Raw feeding and acne?

[allytt]

So, I have a husky girl and 6 cats (3 of my own, 3 fosters), and all but one were weaned straight on to raw from bottle feeding. We didn't have any trouble until recently when one of the fosters, a white Van girl, developed acne. I assumed it was related to her sensitive skin and having spent so much time on the streets before joining our gang. The vet suggested using a washcloth and antibacterial soap to wash her face each day, and it did seem to improve but then I noticed that they all had acne that I hadn't noticed before because they have very dark faces. Vet suggested they were infecting each other when grooming, but I have 2 new fosters that are just being weaned and have had no contact at all with the older cats and who, days after starting on raw, have developed acne. The only reason I'm associating it with raw feeding is that the 2 new babies were perfectly fine while on the bottle, but when I started introducing some raw chicken at 4 weeks old the acne appeared almost immediately. The new fosters are still in their "quarantine cage" kept well away from the other cats and the dog. Has anyone else noticed acne in their raw fed cats/kittens? If so, any solution?

 

[ldg]

The only time one of my cats developed acne was when she was licking the juice off the plastic bag of meat I was using. Like many cats, it was probably an allergy to plastic.

Are you feeding them on stainless steel or glass dishes? If you're using ceramic or plastic, that may be the problem.

Also, FYI, I use colloidal silver to treat.. just about everything the cats get. Externally, I use 500ppm (this one, actually, if you're in the U.S. : ). It cleared up Flowerbelle's acne overnight. I just soak a piece of cotton, and dab 3x or 4x a day. (It also works wonders on cat scratches and bites!).

 

[allytt]

They have stainless steel dishes, and the foster kittens are just eating straight off their blanket which I'm changing twice a day (they have glass bowls but move the food as soon as I put it down). The colloidal silver sounds like something to try, not sure where I can get it though.

 

[ldg]

If you're not in the U.S., I wouldn't know where you get it.

Wow - I find that so unusual that they all have acne! I haven't seen anyone here have kitties with an acne problem from the food - unless it was an allergy. But there's no way all of them can be allergic to the same protein, the odds are astronomical.

Here are three articles - they all say basically the same thing.

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesconditionscat/f/FelineChinAcne.htm

http://www.cat-world.com.au/feline-acne

http://www.catcare.com/blog/2010/02/16/the-heartbreak-of-acne/

I know many TCS members have had success with a wash using Hibiclens. The hydrogen peroxide might not be a bad idea. But if it's mites or yeast, the colloidal silver (500ppm used externally) really is the best option.

 

[allytt]

Thanks so much, I'm in Turkey so finding colloidal silver is going to be a challenge but right now I'll try anything, especially with the fosters. I really need them to find homes, and people automatically assume they're sick because of the greasy acne on their chins. Don't suppose it's because they all eat large pieces (they all love to gnaw at meat and bone so I've never ground the food or cut it up too small) and get it all over themselves? The little ones have so far only had chicken necks that they "strip" of meat (in addition to their kitty milk of course), getting chicken all over their chins in the process?

 

[ldg]

If they're that young, they may need help grooming!

In addition to the warm cloth and antibacterial soap, maybe try the hydrogen peroxide, as mentioned in one of the articles (the last link, maybe?).

 

[rsbandthegypsy]

Acne on raw food.   I don't think it has anything to do with raw food.   We had this problem with our last cat.  Just clean the acne area one or two times daily with peroxide.  It goes away and for us, it never came back. 

 

[jcat]

Have you gotten all or most of the chicken from the same source? I wonder whether the chickens could have been given hormones or feed with pesticide residue.

 

[lissav]

My cat has recently developed feline acne. First time for this condition in 35 years owning cats. Just discovered our other cat has it too. That's too much of a coincidence. Only difference is recently using a commercial raw food for half their meals. Natural instinct lamb.

 

[ldg]

How long have you been feeding it? I wonder if it's a transition-related issue OR something about the product, as jcat mentioned above. :dk:

My Flowerbelle got acne on raw once (never having had it before), but it was because she stuck her head in the plastic bag of meat. :lol3: I treated with with 500ppm colloidal silver actually - just soaked a cotton ball, dabbed it on the acne several times, and it was basically gone overnight. Never came back.

 

[lissav]

Two or three months. Tried a variety of raw foods from homemade to commercial. They ate this one most consistently, so for last month only this one, plus their usual canned. Sad and painful/ itchy for them. Am treating with daily softening up with mix of apple cider vinegar and warm water, then light rubbing, (which they enjoy :-), then application of antibiotic. One has swollen glands too. It's improving. My thoughts are that the chin area is difficult for the cats to clean, so bacteria from the raw food built up over time and caused the infection.

 

[ldg]

I don't know about that theory.

Do you feed it in a bowl or on a flat plate? Try a glass or stainless steel flat plate rather than a bowl.

Otherwise, I'd have to suggest using a different raw food.

 

[lissav]

The reason I responded to the original post is my two cats got infected chins after a diet change to raw food.

 

[ldg]

Right. :nod: But was it as soon as you transitioned? With the other foods? Or now that they're eating THIS food? :dk: And if it is from stuff getting on their chins, a change in dish might be appropriate, as we have no idea whether you're using bowls or plates. If it's from stuff on the chin and a bowl, a plate might resolve it. ???? :dk:

 

[lissav]

I use both plates and bowls, glass and ceramic, no plastic. Their dishes vary a lot as I use a clean dish every feeding. I've fed raw for years, but it's always been homemade. I cook the outside of all meat before cutting it up into bite size pieces. I've fed commercial raw in the past, but it was only a few meals a week. What is different this time is I settled on a regular daily use of a commercial raw food. I'm certain that is the critical change that initiated this condition in my cats. I was not checking their chins, never needed to in the past except one tuxedo cat that had lifelong blackheads, and I'd comb her chin daily. It developed in both of my cats at the same time. They usually are fed separately, but as the raw food needs to be eaten quickly, they did share the same dish for this particular food. As I said in my first post, this is the first I have seen this condition in any of my cats in 35 years and I've had over a dozen cats. This is not black heads, it's a nasty bacterial infection on two cats that don't interact with each other all that much as one is an outdoor cat and the other is an indoor cat. Now that I am cleaning and putting antibiotic ointment from the vet on their chins daily, it is improving on both cats, although one still has a swollen gland in his neck. The vet said it is from the chin infection. I think the problem was an overgrowth of bacteria on an area the cats cannot effectively clean themselves. As soon as this bag of instinct raw lamb is used up I'm switching to rad cat. I'm still feeding them homemade lightly cooked, as well as canned and a little dry as well. I use this variety of foods as I do not believe vitamin supplements should be included in every meal. Once a cat consumes the recommended amount in a day, and they want or need additional food, I feed them food that has no extra vitamins (other than that naturally contained in food of course), especially synthetic ones. My vet indicated that tooth resorption (suffered by my previous cats) could possibly be caused by an overdose of vitamin D, but there is no certainty on this issue. Or whether cans are a cause. So, to be safe, I don't feed more than the recommended daily amount of any commercial food to my cats. And I fill in the rest of their food with homemade, often raw. I was hoping to save time by using commercial raw instead. I used instinct as it doesn't have synthetic vitamins in the contents list. Neither does Rad. I was never sure about the high pressure water pasteurization process used by instinct, but the cats both ate it ok. Over the past two days I've done a side by side taste test of both foods, and Rad has won out. I'm comfortable with Rad anyway as they don't use the high pressure water pasteurization, which is too new to me to be comfortable with. And of course, I will continue to wipe their chins daily with the apple cider vinegar mixed with warm water as it cuts the grease, and especially after feeding raw.

 

[ldg]

The detail makes much more sense. So it's not "raw food" that cause acne - it is a specific brand of commercial food. Just .... how odd it's the HPP treated food causing the problem. Obviously many, many people use that food for their cats without incident. I wonder what it is that both of your kitties developed the problem? So intriguing.

But Rad Cat is completely different - a very simple, very high quality food. I think you'll be happy with that choice. :nod:

Vibes you'll get that infection cleared up, never to return!

 

[lissav]

I think it was the change to feeding raw every day that caused it. Sorry if my post was unclear on that. Then the bacteria level in their chins increased, and that caused the infection. But yesterday another possibility occurred to me, that perhaps there was cross contamination via one or more of their four water dishes. What I'd like to know is whether "cat acne" is associated with a specific bacteria.

 

[ldg]

Good question. And something else occurred to me - there was another member, that during her transition to raw (feralvr) had several cats develop chin acne (but not all of them - I think 2 of 6? I don't remember), and she also used NV - though I don't think it was the sole commercial raw diet fed. It did take a while to get the problem under control, and one of her cats, Pipsqueak, if I recall correctly, developed a severe infection. She did clear this up with time, and they continued (continue) to eat raw without further incident. Just .... information, for whatever it's worth. :dk:

 

[katofatfat]

Hi my name is Jenny, and I have a cat "Kato" who is currently 5 years old also have feline acne which started about a month ago. Yesterday, I took him to the vet and the vet gave him an anti biotic shot, an am
oxicillin and soap to take home with. Suppose to feed him amoxicillin twice a day (1.5ml each time) and use the soap provide by vet to wash his chin only twice a week. I am having a concern about how he got the feline acne because for the past 5 years, he was on dry food and mid last year I switch him on only wet food (to be healthier) and never have any problem, then about couple month ago I start to make my own chick raw with Wild Kitty pre-mix. And Feline acne starts slowly a month ago, until last weekend, it starts to increase in a fast speed, now Kato even have couple on both side pf upper lips and couple one on the edge of upper lip, Zit just starts one after another and I even found a new Zit today.

All his food bowl were stainless steel and ceramic. So as his water fountain. Now since the vet can't tell me what cause it (which I can understand after all these google search I did, feels there were way too many possibilities) the only thing I can come up with might be either the raw food or the plastic parts where the water flows out from my water fountain which is drink well 360 stainless steel. So I throw it away my water fountain. Although I am not sure how many days would take to heal from feline ance with all the antibiotic he had since yesterday. Somehow I feel the premix or chicken could be one of the cause, I don't think the raw chicken is the problem but I think it might be the premix... 

Anyhow, a lady with 4 cats on a facebook cat group suggest me to also let him wear a soft cone collar and don't remove it until all the zits are fully heal, reason was when they scratch with their feet it might help to increase the amounts of zit to spread faster. So now other than what vet provided me, Kato is currently wearing a soft cone collar. Its only second day after the vet so I hope these will work otherwise, I might have to switch him back to canned food to see if it helps. 

 

[kim fernandez]

i have been raw feeding my cats for three years without a problem. recently one cat developed chin acne. the vet gave me a scrub to use, but things got worse. then i remembered that i had been forgetting to add fishoil, omega 3s, to their food. Now that i i have restarted i think things are improving. so try giving fish derived omega 3. you must also supplement with extra vitamin e. Some brands of omega 3s come with the necessay Vitamin E amounts added. Remember..only omega 3, not omega 6 or 9!