Help! Advice on Feline Acne

Background:

I know this is going to be a long-winded post, but try to bear with me. My kitty is a domestic longhair, 9 years old, and her name is Nika. She stays indoors most of the time, but she likes to go outdoors a few times day, mainly staying by our house. She is the only cat in my household and spends a great deal of time grooming herself. Everyone is always shocked by how soft she is for a cat who goes outdoors. About 2 weeks ago, I noticed some bumps under my kitty's chin. They looked a little bloody and scabbed, probably because she was scratching at them or something. Since she is a longhair, it was difficult to tell what was going on. After a few days of it not looking any better, I decided to take her into the vet. We went to one we've never been to before because me and Nika recently moved to Fairfield, CA from Hillsboro, OR, where I had an amazing vet who I completely trusted and miss terribly. I was really apprehensive about trying a new place, because I have a hard time trusting most vets due to bad experiences in general. 
Treatment:

-Switched her regular Taste of the Wild food with the hypoallergenic food given to us by the vet (worth a shot even though I think Taste of the Wild is grain-free, and she's been eating it for years)

-Gave her a bath in the off chance she has some fleas, along with brushing apple cider vinegar onto her coat

-Keeping her indoors as much as we can

Prescriptions

-5% benzoyl peroxide cream, massaged into her chin followed by a warm compress for 10 mins, 2x daily

-MiconaHex+Triz antimicrobial, antifungal wipes to wipe her chin with after the warm compress, 2x daily

-Muricin 2% mupirocin ointment, massaged into her chin after the wipe, 2x daily

-Biovetrex antimicrobial skin and wound cleanser spray, 1x daily in between the other topicals

Below is a picture we took on 10/1, after the first full day of treaments:


We have been diligent about applying the topicals twice a day, every day, as much as Nika hates it. She doesn't seem to irritate her chin area much, so the scabbing and dried blood has mostly gone away. It's been almost a week of treatment and I'm not sure the bumps are getting any better. They are mostly small in size, but there are 2 larger ones that concern me. I am really hoping it is just an allergy to something and not anything else more serious. I let her go outside for a short time yesterday while I supervised, and then noticed some yellowish-orange flaky skin around the bottom of the bumps later that evening. Could she be reacting to something outdoors since she was used to the Oregon environment for 8 1/2 years until we moved down here in April? Should I try Benadryl?

Below is a picture we took yesterday 10/5, after almost a week of treatment (it's hard to tell how big some of the bumps are without feeling it yourself):


I have also been thinking about trying natural remedies for feline acne, such as dabbing apple cider vinegar or colloidal silver on the area, but I don't want that to mess up the prescription strength stuff either. It seems like I got a lot of uncertainties from the vet. I would really hate for it to come to putting her under to do a biopsy, and I don't want to think about how expensive that would be. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hello! My cat has feline acne as well, and we've had him on treatment and checked his food. What kind of bowls do you use to feed Nika? We were advised to switch to metal bowls from ceramic or plastic, as this could be irritating the cat's chin.

abbessheloise said:

 
Hello! My cat has feline acne as well, and we've had him on treatment and checked his food. What kind of bowls do you use to feed Nika? We were advised to switch to metal bowls from ceramic or plastic, as this could be irritating the cat's chin.

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Before we went to the vet I was using a ceramic bowl for her food and a plastic one for her water. After the vet told me that could also be a problem, I went out and got metal bowls for her. I am being way better about keeping them clean too. I doubt having the plastic and ceramic were doing her any good, but I don't think it's the main cause for her acne since she has had mainly plastic bowls her whole life. It would be kind of odd if they were only affecting her now, right? How bad is your kitty's acne? And thank you for the response!

Pip's acne isn't too bad anymore - we've just been treating it with the antifungal wipes you listed above (I'm in Australia so I think the names might be different) and using the same treatment to wipe down his bowls. His acne is from his allergies, so I know when my hayfever is bad that I need to check in on him!

abbessheloise said:

 
Pip's acne isn't too bad anymore - we've just been treating it with the antifungal wipes you listed above (I'm in Australia so I think the names might be different) and using the same treatment to wipe down his bowls. His acne is from his allergies, so I know when my hayfever is bad that I need to check in on him!

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I'm glad to hear that his isn't serious. How did you figure out that it was caused by outdoor allergies? Did he ever get yellowish-orange flaky skin near his acne? I noticed some on Nika shortly after we let her go outside the other day and I'm wondering if it could be related.

Sorry for the late responses - we had a huge storm on Sunday out here and lost power completely!

Pip was a rescue cat, so I adopted him when he was two years old. He was given up to the shelter at 9 months because he had horrible allergies and had scratched raw patches into his fur. He was nursed back to health and spent a while in the shelter before I adopted him. He's entirely indoors now, so his allergies just flare up in the form of having the sniffles and his chin acne.

The acne was a recent diagnosis when he scratched a hotspot on his chin. The vet shaved his chin and we noticed little black/dark red spots that looked a bit like flea dust.

Aside from the treatment, we've been dusting and vacuuming more regularly, disinfecting the windowsills and changing the sheets everywhere more often. This seems to keep the flare ups down.

my cat totally had acne for the longest time & it wouldn't go away. I took her to the vet & the vet told me to change the food dish from ceramic/porcelain, use hydrogen peroxide to clean the area as much as you can, wash the area with soap & water. I got rid of the dishes I was using & switched to stainless. I washed her little chin, took a qtip & rubbed the peroxide all around it, used a flea comb to brush through to get the black crap out. Nothing was working. I switched to paper plates & she hasn't had acne since.

I guess it's from when they eat, their chin touches the plate & that causes it? That's what the vet said anyway.

I switched her ceramic/plastic dishes over to the stainless steel ones, in the off-chance that is part of the problem. It's coming up on 2 weeks now since our visit to the vet and it definitely doesn't look as bad as it did, but its still very bumpy under there. A few days ago it looked like two of the smaller pustules formed together into a giant one, and I could tell it was bursting with pus so I drained it out. Now that one is mostly flat. Some of them keep opening up here and there though. I stopped doing most of the prescription stuff and am currently trying this regimen instead: warm compress, followed by the antimicrobial wipes the vet gave (which are supposed to be moisturizing and her skin is insanely dry now), followed by dabbing on some colloidal silver, twice daily. I also dab on some organic apple cider vinegar once a day in between the other stuff. It was very apparent to me that the benzoyl peroxide was drying out her skin, causing her to itch there more. If anyone has any solutions to curing the dry skin issue, please let me know!

Msserena, is that all your vet told you about feline acne? Mine scared me half to death and told me it could be caused by serious underlying conditions too, like leukemia and AIDS! She had me really freaked out, when in actuality it's probably an allergy from something outside for my cat (fingers crossed).

Yes that's exactly what she said, she really felt it was the dishes I was using. You have to frequently wash them & I typically leave the food out until it's all gone. I tell ya, not having dishes to clean all the time is wonderful. I wish I would have thought of that sooner!

I found these, hope they're helpful

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/12/09/feline-acne.aspx

http://www.annarbor.com/pets/feline-acne-cats-kittens-skin-infection-bowls-causes-treatment/

Thank you! I've been reading up on it for the last couple of weeks. My kitty still has some bumps on her chin but I will continue to treat it and hope that it stays managed. I started letting her go outside again because it's so hard for me to see her depressed! So far it hasn't gotten any worse from going out so I think it's okay to let her.