Cat Chat Feline Forum

I seem to have a cat with a slight predisposition to feline acne... I'm assuming this is entirely possible and it's something I'll just have to deal with?
Tiger has had feline acne twice in the past year, which might not seem like much but compared to my other cat Sox who has never had it- It's a lot.

The first time he got it I read up on it intensely and found it is commonly caused by plastic food and water bowls as plastic can harbour bacteria in minute ridges. At the time they both had plastic food bowls, but their water bowl has always been metal. So I bought them both metal food bowls and he cleared up. I keep up a strict cleaning routine with their food and water bowls to try and prevent feline acne as it must feel weird for him, but even with this strict routine he's got it again!
They are fed on Natures Menu complete raw meal pouches daily as well as raw bones to chew on.
Food bowls get soaked in boiling water straight from a freshly boiled kettle every day after each feed. I clean their waterbowl with hot water and a scourer daily as well, fresh cold water added after the cleans.

Is this just something I'll have to deal with or is there anything else I can do?

When I had a cat with feline acne I chenged to ceramic bowls and also used to bathe her chin every couple of days with hydrogen peroxide to keep it clean. That did seem to work. Good luck.

How old are they? My Abbie had a few flare ups and then seemed to have grown out of them - almost like some teens have acne and others don't.

At the time I was told to wash her chin with hibiscrub (you can get it from Boots, but don't tell them it's for a cat! )

Crewella: His has cleared up again already. It never seems to last very long, it's been four days since it started showing again and now it's almost gone again. As for ceramic bowls, Tiger chips them. He uses the edge of the bowl to scoop food into his mouth and in the process he badly scrapes up plastic bowls and chips ceramic bowls. When they had plastic bowls I was having to replace his very frequently which is another reason I switched to metal.

Meriad: He's 4 years old this year. The flare ups started last year, around about September time so just before his 3rd Birthday.
Do you think he might grow out of it then?

As for washing his chin, I was told hibiscrub too by the vet. Though he did say that since it was only mild it should clear up on it's own, and it did. And has done each time as it's never "bad". No scabs, no massive black areas, etc.. Just some minor fur loss on his lip and tiny black specks which clear up themselves and his fur grows back.

Rowdy had this off and on for a few years. I had an acne wash from the vet that I would use when it flared up. It cleared up completely when he turned 10.

I'm glad it's cleared up. I have a serial pottery chipper too, but I also have an endless supply of pretty bowls so just chuck 'em.

Crewella wrote:I'm glad it's cleared up. I have a serial pottery chipper too, but I also have an endless supply of pretty bowls so just chuck 'em.

Tiger is ridiculous. He's only chipped one but that's because I never bought him another as he swallowed some of the chipped pieces... I didn't want to risk anything bad happening to him. This was before his first episode of the acne, before then I knew no issues with plastic bowls apart from being tippable(hence the one ceramic I got him for weight issues)...

This is his old plastic bowl, he only used it about three times and in that time he did this to it. It looks worse in person, the flash really washes it out a lot. Like I say, he literally uses the edge of the bowl to scoop food into his mouth. Even with his metal bowl he does it and that has almost straight edges instead of nicely curved ones.

Good grief - jaws!!

Crewella wrote:Good grief - jaws!!

Exactly

Bless him though, I don't know why he does it. He just always has. Just his "style" of eating I guess