Acne gone wrong!

greeneyes86

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"Acne gone wrong" is what my vet said to me this morning
I took Coco in because she has these awful bleeding/oozing/swollen sores on the sides of her mouth and they won't go away (we were there 10 days ago for the same thing). Coco has never had any incidents of acne in her entire life (she's 14 y/o now), she has no plastic bowls/dishes/anything, so really I have no idea what the root cause is.

Our treatment plan is 3+ weeks of oral antibiotic (Clavomox? whatever the kitty equivalent to amoxicilin is), plus a topical ointment 2x a day and some pain medication for the next couple days, and a hot compress 1-2x a day if she'll sit still for it. Her chin looks horrible...they shaved/cleaned it today and it looks like she got into a fight with a cheese grater or something


Does anyone have experience with acne this severe? Will it help if I start giving her lysine with her food?

Also, she's down to 10lbs 8oz today, and she was 11lbs even the last time we were in (10 days ago), and has been steadily losing weight since the beginning of the year even though I'm feeding her more. They're going to check her bloodwork again at our follow-up in 2 weeks (she went through enough today). The other recommendation they have is a $400 ultrasound of her abdomen to try and figure out why she's losing weight. Even if the ultrasound found something, I don't think I could afford to treat it
This year hasn't been good for her, and I'm starting to think she might not make it to next year
 

fifi1puss

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My Rocko has pretty bad acne sometimes. Fortunately not as bad as your poor kitty.

Does she rub against things? My Rocko marks his territory by rubbing against alot of stuff. Have you changed cleaners or cleaned an area that she may have rubbed against? What about the bowls..have you changed cleaner for your dishes? Maybe clean her beds and any areas she sleeps on, maybe something is irritating her?
 

violet

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I'd like to ask you, did you by any chance change the diet some time before this horrible acne problem started?

In case the acne has nothing to do with a diet change, I would urge you to take Coco to a dermatologist before you think about doing an abdominal ultrasound. Since something that looks like acne can be something other than acne, properly diagnosing and treating this would be more important right now than anything else. Please, ask your vet for a referral to a dermatologist as soon as possible.
 
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greeneyes86

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Originally Posted by Violet

I'd like to ask you, did you by any chance change the diet some time before this horrible acne problem started?

In case the acne has nothing to do with a diet change, I would urge you to take Coco to a dermatologist before you think about doing an abdominal ultrasound. Since something that looks like acne can be something other than acne, properly diagnosing and treating this would be more important right now than anything else. Please, ask your vet for a referral to a dermatologist as soon as possible.
She was eating Fancy Feast most of her life, in January we switched to Wellness and she ate that until she got tired of it about a month and a half ago. Now she eats Pro Plan and Fancy Feast gourmet flavors. The acne thing started about 2 1/2 weeks ago (at first she just had a small cyst on the front of her chin). The PP and FF have similar ingredients, though, so I'm not sure what ingredients could cause an allergy that wouldn't have shown up until now?

Thank you for the recommendation about a dermatologist; I will definitely look into that.
 

violet

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Since there were diet changes, please, before you do anything else, switch back to the original diet that was not causing a problem like this. Do not use any other food but the FF she was doing well on. There should be rapid improvement. If there isn't, you absolutely have to see a dermatologist and fast.

Even some FF flavors can cause acne, so be very careful and watch her closely if you're including flavors you didn't use in the past. The best thing would be not to use any new flavors, only the ones that worked for her before.
 

yosemite

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I know you said you didn't use plastic dishes, but do you use a plastic mat under the dishes? Also, do you clean the dishes after each feeding? I bought about 10 stainless steel ones at the dollar store so each dish is used only once and then put in the dishwasher.
 

pookie-poo

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My cat Spooky, had allergies to food (red dyes, I believe), which manifested itself as chin acne gone wrong. She started with the black spots, which quickly progressed to open, weeping, infected sores. We tried switching to glass bowls, topical antibiotics, antiseptic washes, systemic antibiotics, and even a skin biopsy. My vet suggested a hypoallergenic cat food (Anergen - this was over 15 years ago, so not sure if it is still available.) Within a month of feeding exclusively Anergen, her chin cleared up, and she never had a problem with acne, or any skin issues, for the rest of her life.
 
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