Cat has swollen upper lip

Good evening,

I just noticed my one year old male cat has a swollen upper lip.  The slightly red tint caught my eye, but upon closer inspection it has more of a brown, "scabby" coloring.  After looking around his mouth, I noticed he also has a pink "patch" in the black lining of his lip - almost like something took a bite out of it.

I called the vet and the earliest appointment they have is Friday morning.  They said it could be a little, infected cut or a granuloma.  I have tried to paste some pictures below.

Also, in the little bit of research I have done, some people suggested a food allergy.  He has been on Fromms for about six months.  (He had diahrreah when we first adopted him at three months and switched his food from Purina to Wellness.  Then we switched him to Fromms and he had some loose poop at the beginning but has done well ever since.)  During the past few weeks, his poops have gotten runny again. 

Thanks for any advice!

Katie

It rotated incorrectly, but closest to his fang tooth is the pink "bite" out of his black lips.



His swollen, scabby looking lip.  (pictured above as well)

It's tough to say what could cause that. So it happened quite suddenly then? Is he an indoors cat? How is his appetite?

Has he been scratching at his mouth or rubbing it hard against corners? I looks a bit like feline acne but I've never seen it on the lip, only on the chin and don't even know if that is possible.
 

Hello,

Thank you for the responses.  He is an indoor only cat and we did notice it rather suddenly.  (Although it could have been growing slowly and we just noticed it because it got big enough.)  His appetite is good.  He hasn't been scratching at his mouth with his paws but he does rub everything with his mouth (but he has always done that). 

I got an apppointment for this afternoon and hopefully the vet will know what it is!

Thanks!

Let us know what the vet says.  Fingers crossed it's nothing serious.

Thanks!  They said it is a "rodent ulcer" - a granuloma.  He got a little steroid shot and they said it could be an allergy.  So we are switching him to a "hypoallergenic" diet.  We are trying Evo Venison canned food.  I wanted to get him switched to canned food anyway.  Hopefully it doesn't come back!

Glad it wasn't anything terrible!

Hi, just wondered if the steroid shots have been successful for your kitty.

Just in case this has not worked for your kitty, or for anyone else that comes across your forum post I'll tell you about my experience with rodent ulcers:

A few years ago I had the same thing on my one year old indoor male cat Neko and the steroid injections did not work after 6 months of attempting this. In fact the rodent ulcer worsened and distorted his lip, he ended up looking like Elvis, bless him.

Vet tried cortisone injections, antibiotics, hypoallergenic foods, porcelain food bowls not metal or plastic. The vet then decided he would try to look into it further with a specialist on rodent ulcers. The following week Neko started on a course of female hormones called Ovarid and after a few weeks the improvement was amazing. He was on these for around 6 months and the rodent ulcer completely cleared up (this also worked out a lot cheaper for us than the injection course).

Again I hope you kitty is all better now, if not it's something to discuss with your vet or I hope this is of some help to to others.

I came across your post after looking for an explanation for my 7 month old kittens lip, hers is sore and swollen all along the lip not like the rodent ulcer that Neko had, I presume another allergic reaction to something she has eaten (she eats all human food we have noticed as she likes to lick plates and had similar the other week after eating leftover curry in the pan whilst we were eating our meal) but if not settled in a day will contact the vets again.

My rescue domestic short hair male has had a recurring swollen lip for the past year. He has been getting Convena injection every six weeks, now he is swollen after 9 days. I have switched to Hypoallergenic Hydrolyzed food, yesterdays news litter, stainless steel feeding dishes, and all plastic eliminated. He is only 2 years old, they want to do a biopsy. Indoor cat also.

thank you so much for this! just ordered the hormones and hopefully it will clear up on its own instead of having to get shots for the next few years!