Other causes of chin acne? Litter?

[wishiwas]

When we got Cici from the rescue last year, her chin was pristine white. The acne started up within a couple weeks of her coming home with us, so it seems like some change must be at fault? We use stainless steel bowls, which are washed after every meal. She was on 50/50 kibble and canned (Blue Wilderness, then Orijen, with various wet) originally, but she's been on prey-model raw for several months now, so I really don't think a food allergy is at fault.

What else could be causing it? Is it possible for cat litter to do it? We use World's Best Cat Litter right now. At the rescue, she had a clay litter. It's about the only thing left I can think of that would be very different..

We have asked the vet about it, and he didn't seem concerned. He just said to wash it as we have been, and wipe it every day, and it should clear right up. So we stepped up our cleaning to more often, but it doesn't make any difference other than keeping the amount of black crud lower since we're getting it off more often. It doesn't seem to be affecting her negatively, but it majorly stresses her to have it cleaned. So I'd really like to find a way to clear it up.

 

[daemonfly]

To make a long story short, my one cat seems to have problems with corn, which the WBCL would set off. I noticed it leaves dust on the paws which they then lick off. It would be a simple test for you to try out a non-corn-based litter for a few months.

I hate clay liter myself, and there's many litter alternative threads on this site. The hardwood based stove pellets (check for chemical free) work good and are a lot cheaper than the ones marketed officially as cat litter.

It doesn't seem to be your foods, although some cats can have reactions to certain species.

 

[momofmany]

I've had a chin acne prone cat react to the plastic place mats that I had under the ceramic food bowls. Cats with white chins seem to be more prone to acne than other cats. Even with constant cleaning, my cat has outbreaks from time to time.

Best thing is to change things up one item at a time until you find what is causing this. All you can do is clean in the meantime.

 

[sharky]

Plastic and some glazes on ceramic here...

 

[wishiwas]

I found a place that carries a litter made with nut by-products.. I'm going to try that out, I think, if it isn't too crazy price wise.

I'd be happy even if we got it down to outbreaks here and there.. but this has been constant ever since shortly after we got her. I have to wrap her in a towel to clean her chin (she tore into my husband more than once when he tried without it), and she yowls like you are murdering her. Sometimes her ears will even be red afterward she'll stress so much in just the two minutes it takes. So, both of us would be happy to at least reduce the need for chin scrubbings.

 

[feralvr]

I was happy to see this thread, not that your cat is battling chin acne, but because I am having an issue with three cats as well. All with white chins, BTW. Pipsqueak's got so bad it turned into Folliculitis and he has been on Baytril for four weeks now. Perkins and Perla are fine for a few days then the black dirt shows up again.

.... It has been really, really frustrating.

I have changed diets, went from ceramic to stainless, got rid of the Platinum water fountain, wash place mats, changed detergents that I wash their dishes in. Their chins are cleaned with Hibiclens (from Walgreens and recommended by another member) and I even apply Mupirocen ointment. Now their chins ARE much improved and Perla is pretty much over it. But after a few days, she has some dirt again and I just wash her chin. Perkins still gets washed each day and ointment every other day. Pipsqueak is a daily wash with ointment. All the cats are very good for the washing's and I am very lucky about that.

You bring up a very, very interesting point. The cat litter....... I used to use
WBCL and changed to Dr. Elsey's Precious cat litter/Cat Attract litter when I added the two new rescue boys back in June. The chin acne did start after the addition of the new litter. I wonder if the clay is a problem for these cats. the problem is that they all love this litter much better than the "corn-based" litter. I am thinking of trying another brand of clay litter to see if the chins completely clear up.

thanks for bringing up this point. I have been racking my brain trying to find the cause for weeks now.

 

[katgoddess]

My cat was suffering from some chin acne problems before and I discovered that allergies did play a role in it, so I wouldn't be surprised if WBCL might be the culprit. Cat litter is definitely something to look into.

Also, our holistic vet had told us during the time we were going through this, that some cats she has seen can react even to stainless steel - she recommended glass and that's what we always use now.

 

[otto]

Often stubborn chin acne is a result of dental problems. Once the cat has a dental cleaning the acne goes away.

I, too use glass for food and water for cats. Make sure the glass is marked "Made in USA". Other glass may contain high levels of lead.

 

[wishiwas]

Her teeth are in good shape, but I hadn't heard that as a cause before, so thanks for the info.

She really doesn't even use her bowl much. I give her the food in the bowl, but she drags it out to eat it. I may try glass for the water bowl though.

I should be getting the litter this week sometime. I'm eager to see if it helps.

 

[white cat lover]

Another thing to consider is where/how they sleep. My Twitch (white) has had problems w/ chin acne, as has Lola (tortie). They both drool in their sleep & both sleep on hard surfaces. It was theorized the drool was contributing, so we put out more blankets in their favorite places to sleep (window sills) & the acne has greatly decreased. Just another thought.

 

[otto]

All that "scrubbing" some posters mention could possibly be doing more harm than good, causing irritation and making the acne worse and more painful to the cat.

For those of you using soap to wash dishes, stop using soap. It's not needed. Just scrub the (made in USA) glass dishes in scalding hot water and air dry. Soap residue is difficult to get rid of and the tiniest bit of soap could be the cause of chin acne in cats.

Keep two sets of dishes so you always have a clean set at meal time. Never leave dirty dishes to sit out, pick them up and clean them as mentioned above, as soon as the cat walks away from the dish. Never leave food sitting out.

Free fed kibble is covered in bacteria after the first time the cat eats from the dish. Saliva gets all over the remaining kibble. Touch kibble after the cat eats, if you need proof.

Never put fresh food in a dirty dish, never put fresh food over old food.

 

[jake fantom]

Yes, for us it was the cat litter. We had switched to some supposedly healthy brand, I no longer recall the name, and within a few weeks, one of our cats had developed severe chin acne. We switched back to one of the traditional brands and it went away almost instantly. You are right, the vets are clueless. It's the litter.

 

[docc]

Our tuxedo like Milo got chin acne some weeks after we got a stainless steel water fountain. I have started cleaning the fountain with an antiseptic wipe every day. He hates to be wiped with Stridex, though that seemed to do some good. We have two cats. The other is a tabby. She is not affected. Could the fountain be causing this?

 

[wafflesnomnom]

All that "scrubbing" some posters mention could possibly be doing more harm than good, causing irritation and making the acne worse and more painful to the cat.

For those of you using soap to wash dishes, stop using soap. It's not needed. Just scrub the (made in USA) glass dishes in scalding hot water and air dry. Soap residue is difficult to get rid of and the tiniest bit of soap could be the cause of chin acne in cats.

Keep two sets of dishes so you always have a clean set at meal time. Never leave dirty dishes to sit out, pick them up and clean them as mentioned above, as soon as the cat walks away from the dish. Never leave food sitting out.

Free fed kibble is covered in bacteria after the first time the cat eats from the dish. Saliva gets all over the remaining kibble. Touch kibble after the cat eats, if you need proof.

Never put fresh food in a dirty dish, never put fresh food over old food.

I didn't realize there was so much to consider about cleanliness! We use ceramic bowls as the breeder recommended and we put kibble in there for our cat to free feed, and then when it gets low we just add new kibble and stir it up so the old kibble isn't sitting in the bottom. Is this a terrible practice??? How do we free feed and wash out the bowl and what do we do with the left over kibble? We also have a white chin and use wbcl, should I be concerned?

 

[otto]

I didn't realize there was so much to consider about cleanliness! We use ceramic bowls as the breeder recommended and we put kibble in there for our cat to free feed, and then when it gets low we just add new kibble and stir it up so the old kibble isn't sitting in the bottom. Is this a terrible practice??? How do we free feed and wash out the bowl and what do we do with the left over kibble? We also have a white chin and use wbcl, should I be concerned?

Throw away left over kibble, and put fresh food in a clean dish. As I said in my previous post, kibble left out becomes stale and rancid and covered in bacteria very quickly. It's really gross when you think about it, asking a cat to eat that.

I would advise you to stop free feeding at all, and in fact stop feeding kibble. Dry food is a completely inappropriate diet for cats and can lead to many health problems. Obesity, urinary tract disease, kidney disease, diabetes, are all directly related to a dry fed diet.

Get your cats on a scheduled meal time routine and feed them a good quality low carb canned (and/or balanced raw) diet.

 

[Caspers Human]

Casper went to the vet yesterday.

Casper's got acne on his chin and he scratched it until he had a sore.

The vet took a look at it...  No mites.  No infections.  He might have a touch of allergies, though.

The vet says that the two main causes are an unclean food/water dish or because he's chasing and eating bugs.

Casper's food dishes are stainless steel.  We have several identical dishes for him and we swap out a new, clean dish every day then put the dirty ones directly into the dishwasher.

But, on the other hand, Casper has has elected himself "Designated Bug Catcher."

We're figuring his acne is probably because of the bugs.

While we were there, we got Casper up to date on his shots.  The vet gave him an allergy shot just for good measure.

Casper has been doing well, so far. 

Now, we'll just have to remember to swat those spiders and moths before Casper gets them! 

 

[docc]

Even with a stainless steel pump/water dish, our cat developed chin acne, and it was that dish that fostered it. It's important to clean and disinfect the dish daily. I use disinfectant wipes on the drinking surface before I reassemble the dish.

 

[tabbytom]

Apart from what was mentioned in the above posts, can the chin acne come from not cleaning or wiping the chin after eating wet food or after drinking as the chin often touch the base of food bowls and water get on chin while drinking. And without wiping off gravy or water, the cat sleeps floor, be it hard or soft and so good and debris get accumulated and acne occurs.
Yes, they do clean themselves but don't think they clean their chins.