Chin Acne

Does anyone know anything about chin acne in cats? Two of my cats have it. I would never have noticed it in my little Sun because she is black, but I thought Little Guy (orange tuxedo) had some kind of contagious fungus and so I checked her.

My vet said it was probably was an irritation from their food bowl which is ceramic. He said to switch to stainless steel.

He gave me a shampoo and an antibiotic lotion for their tiny little chins and said to shampoo and apply the lotion twice a day.

Does anyone have any experience with this problem?

One of ours had this, too. We changed to stainless stell and it went away after awhile. Never had shampoo, though.

Use the stuff the dr gave/// I used to wash Kandies chin weekly

Yes stainless steel is best and you may want to use the dishwasher ... Most anyone with many yrs of cats gracing their lives has dealt with the chin acne ....

My older cat has it and it doesn't really go away. I've always only used stainless steel bowls and I wash them every day (dishwasher). Vet gave me chlorhexidine (sp?) scrub to use 2x a day at first, it's basically just a cleanser. That didn't work so now I use a wax dissolver (because she has excessive waxiness which is what is plugging the hair follicles and making the acne come) before the chlorhexidine. She's also on antibiotics right now.

The vet shaved her chin to get through all the hair and cleaned it up and the very next morning her chin was covered in little black spots.

I'm really frustrated with it, I don't know if it will ever be completely gone. The residue from cleaning her chin gets wiped down onto her chest, and because she has white fur it makes her whole chest look dirty.

To answer your question though - feline acne is very common. I've never heard of a lotion being used, what's the name of it?

If you use plastic mats under the bowls, either get rid of them or make sure you are cleaning those daily also. Pet fountains are made from plastic and if your household has acne problems, those should be thoroughly cleaned daily also. Get an extra set of food bowls and wash them daily in the dishwasher.

My Pinky has had it for years. His only flares up when I don't do all of the above.

Cleanliness is one of the keys. I never use the same dish twice - the dirty ones are put in the dishwasher. I went to the dollar store and got about a dozen so I always have clean dishes. The plastic mats can be a problem too - one poster in another thread mentioned the hard plastic trays which I thought might be a good idea.

You can also dilute hydrogen peroxide and wipe the chin.

Hope it goes away soon for your baby.

Thanks, guys. I didn't even think about the plastic mat under the bowl. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be easy to get rid of.

They both hate their treatments and hide from me. They seem to be able to read my mind about when it's time!

Little Guy has a white chest, too, but the cream doesn't smear as much as the petroleum based human stuff I was using before I went to the vet.

I said lotion, but it's an antibiotic cream. It just seems lotion-like to me. It is labeled Animax cream and is mystatin-neomycin sulfate-thiostrepton-triamcinolone acetonide cream USP. The shampoo is Malaseb and is Miconazole Nitrate 2% and Chlorhexidine Gluconate 2%.

The vet's directions for the shampoo are different from the ones on the bottle.

double check with the vet .... the directions

When I found Holly Golightly on the street, she exhibited serious chin acne and her fur was missing in that area. It looked very bad and sore. However, it cleared up on its own after I brought her in my home and fed her well. I think her acne reflected poor hygiene while feral.

However, my former roommate's cat developed acne after eating food from a styrofoam bowl. I admit it was my fault because I fed her that week while her owner was on vacation. I was too lazy to wash and use the ceramic bowls, so I kept on using disposable bowls. Within a week, her chin looked awful and infected. It also smelled bad. However, the acne disappeared as soon as she started using her old bowl again. I guess some cats are just allergic to certain materials.

It's impressive to me that it cleared up on its own. I know ringworm will do that, but the vet said this is not a fungus like ringworm.

I'm sure about the directions on the shampoo because the vet tech at the office went into detail about it. I think the directions on the bottle are more for dogs with mange because it says to wash the whole body and leave it on for two minutes. I'm sure chin acne doesn't need that.

Little Guy still has it developing on his tiny chin, but Sun seems OK. Since she's black, it's impossible to see the disgusting stuff, but I can't feel any.

They both hate the treatments. My daughter has a friend with a big boy cat with chin acne and he says it takes three family members to hold this cat down and then there are cotton balls flying all over the place while they try to wash his chin! He makes it sound very funny. I'm glad my guys aren't that bad, but just catching them is hard enough.

Oh, I've taken to washing Little Guy's chest enough to keep it from looking so disgusting.

Do you think newspaper under the bowls are OK? Are plastic bowls that are washed twice a day OK? Their water bowl is plastic.

Originally Posted by katie=^..^=

My vet said it was probably was an irritation from their food bowl which is ceramic. He said to switch to stainless steel.

Click to expand...

Junior was having problems with acne as well when I was using plastic bowls. I switched him to stainless and the acne has all but disappeared and he no longer scratches at his chin like he did before.

Mez

check with your local paper and ensure the print is soy based ink

I'm suspicious of plastic water bowls. I have two Petmate FreshFlow fountains, made of plastic, of course. Mellie drinks a fair amount of water while the boys hardly drink at all. Mellie is the only one of the three prone to feline acne. Unfortunately, there are no fountains made of anything but plastic. But if you're just putting down water in a bowl, I think swithcing to ceramic or stainless steel for the water is a good idea.

it's common, especially in adolescent cats. Bea's went away on it's own.
I never use plastic dishes for my cats since they "hold scents". I use ceramic but they never get the same bowl twice in a row, I wash and rotate their dishes.