Feline Acne Won't Go Away

[hiccupkitty]

Long story short, I went on vacation almost four weeks ago and when I came back my seven year old cat had feline acne under her bottom lip on her chin. I believe that it was caused by my neighbor letting my cat rub her chin aggressively on her brush (wire bristles) when he came over to watch her. She eats and drinks out of stainless steel bowls and has never had this issue in the two years that I've had her.

The vet gave her a shot of antibiotics and shaved/cleaned the area, put her in a cone, and I bought cleaning wipes and benzoyl peroxide cream to use on her twice daily. When it didn't clear up and had in fact spread all down her chin by two weeks later I brought her back in. Same regimen except the vet advised to use a warm towel to clean the area before using the medicated cleaning wipes, and to make sure to let each step dry before moving on to the next step.

She's due for an appointment again on Tuesday but I wanted to see if anyone had some alternative ideas as to why my baby's chin is still not clear. I'm sitting here crying because I just want her to feel better and get her out of the cone, and I've done everything the vet told me to do and it's just not clearing up.

Any advice/suggestions/words of encouragement?

Much love and thanks from Brianna and Hiccup.

 

[cheeser]

One of our cats recently had something that started out looking like feline acne, which was a little perplexing to us since we only use ceramic bowls. However, the 'acne' continued to get worse, no matter what we did. The vet finally did a culture and some other lab work, and it turned out that Buddy actually had a staph infection, with a bit of flea allergy and chicken allergy thrown into the mix that was making him scratch under his chin like crazy (which didn't exactly help matters).

Once we knew what we were really dealing with and the vet got him started on the appropriate antibiotic, the 'acne' began to clear up quite nicely.

Has your vet done any cultures yet?

 

[hiccupkitty]

Oh wow! I'm glad you finally figured out what it was and got it taken care of! I moved Hiccup's appointment to tomorrow afternoon, and I'll ask them about a culture, because they absolutely haven't done one.

 

[cheeser]

Oh wow! I'm glad you finally figured out what it was and got it taken care of! I moved Hiccup's appointment to tomorrow afternoon, and I'll ask them about a culture, because they absolutely haven't done one.

Best of luck to you and Hiccup tomorrow! Hopefully it's something simple. I'll keep my fingers crossed for y'all.

I forgot to mention that an antihistamine also helped Buddy to stop scratching his chin so darned much while he was on the mend. He has tamed down a lot since we took him in, but not enough to tolerate a cone. So maybe your vet can recommend something so perhaps Hiccup could manage without a cone. Just my humble two cents which you should take with a grain or two of salt, preferably with a margarita.

 

[hiccupkitty]

I'll take you up on that margarita after all this stress! Fingers crossed for tomorrow; I'll keep you updated!

 

[lavishsqualor]

You absolutely, pawsitively want them to do a culture.

 

[hiccupkitty]

I will ask them tomorrow, thank you!

 

[lavishsqualor]

So what did your vet say?

 

[hiccupkitty]

Hi! She actually said it was looking better! When I asked about a culture, she said it would be better to to a biopsy because all the culture would get was the surface bacteria. She didn't think it was necessary for that yet because it looked better; what I saw was residue that actually comes right off with a warm towel. I just needed to be a little more aggressive. Got my fingers crossed that it keeps healing!

 

[lavishsqualor]

That's great news! I hope she continues to stay on the mend.

 

[hiccupkitty]

Just wanted to update everyone who helped us! Hiccup is finally acne free and out of her cone and back to her old cuddly biscuit making self. She got a couple more rounds of antibiotics and I switched all her dishes to stainless steel and we seem to be doing fine! Didn't think we'd ever get here but I am a happy cat mom now. Thanks for all your help!