Mum cat with bald/swollen lower lip

Hi all, we took in a pennant stray a couple of months ago. Annoyingly when we took Poppy & kittens (now 2 weeks old) to the vets this week for fleas, we were given a nurses appointment and she said she couldn't look at the bald lip problem we have (even though I told them about it when I booked the appointment) - they said we'd have to go back - with three little kittens and not having had Poppy very long its not that easy and really stresses her out.

I was wondering if anyone knew if it was normal for a mum cat to get a bald/swollen lower lip when grooming herself and three kittens?

It doesn't seem to hurt her, and she still drinks and eats immense amounts of food with no trouble, and she'll let me touch it too. It doesn't have any white spots or anything, its just bald and a little scabby near the fur (but could be dirt, am going to give cleaning it a go).

I don't think its an allergy as we've had her for 6ish weeks and she was fine until about a week after the kittens arrived.

I will be taking her to the vets again, but I'd rather wait a week or so, the nurse said if its not causing her any trouble there is no rush.......

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Mt cat had something similar (reddish, swollen area under bottom lip, thinning hair) and the vet said it was like cat acne and common. He treated me like some slob and insinuated that I wasn't washing my cat's food dish, because apparently cats can get bacteria this way and inflame that area.  I have read similar things those about swollen lip in cats. 

Take it with a grain of salt because this Dr. was the same who misdiagnosed the same cat's cancer and the cat died a few years later at 7 years old.

It very well could be cat acne, which can simply be from cats eating from plastic bowls, whether they are washed or not .  Honestly, when I free fed, I didn't wash the bowl between feedings, because there WAS no between feedings.  I just kept dry food in the bowl all the time.  Didn't use plastic bowls, but still. 

But, seriously, it's hard to know just what it is, especially without a picture. It could be a bug bite, could be a love bug bite (kitten) , though doubtful. It could even be an allergic reaction to a flea bit, since you've already mentioned they've got fleas.  You can try cleaning it with hydrogen peroxide diluted with a little water twice a day and see if that helps.

Thanks, given she had fleas when she arrived and her lip was fine then I wasn't sure if it would be them, however it does look like it might be going down a bit today and she was treated last Thursday.

She has metal bowls I'm also going to more consistently wash them properly (even the water bowl) just in case!

Thanks

Just a quick update to say Poppy's swollen lip has completely gone, I can only assume it was a flea allergy as it went down once she had been spoton'd again and the fleas started to vanish. Surprised as she had fleas before and seemed to have no reaction!

Hi all, today I've noticed one of Poppy's nipples and a large area around it is rather hard. The others are firm but still squidy. It's not red or sore as far as I can tell and kitten no. 2 has fed from it this morning (albeit briefly).

Should I get her to the vet or is it normal for this to happen? Kittens are 5 weeks...

So I called the vet and decided to take poppy over there. The vet adviced we take her too but after checking her out isn't concerned at all. Her temperature is fine and there are no other signs it might be mastitis - she's just full!

It has got a little soft after 4 feeds today too, maybe she just didn't feed them enough times over night!

Tx for telling about the results of your examination!

Good luck!