Problem diagnosing my rescued cat's skin disorder

I have rescued a cat from the wild estimated to be about 6 months old. She has been to the vet for shots. The vet swabbed her ears for ear mites and also took a sample of this black, flaky scabs on the sides of the outside of her mouth. The vet says that there were no mites visible under the microscope. I have followed the vet's recommendation of using peroxide on the black areas but it has not improved at all. In fact it has spread to her chin. She scratches it often and some black flakes come off but more just grow back. Has anyone had experience with this? She has some of it around her eyes, too.

Take kitty back to the vet and have them send off a sample of this

Originally Posted by Rachel Penny

I have rescued a cat from the wild estimated to be about 6 months old. She has been to the vet for shots. The vet swabbed her ears for ear mites and also took a sample of this black, flaky scabs on the sides of the outside of her mouth. The vet says that there were no mites visible under the microscope. I have followed the vet's recommendation of using peroxide on the black areas but it has not improved at all. In fact it has spread to her chin. She scratches it often and some black flakes come off but more just grow back. Has anyone had experience with this? She has some of it around her eyes, too.

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It sounds like feline acne to me. Are your feeding bowls plastic? Plastic often causes acne as bacteria gets in the tiny scratches in the plastic. If you are using plastic get stainless steel bowls. Also, be careful with the peroxide. Peroxide actually will burn tissue. If you do use peroxide, dilute it quite a bit (1-10 parts I believe), i.e., one capful of peroxide to 10 capfuls of water. I hope this helps.

Thank-you. She is due to go back to the vet tomorrow. I will ask them to send in a sample. I am using ceramic bowls, but they are new. I will, however. switch to metal. My vet never told me to dilute the peroxide like that with water. Maybe I have been agravating the condition. Thanks again.

My cat has feline acne and I've switched her to stainless steel bowls from ceramic. Ceramic bowls apparently can have minute cracks that retain bacteria.
I hope your cat is better soon.

Any update on your kitty??

Ask your vet if you can use Neosporin on her black spots. That is what my vet had me use for feline acne on one of my cats and it worked well. Peroxide does destroy tissue, so be careful using it. Bless you for rescuing your cat! Hope all goes well at the vet's

After the one vet told me to use peroxide, which I didn't know how to dilute, we took the cat back to the vet hospital. I got the more experienced vet this time and he said it was not a fungus and not parasites but it was a bacterial infection. He prescribed Pyoben gel. We rubbed it on 2 times a day faithfully for 10 days with no change but it spread more on the chin. We took her back for a 10 day check-up and he saw that it wasn't any better. Then he prescribed Pledgets Medicated Pads For Dogs, Cats and Horses. We are now in our 5th day of that 2 times a day and we still don't see a change. I have changed to a stainless steel bowl. I feel so bad. I feel like I'm torturing her when I rub the area with these pads. I hope it doesn't burn. She hates it and goes and hides a while. She goes back to the vet again on Monday for him to check it again. I do believe it is kitty acne. I have learned a lot just from reading on this site. Thank you for your time and help. I will update again. One of you said human antibiotic ointment cleared up your kitty's acne. I will ask the vet on Mon.