Chin Acne from Plastic Syringe?

[swanjun]

Hello!

My kitty, Riley, is 13 and has hyperthyroidism. She's tough to pill so I was using transdermal methimazole for a while. However, she's just not absorbing it well enough so we have opted to have the methimazole compounded into a liquid. She's only been receiving it in that formulation for a couple of days and gets 0.5 ml twice a day by plastic syringe. Already I have noticed some black specks around her lips that I suspect are chin acne. (After previous cats had chin acne, we only use stainless bowls for both water and food, so I'd never had the opportunity to notice any plastic allergy in her.)

I plan to call the vet in the morning but I just wondered... anyone else have this problem? How did you solve it? Are the wipes that are frequently prescribed for chin acne also safe to use right next to a kitty's lips?

 

[fionasmom]

I have issues with indoor only cats who have chin acne and, as you did, changed all dishes to stainless. I even became suspicious of ceramic depending on its origin. I have used Vetericyn Plus Antimicrobial and it has helped a great deal. There is a formulation for cats as well. It claims to be completely non toxic, which is why I chose it; however, in the case of my cats the sores were definitely under the chin and not that close to the mouth. If I were you, I would run this by your vet when you talk to him and, if he feels that it is a plastic allergy (which sounds logical actually), make sure that whatever you use is ingestible.

 

[LTS3]

Were you alternating ears and cleaning the "not in use" ear when using the transdermal gel? Sometimes medicine residue builds up if the same ear is used over and over again and that can affect absorption of the medicine. People just alternate ears and clean off the other ear with a damp washcloth.

Did you try Pill Pockets or anything with the pills before?

Some cat are sensitive to plastic so a syringe could cause acne, even if it only touches the cat's lip for a few seconds for dosing. You could try wrapping the bottom of the syringe barrel with first aid tape or something to keep the syringe from directly touching the cat.

The black acne specks can be combed out with a fine toothed comb. You can gently clean the area with a Stridex acne pad or a cotton ball with soaked in a bit of witch hazel. Avoid getting too close to the lip.

 

[swanjun]

Were you alternating ears and cleaning the "not in use" ear when using the transdermal gel? Sometimes medicine residue builds up if the same ear is used over and over again and that can affect absorption of the medicine. People just alternate ears and clean off the other ear with a damp washcloth.

Did you try Pill Pockets or anything with the pills before?

Some cat are sensitive to plastic so a syringe could cause acne, even if it only touches the cat's lip for a few seconds for dosing. You could try wrapping the bottom of the syringe barrel with first aid tape or something to keep the syringe from directly touching the cat.

The black acne specks can be combed out with a fine toothed comb. You can gently clean the area with a Stridex acne pad or a cotton ball with soaked in a bit of witch hazel. Avoid getting too close to the lip.

* Yep. Alternating ears and cleaning the other with EpiKlean.

* Yep, tried Pill Pockets. Tried other soft treats. Tried cheese. Tried chicken. Tried Churu. She's just too savvy.

* That is an EXCELLENT idea about wrapping the tip of the syringe with something. Thank you! We happen to have some first aid tape on hand so I'm going to go do that right now.

* Thanks for suggesting a comb. I do have a flea comb. Maybe that would do.

 

[swanjun]

I'm still excited by what a good idea that was about the first aid tape. Thank you again!