later I will look for something similar, as plain soap obviously isn't doing the job with my spotty boy.

my cat had acne before. but it was just from metal bowls

Originally Posted by pee-cleaner

I use Stridex pads for sensitive skin (NON-ALCOHOL!). It cleared it after 2 days and now I just use when I notice a speck or two. The pads are very handy as they are premoistened and just the right size. They don't have a medicinal smell, either!

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I've also had good luck with the Stridex. With Much, she sometimes will start rubbing her face on a new box or something and that will set off an episode of acne.