Cat Chin Acne

My cat has cat chin acne. Since the diagnosis by my vet more than two weeks ago, I have been following the vet's instructions - use stainless steel and ceraminc bowls only and keep them squeeky clean, clean the cat's chin twice a day with a dilute hydrogen peroxide solution and apply the bactoderm ointment (5% benzyol peroxide). So far the condition has not improved but gotten worse. More acne spots have appeared, and the affected area seems to be enlarging. I am very concerned. Please advise!

My Buster has bouts with this off and on, too. The stainless steel bowl
does work very well, as does the peroxide. It will just take time for it to clear up . . . and it will!

One of my cats has chin acne that comes and goes. I use Stridex pads for sensitive skin (alcohol free.) It works FAST! Give it a try.

If the food bowls are on plastic mats, lose the mats, or sterilize them as often as the food bowls. Acne can sometimes take a bit of time to clear. If you are overly concerned, call your vet and ask for more advise. He/she saw it first hand so is closer to the situation than any of us.

Mattie had really bad acne and everything the vet did seemed to make it worse. Use stainless steel bowls and stick them in the dishwasher after each use. Ditch plastic mats.

We were cleaning the area every day with chlorhexidine scrub and then using an ointment they gave us. The vet shaved the chin area and that made it worse, the black spots turned into huge painful red bumps. They would ooze and bleed and it looked really painful. She was put on antibiotics and it didn't help.

Switching to only wet food could help, since dry food is super greasy (they spray it with greasy flavoring to make it appeal to cats). Mattie's acne only got better once we left her chin alone and stopped messing with it. Black spots aren't going to hurt anything and they are better than big huge red bumps.

I would ask about antibiotics to see if that helps. Sometimes things have to get worse before getting better too though.

I know how frustrating it is. Mattie had acne when I adopted her in October 2007, it turned into red bumps around November to December of 2007, the red bumps cleared up in April or May of 2008 and the black specks went away after that. She still has a few black specs in the corner of her mouth but I think she always will have that.

I clean her chin sometimes with the alcohol-free Stridex pads now, but that's it.

Stimpy was having terrible bouts of chin acne, but I think it was related to dishwasher detergent. We had already switched to stainless/glass dishes and it wasn't making a difference. We had a dishwasher at our last 2 apartments. Then when we bought our house in October, it didn't come with a dishwasher and we have no place to install one. So I use Palmolive Free & Clear dish soap and hand wash the dishes. And his acne cleared up. The medicated shampoo for his chin just seemed to make it worse when we did use it.

I also ditched the placemats I used to use--they were vinyl and I suspected them as contributing to the problem.

I think he was having some kind of contact allergy with the dishwasher detergent residue. Since moving here, and I have to hand wash everything now & make a point to use free & clear type soap, his chin has been very clear.

I'm not saying that's what your cat is going through, but it's just something to think about. Someone else I know had cats get acne after changing dishwasher detergents. (I tried several different kinds but Stimpy still had the acne)

Thanks for all the advice. It seems like different cats might respond differently to the treatments.

I have siscal mats where the food bowls are. Should they be sterilized? If so, how?

marley had the same problem a few months ago. I switched to stainless steel, and used a product called hibiclense...it worked great!! you can get at any local drugstore, it's about 8-10 bucks. I diluted it a bit then applied it with a q-tip. My vet reccomemded neosporin, I used it for 3 days with no change. With the hibiclense it was cleared up in 2 days. (there is also a product called hibiscrub you can get, same product..different form)

Now...i am in no way saying this is what is wrong with your cat...but. marley was having a lot of sneezing, watery eyes, red nose...along with the acne. so i took him to the vet and he said he has auto immune disease. something he was born with..itis NOT FIV or feline lukema. I would look your cat over really well and see if he/she has any of these symptoms. marley was given an antibiotic, depo medrol shot and a b12 shot. it cleared everything up. my vet said this is why he was having the acne spots. BUT my cat wasn't the same for about 2 weeks. he was dopey, sluggish, didn't play. i felt horrible for him!! glad to say he is back to his old crazy self!!! just wanted to share our experience so you know to look out for other symptoms. but i would reccomend trying the hibiclense...its a great product and you can use it for lots of things like scrapes and cuts.

Originally Posted by asntp

Thanks for all the advice. It seems like different cats might respond differently to the treatments.

I have siscal mats where the food bowls are. Should they be sterilized? If so, how?

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I would remove them for the time being to see if that makes a difference. I don't think you can sterilize them without ruining them, and I would suspect that they could be harboring bacterias.

I found the Stridex pads too harsh and use "Grandpa's Acne Soap" I found at Whole Foods which works really well. I also soak a cotton square in warm water and hold it on the chin, which loosens the blackheads and they come loose. I follow this up with peroxide.
My orange boy, Moose, gets acne most often, and he loves having his chin cleaned. He'll just sit there with his head tilted up and eyes closed. It sure makes the process easier!

When Kitty had acne the vet gave him a shot of Convenia. It`s an antibiotic and the acne cleared up really fast after that

There is a before and after pic down the bottom of this page
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...=164687&page=3

After a few weeks you couldn`t see he`d ever had a problem.

Perhaps you could ring the vet and ask if they have that?

One of my cats has had chin acne for years- the vet's looked at it several times and she said minor cases don't really need treatment, so long as you're sure they're not causing your cat any pain. We use stainless steel bowls but she just seems prone to it.

Also, with the sisal mats, you can spray them with a pet-safe antibacterial, and let them dry out for a few days, which ought to help.