Cat Acne...pretty bad :(

My cat Marley is almost 3. Ever since he was a kitten he has had flare ups of acne. Normally I can keep it under control by keeping the area clean. I use diluted hibacleanse to clean it. But lately it has been really bad. I took him to the vet and he got a depo shot, a anithistamine shot and antibiotic. I continued the antibiotic at home for 10 days. It seemed to clear up a bit but now seens worse again. I have some antibiotic left that I think I will finish out this week. When he was at the vet, the vet, got a bunch of pus out of his chin by squeezing it. It was pretty nasty.

It seems to be pretty painful to him. He doesnt want me to bother it, before he has been very tolerable. I feel really bad for him and Im wondering if there is anything else I can do for him to prevent or lessen his flare ups.
He is eating a combo of wet and dry food. The dry food is Nutri Source and the wet food is wellness and instinct.

Any advice on how to better deal with this issue????

Do you use a plastic food or water bowl? plastic holds bacteria well, and that can be transferred to your cat's chin as he is eating or drinking and cause acne. Since it's such a long-term case, I doubt it is stress which is another cause of acne. He could also have overactive sebaceous glands, which produce oil to lubricate the skin.

I use ceramic and stainless steel dishes for his food and they get cleaned twice a day. He does drink out of a big 3 gallon water dispenser. My dog and both my cats drink out of that.

We did just add a new kitten to the house mid August and the acne showed up about a month later. The little kitten does drive Marley nuts sometimes because he is so rowdy, but he doesn't seem stressed about it.

Will Marley allow you to hold a warm cloth on his chin? I know when Jordan had terrible acne that helped bring the infection to the surface. Jordan has never had a problem again, but one thing to think about is washing Marley's chin with a gentel soap like Dawn Dish soap on occasion.

Our former feral Sweet Pea developed a food intolerance to Wellness Turkey wetfood and it manifested itself in acne. It took me a while to figure it out and once we stopped feeding it to him his chin cleared up. You mentioned Wellness wetfood also.

The kitties eat and drink from porcelain bowls that get washed 3 times a day so it was not plastic dishes just like in your case. Good luck to you, pls keep us posted!

I have a cat that will get acne when she's stressed. We've found that using Feliway diffusers has helped cut down on the outbreaks considerably. You might try that, especially with a new kitty in the house.