I need some advice...

Ok, for the past three weeks or so my cat Leeloo has had problems with feline acne, I took her to a vet, one I didnt normally use and they said they felt nothing and then called me later telling me to use neosporin. I had also heard of other, more natural remedies to use (I wasnt comfortable with the fact that I was putting neosporin on her where she could possibly lick it off) so I basically bathed under her chin in tea for a week (pau d'arco root tea) her chin began to feel better (not to mention she hated me for scrubbing her down a couple times a day) so I gave it a rest because she would get so angry with me, last night her chin began feeling a little weird, and I was scratching her and little black scabs started falling off like in my nails (it was kind of gross) So today I was feeling under her chin, and just washing it a little with plain water and noticed it felt extremely dry. I finally got a good look under her chin (shes mad at me so every time I tried she's struggle) and there are these dark red lines, I dont know if they are from her scratching herself or what they are, but they look like deep scratch marks... they feel a little like scabs... I still feel some bumps that could still be some acne, its right behind her ears.

I'm definately taking her to the vet tomorrow... but to ease my nervousness for tonight I was just looking for some advice, or if anyone knows what is going on or have had a similar thing happen? I'm worried and I feel like such a bad mom

You aren't a bad mom! You're doing what you can for Leeloo. My oldest kitty has this problem too - it comes and goes. Sometimes the condition is pretty mild and clears up on its own, other times it's bad enough to need treatment.

I'm not sure if the bumps you feel behind her ears are related to the chin problem. In the meantime, don't scrub your cat's chin. Take a small cotton ball and use warm water with a bit of calendula diluted in it and hold it against the chin gently(as long as she'll put up with this!). Rinse it off by patting with a cotton ball of plain warm water, and dry it by patting it with cotton too. You can also use a diluted Betadyne solution in warm water. Do this at least once or twice per day.

The common cause for feline acne is said to be use of plastic dishes, which hold bacteria, and cause the breakouts. Glass or ceramic dishes(make sure it's lead free) are preferable. The other cause can be more serious- sometimes the acne indicates an internal problem where the body isn't able to clear toxins out very well.

I think the red lines are probably from Leeloo scratching herself and making it worse - it can be uncomfortable. Please let us know how she does at the vet's tomorrow. I'm wondering about the bumps behind her ears. Don't worry, you'll get it taken care of!!!

Thanks, I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow, I feel a lot less anxiety now, I hope the vet says its nothing big because I'd rather over react to a small problem than underestimate a big one you know? I have ceramic bowls for her, her acne started almost immediately after she came back from being spayed, but I think its from a collar I had bought her a week before, when they had taken it off to get her spayed I looked at it and it was completely pulled apart because she had been scratching it so much there were stray threads everywhere! So I threw it out, I bought her another collar and that one doesnt seem to bother her at all, she scratches her chin, but its not on the actual collar that she is scratching. Anyway, I'll just have to wait and see what the vet says tomorrow!

OK well... I took her today, I dont know why I went to the other vet office because my normal vet is so nice and so good... he was really nice to me and gave me some drops of Clavamox, he said that the lines were in fact scratches, and I was right that she had feline acne. he gave her a shot and then told me to give her the drops and to call him on wednesday...