Pinkish area on jaw

Babypinkweeb

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I literally just noticed this pinkish area by my cat's lower right jaw. He's finicky in general so I couldn't really take a better photo at the moment, but it seems like some kind of rash or scabbing? I'll try to take a better picture when he isn't annoyed at me trying to hold his face.

Is this an allergic reaction? Or more like an injury? The only change to his life that I can think of is a week ago I started having him try some commercial rabbit raw, but I just noticed this tonight. He hasn't scratched at it. I left a voicemail at my vet but would love some opinions here.
 

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verna davies

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A little difficult to tell from the photo but looks like acne to me. Do you feed in plastic bowls?. Wash the area several times a day in clean warm water.
 
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Babypinkweeb

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A little difficult to tell from the photo but looks like acne to me. Do you feed in plastic bowls?. Wash the area several times a day in clean warm water.
Nope, he has had the same ceramic bowl for years and I wash it after every meal. I will do the washing starting tomorrow! Thank you for replying.
 

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Ceramic bowls can also start harbouring bacteria over time, as the surface is porous. I’d suggest getting some whisker relief stainless steel bowls, if you’re able.
 
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Babypinkweeb

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Ceramic bowls can also start harbouring bacteria over time, as the surface is porous. I’d suggest getting some whisker relief stainless steel bowls, if you’re able.
Thank you for replying!! Is that still the case is they have been glazed properly? I did read before how it can cause issues if it's not glazed properly or if it had cracks which can harbor bacteria.

I managed to snag an appointment today so I will see if the Vet says it's acne or something else. If it is caused by bowls I will get a stainless steel bowl!
 

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Thank you for replying!! Is that still the case is they have been glazed properly? I did read before how it can cause issues if it's not glazed properly or if it had cracks which can harbor bacteria.

I managed to snag an appointment today so I will see if the Vet says it's acne or something else. If it is caused by bowls I will get a stainless steel bowl!
Glaze does prevent bacteria penetrating into the ceramic, but it also wears off over time.
 

verna davies

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You could use paper plates and throw away after one use, they are cheap and saves on washing up.
 
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Not sure if it's spreading or just more noticeable with more hair loss... This sure looks horrifying.

The vet prescribed an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal wipe that I've been using on it twice daily. I really don't think it's due to food, since it's only on one side of his mouth and he doesn't really touch his face to his bowls/food that much. Hope it heals soon since he definitely hates the wipes!!
 

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verna davies

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It looks like it could be chin acne. Does he eat out of plastic bowls, if so swop to ceramic or even use paper plates. Will he let you wipe his face in clear warm water?
 
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Babypinkweeb

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It looks like it could be chin acne. Does he eat out of plastic bowls, if so swop to ceramic or even use paper plates. Will he let you wipe his face in clear warm water?
As mentioned in previous replies, he had a ceramic bowl for years which I swapped for stainless steel bowl just to be on the safe side. He can't eat from plates as he only knows to lick and will just fling the food everywhere. I wipe his face 3 times a day with the medicinal wipes the vet gave me, but he sometimes grazes so it's not after every meal.
 
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Vet office suggested I email them with photos and explaining their condition, so they can determine if it's something that needs treatment right away or I can wait and monitor. I'm waiting for reply now.

The red spot by Boogie's eye corner that I previously thought to be a one off injury is now also slowly spreading in size. I have a feeling it might be the same as whatever is messing with his jaw. His jaw's red area has been spreading, and now even place on his chin are starting to show spots under the fur. The fur is also dropping a lot by the jaw. I wonder if his red spots are connected to the red spot in my other cat's ear. The weird thing is that it's hard to search for what it could be since neither cats are really paying attention to those areas... not scratching them nor trying to avoid me touching them. They eat well, sleep well, are affectionate and do the same things daily. I pray it's nothing really serious but I tend to let my worst imagination get the best of me. :(
 

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Babypinkweeb

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This is getting off topic but I feel like I'm gonna throw up from stress and worry if I don't share somewhere. Earlier today he had 2 vomits which I thought was because of hunger (clear vomit with lots of complaints before his breakfast) and then eating too fast (brown liquid which is his wet food breakfast)... But then in the middle of the night he goes to use the litter box, leaves a log of normal poop but also leaves something EXTREMELY smelly that I can smell from another room, and he comes out with wet poop on his butt hair. I tried to investigate his butt but he hates being handled so I had to follow him to try to gauge the situation while using poop spray on every place he sat. He at least did me the favor of wandering off to the bathroom (no carpet) before he barfed up his dinner, this time in 2 barfs. One big brown liquid wet food with a fat hairball and one smaller wet food barf. I made sure it was hairball and there was no blood or mucus. But since he was already in the bathroom I closed the door since I needed to wash his butt.

He absolutely HATES being held and handled, AND especially being wet so we had the pleasure of trying to get this cats bottom clean at 1am in the morning when both of us were dead tired. He bit my hand pretty bad in the process and we weren't able to even see if we fully cleaned it off but the smell is mostly gone and I didn't want to stress him out more. He left the bathroom and barfed twice again (that's 6 barf in 1 day) this time it was yellowish clear liquid and very small amount. My GF thinks the last 2 are due to stress but God knows at this point. He has had one other time he barfed 6x in one day for absolutely no reason, and when I rushed him to the vet they found nothing and he was fine after (this was a few years ago).

I have him on wet food, he likes drinking water, I brush him with treats as he hates it normally, I give him egg yolk supplement, cat grass... And he gets the biggest hairball I've seen from him in a while. I don't know why suddenly so many issues are happening with my cat who has probably only ever had 2 real issues his whole life (once was constipation and once he hurt his leg). Between his red splotches spreading, random diarrhea on his butt while leaving normal log in the litterbox, sudden vomiting fits, hairballs not stopping no matter what I tried, and my other cat's possible ear problem I'm really just stressed out this month. I had to help my dad and my gf recently with some financial issues and normally I'd be happy to drag them to the Vet for any worries but now I'm caught between stressing over sudden deluge of problems and a tight bank account.

Sorry I don't have anywhere else to vent this stress. I'm sure many here have had worse issues with their life or their kitties but this is the worst month ever for my cats and it just happens to collide with my financial struggle. I just feel so defeated.
 

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Cats can cause use a lot of anxiety and stress because we love them so much and it sounds as if you are having more than your share just now. At a guess, I would associate the vomiting to the hairball but it's good he has brought it up. It's good that he drinks plenty, that will help flush the fur out. Have a look at food specifically fur hairballs if he is prone to them.
 
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Babypinkweeb

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Cats can cause use a lot of anxiety and stress because we love them so much and it sounds as if you are having more than your share just now. At a guess, I would associate the vomiting to the hairball but it's good he has brought it up. It's good that he drinks plenty, that will help flush the fur out. Have a look at food specifically fur hairballs if he is prone to them.
Thank you for your kind words. I worry something else is causing the hairball and vomiting as he had diarrhea for no reason. Not even all diarrhea but normal poop as well?

I want to try to help his hairballs with the current food if it's possible. He used to eat a hairball formula dry food with terrible ingredients for most of his life, and it didn't lessen his hairballs at all. Before all this health issues, he had major improvement on his current food. There was a very narrow range of food available after filtering out the ingredients I didn't want, and it didn't include hairball food sadly.
 

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I want to try to help his hairballs with the current food if it's possible. He used to eat a hairball formula dry food with terrible ingredients for most of his life, and it didn't lessen his hairballs at all. Before all this health issues, he had major improvement on his current food. There was a very narrow range of food available after filtering out the ingredients I didn't want, and it didn't include hairball food sadly.
What kind of food are you feeding now? IME any good wet food-only diet will be good at keeping hairballs away, if the cat doesn't have GI issues, like IBD. If you want to try something extra, egg yolk lecithin (or a bit of plained boiled egg yolk) can help, as can malt paste, if your cats like it.
 

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Vet office suggested I email them with photos and explaining their condition, so they can determine if it's something that needs treatment right away or I can wait and monitor. I'm waiting for reply now.

The red spot by Boogie's eye corner that I previously thought to be a one off injury is now also slowly spreading in size. I have a feeling it might be the same as whatever is messing with his jaw. His jaw's red area has been spreading, and now even place on his chin are starting to show spots under the fur. The fur is also dropping a lot by the jaw. I wonder if his red spots are connected to the red spot in my other cat's ear. The weird thing is that it's hard to search for what it could be since neither cats are really paying attention to those areas... not scratching them nor trying to avoid me touching them. They eat well, sleep well, are affectionate and do the same things daily. I pray it's nothing really serious but I tend to let my worst imagination get the best of me. :(
Has the vet considered dermatitis/allergy rather than acne?

Acne can definitely occur around the eye area, but it's concerning that it's spreading there. Let us know what the vet says. Perhaps there's some kind of bacterial thing causing his acne :<
 
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What kind of food are you feeding now? IME any good wet food-only diet will be good at keeping hairballs away, if the cat doesn't have GI issues, like IBD. If you want to try something extra, egg yolk lecithin (or a bit of plained boiled egg yolk) can help, as can malt paste, if your cats like it.
His main food is Pure Vita Turkey pate which he has eaten for more than 2 month at least. I add in Dr. Elsey chicken dry kibble as he does not recognize wet food as food until I plop some kibble in his bowl. He also has Rawz pates mixed in occasionally as I try to get him interested in other flavors, and he was fine with that for a long time, no barfs after meals and no weird poops. I recently bought EZ's dried egg yolk powder and have been adding them to his food for about a week now. His red skin was discovered the night I got the egg yolk powder so it's likely it was there before and not directly caused by the addition of the powder.

Has the vet considered dermatitis/allergy rather than acne?

Acne can definitely occur around the eye area, but it's concerning that it's spreading there. Let us know what the vet says. Perhaps there's some kind of bacterial thing causing his acne :<
She didn't really say much during the Acne check up. It was contactless so done over the phone while she had him in. I asked about allergies and stuff but for now she just suggested I swap the bowl and temporarily stop his latest new food (I was testing tiny tiny amounts of Stella and chewy raw rabbit from end of april, half a month before I saw the red skin). She prescribed a wipe that said it is anti bacterial and anti fungal on the side and told me to wipe it twice a day after meals which I have done for a week now but it's definitely getting worse. I will definitely ask about possible bacterial causes. The one thing that makes it hard to narrow is he isn't itching those areas, which is a common symptom among different possibilities when it comes to red skin and hair loss. he doesn't even care if he rubs his good or bad side of his face on my hands or other surfaces. If you don't see the visuals, you wouldn't even think something was wrong by how normal he is acting. There's only so much I can find from googling those common terms sadly.

One last little weird thing I noticed, after his traumatic night I gave him some of his favorite Churu wet treat, he was making a bit of a weird face whenever she started to lick it, like he was pulling his lip up just on one side (the red skin side). Basically making an expression like attached for a second. Not sure what that means but he doesn't normally do that.
 

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