I learned something today about infections

My Pinky has had rodent ulcer for many years now. Like Feline Acne, his will flair up when I'm not meticulous with sterilizing all the food and water bowls. As soon as I see his lip swell, I know that I've been slacking and reinforce my cleaning routine and it usually goes away within a week or 2.

About a week ago his lip started to swell again. I started my routine to reverse it but yesterday noticed an ulcer on the underside of his chin, almost to his neck. When I brought him to the vet today, she put him on antibiotics because it was infected. When I quizzed her on what she thought could have caused it (she's seen this before): the swelling causes his chin to itch. While scratching, he may have had some litterbox gunk on his foot, got a nail caught and inserted the litterbox gunk under his skin.

If you see your cat with a cut from scratching, watch it closely. It can get infected. And if you have a cat with chronic acne or rodent ulcer, don't be a slacker about keeping the bowls disinfected! I learned a lesson today.

I've heard that cat's claws are probably one of the most dirty things.... That's why people almost always get infections when they get scratched. Dand cats and their nasty claws!!!

Just curious... you're not feeding from plastic bowls right?

Originally Posted by TickyTat

Just curious... you're not feeding from plastic bowls right?

Click to expand...

No. I switched to stainless and ceramic many years ago when he first contracted the disease.

My poor Radar has the same problem - the acne shows up horribly on the white part of his chin. Seems to have cleared up for the time being thankfully, fingers crossed that it stays away and was just a teenage phase. He's also had ulcerated spots on his jaw near the neck a couple of times and antibiotics for it once. Never used a plastic bowl in his life, we've always used stainless steel.

If it recurs, I'm thinking about trying thick glass/pyrex as it's less liable to get microscopic scratches through cleaning - it might be worth a try for your cat, have a look at ovenproof glass casserole lids, they'd be ideal.

Apparently using a plastic placemat can also be a problem with these acne-prone kitties.

Or possibly the plastic water fountains we ALL have?

maybe, but not definitely

I have both the fountain and the plastic mat. If I don't disinfect the mat at least once a week, Pinky's ulcer will flare up. For that I just use bathroom cleaner.

For some reason, Pinky doesn't use the fountain, but I suspect that if he did, I would probably need to get rid of it as those are not as easy to clean as regular bowls. I clean it the best I can, but can't dishwasher it.

Originally Posted by TickyTat

Or possibly the plastic water fountains we ALL have?

Click to expand...

Ah now I did have one of those, but only for 2 days - that's how long it took Radar to break it