Kiity Acne--Please advise treatment!

Hello everyone,

I'm making another post on my best friend's behalf!

She has discovered that her 3ish year old bicolor cat, Otis, seems to have kitty acne (picture below)


He is black and white, but under his chin is definitely NOT supposed to be that color! They started bleeding a little the other day due to him scratching it, I believe. He doesn't seem to be in an immense amount of pain, but I'm sure it's not comfortable.

What she's looking for is if anyone has experienced this with their cats at any point, and how they treated it!

Any/all advice is appreciated. Thank you! 

This is gross but two years ago our 7 month old kitten went into heat and I was trying comfort her I found a lump on the back of her neck that I thought was a tumor or something. I moved it around and it popped and out came the pus. I had no idea a cat could get acne? But it's possible.

They need to develop a kitty proactiv.

The clinical treatment is drainage of the acne lesions by a vet apparently. I found her acne resolved after she was fixed and her hormones came down. It's hormonally, stress, dietarily and genetically based just like with humans surprisingly.

My vet recommended using stridex wipes but if there's open sores I would take him to the vet, he may at this point need an antibiotic ointment.

Yes, if there's an open wound, best have a vet look at it to determine if antibiotics are necessary. Otherwise, generally keeping it clean will help resolve it. Your friend can use a (water) damp cloth or diluted hydrogen peroxide on a cloth if the wound is open. If you use something like an acne medication (our vet suggested human grade acne wipes too, just keep them away from parts of his mouth his tongue can reach), stuff like salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide BUUUURRRRNNNN like mad (former sufferer of human acne), so I often recommend waiting for the skin to heal back over it before using those wipes to avoid causing pain. Try to wipe twice a day, especially after meals.

Also ensure his bowls are cleaned regularly, and avoid porous material like plastic. Stainless steel and ceramic are recommended and easier to clean thoroughly.

I had a kitty acne out break in two of my kitties. The vet gave me kitty acne wipes (just like the human ones.) She also told me I could use over the counter stridex wipes too.

Your friend needs to fix the cause of the acne too though. In most cases it's the food and or water dish, and the kitty rubs his chin and it gets dirty and infected. If your friend is using plastic or porcelain dishes have them replace it with glass or stainless steel. If  they are using glass or steel have them wash it after every meal till the acne clears up. they may also want to consider using disposable food bowl (like paper plates) until the acne is a little more under control.

Oh it could also be demodex (mites). They could try bathing the cat in tea tree oil shampoo for cats.

Don't use tea tree oil! (If the shampoo is manufactured for kitties might be okay or it's diluted enough to maybe be okay)

Cats don't process essential oils like humans do, some of them can make kitties very ill or even kill them. You have to make sure she can not ingest any of the tea tree oil or products.

Hi everyone, thanks for taking the time to help me and by bestie out! 

She said she just called the vet, they called back and are having her pick up an antibiotic shampoo that they're going to have her use on him. Hopefully that does the trick.

@ReiKitty  She actually switched to steel/ etc bowl once she learned that plastic harbors bacteria. And then this happened. So we're not too sure that was a contributing factor. 

We're gonna see if that shampoo does the trick. The vet prescribed it to her without her seeing Otis since he's such a little hell on wheels and won't let the vet touch him unless the visit is absolutely crucial xD Thankfully she was able to get that without an exam!

Reminds me of something off topic......my 19 year old cat had to get a radioactive shot a few years back to cure her hyperthyroidism (so...she was..15?) and they had to sedate her to even do the pre-exam! Lol. They called her a "pistol" Old bat doing me proud. Thankfully she was staying there a few days to become...less radioactive xD

ReiKitty said:

Don't use tea tree oil! (If the shampoo is manufactured for kitties might be okay or it's diluted enough to maybe be okay)

Cats don't process essential oils like humans do, some of them can make kitties very ill or even kill them. You have to make sure she can not ingest any of the tea tree oil or products.

Click to expand...

Oh I know that. But there's a specially formulated tea tree shampoo for cats that's supposed to help with demodex. We've used it before on a stray cat (who had mites) that we later found a home for. It's perfectly safe.