Pimple looking bumps

I just noticed my cat has several pimple looking bumps on her back. I was petting her and felt them. They aren't bothering her at all and she is acting completely normal. I don't think it could be allergies because nothing has changed in the house (no new litter, cleaning products, laundry detergent, food, ect). I've called her vet and am waiting for a call back. If anyone has any ideas what this might be or what I can do for please let me know. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Stacey, Princess, Patsy, George Sweetie, and Blackie.

Hi, there. I don't know that I can really be much help, but I've been noticing what sounds like the same things on Gus and Liz --who are about 7 months. They sometimes vary in size, but always around the necks --where the cats scratch the most. We've had a bit of a flea problem and I assumed that the bumps were either A) flea bites, or B) sores/scabs from the constant scratching around there. I didn't notice one particular large one on Gus until about 12 hrs after I used some Advantage spot-on flea treatment on him. I noticed his neck was bleeding a little and this clear ooze was around it. I started freaking out wondering what it was and if it was open when I applied the spot-on treatment on him and if the meds would hurt it (vet's office said it was fine, but didn't give me a clear answer on what the sore was to begin with. My money is on guessing that the bumps may be scratch or flea-bite related, but I don't know if this is a possibility in your situation. I'm still curious myself. Hopefully someone else will have some better ideas for you.

Kristin

Thats so strange! My cat has something like that too! I came on here for some info. I was petting her and i thought i felt a lump, but when i parted the fur I could see she has a crusty, dry pimple. it doesn't seam to bother her when i touch it, but I just wondered if this is normal and if it needed checking out?

Not to alarm anyone, but it could be ringworm. I've seen it at the shelter where I volunteer where it looks and feels like pimples. (It doesn't always have to be flaky hairless rings.)

Of course, it could also easily be an allergy to fleas. My friend's cat gets pimples if she gets bitten by fleas.

There's also a possibility of the flea medication causing the problem. It could aggrevate the skin if it hits a spot where a flea has bitten, or where there's a scratch, and because of this the area became a little swollen. Some cats are allergic to flea medications - even things like advantage and frontline. It's very very very rare though. I've only heard of three cases at our shelter - two were mild cases of inflammation, and one cat actually lost his hair and suffered a burn-like reaction to it. I'm not saying stop the treatment - I'm just suggesting possibilities.

I'm sure there are a lot more things that can cause these "pimples" in cats, and guess what - the only way to know for sure is to have a vet check it. (yay, another person saying "vet trip". if only it weren't true.)

My cat just has 1 pimple, do you think its still the thing you described? Shes never had fleas either??

Originally Posted by Loopy_Lou

My cat just has 1 pimple, do you think its still the thing you described? Shes never had fleas either??

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Princess has a bunch of them in a group starting close to her tail and they go up her back about an inch. She doesn't have fleas. The only time she ever had fleas was when she was a kitten (9 years ago). She only got them then because she almost died and had to spend a week in the animal hospital and came home with them.

I talked to her vet and I will be taking her in next week. It's probably nothing but they said it would be a good idea to check it out because they could become infected. Princess gets sick really easy though. With her last infection (ingrown nail) she needed several antibiotic injections and 2 rounds of oral antibiotics and it was a very minor infection.

Loopy_Lou, I'm not a vet, and can only offer advice as another pet owner. I say go with your gut instinct. It probably isn't anything serious, if anything at all. The only thing that concerned me about your post is that you said the area was "dry and crusty". The first thing that popped into my head was ringworm, but that's because I've seen over 90 cats diagnosed with it in the past two months. So now I'm always on the look-out for it. If your cat is indoors and hasn't been exposed to any new pets in a while, then it's a long-shot that it's ringworm. It could just be a dry spot on her skin, or a cut that is healing, or a whole bunch of other things. If it were one of my boys, I'd make sure to keep an eye on it, and if it didn't look better in two weeks I'd call the vet and ask whether it's something that needs to be looked at. But that's just me. I tend to be paranoid when it comes to possible health problems because they've had so many.

Thanks for your advice!!