Best cat food and cat acne

muppet_man

Hi all,

My cat Oscar is 1 year, 2 months old and surffers from cat acne under his chin. My vet says it is common with male cats wise who, like mine, have had the snip.
From what I've googled it's linked to feed/water bowl type and diet.
He feeds/drinks out of ceramic dishes which are cleaned out several time a day.
His diet is 4, 100g Opticat pouches from Lidl. These include game, beef, poultry & salmon (wet food).

Otherwise he is a good sized healthy cat who kills flies, spiders, mice, rats and the odd pigeon. Thankfully he brings them home to me!!!

He's white under chin so the acne stands out a bit.

If can anyone has had this problem and can suggest a possible solution or diet change too help please let me know.

Justy & Oscar

Orla K

While my cat had a sore tooth I fed her on the lidl pouches and they are the worst thing to give them. She ending up getting the runs from it and I had to change her onto special food to that was easy on her stomach. I had said it to the vet, she said to change it and showed me food that would be good for her, she said whenever anyone comes into her and tells her that the pets are getting lidl or aldi food she tells them to change it.

Yenwod

We used to feed our cat Lidl cat biscuits and it was the cause of our cat getting crystals forming in her kidneys and so it can be very painful for the cat to go to the toilet. She got it twice and the vet adviced us that it's often to do with the pH balance in the food and cat. We switched food and she's not had it since.

These crystals can be worse in make cats coz their "plumbing" is different. I would definitely change off the lidl catfood if I were you

lorebringer

Lidl (and other supermarket brands, and brands sold in supermarkets) food is not very good quality. As pointed out, cats are quite prone to urinary problems, crystals etc., and the best way to control this is dietary. A good quality food will make the world of difference to your cats health in the long run. Perhaps the cat has an allergy to the food it is being few (not uncommon with the lower end of the food quality spectrum), have you tried changing? If you are unsure about good food, ask your vet. I recommend Royal Canin, Hills or Orijen, but this is simpley my opinion. If it is itchy or the cat is obviously bothered by it, perhaps a skin sample my need to be taken to find out what the problem is.

muppet_man

Thanks all for your good advice. I'll be definitely changing his food so.
Now it's just a matter of what type, wet or dry food, and brand.
Lorebringer mentions a few brands, any others that you'd recommend?
Which is best, wet or dry? Is there much difference or should I go for a mix of both?

Thanks again

Adventure Pout

Lidl cat food will not help your kitty too much..the quality of supermarket cat food are very bad..
Have you considered raw meat? My cat is on raw meat since kitten, and he is over 2 years old now, and really - no problem at all.He goes only once a year for health check and his booster.
I use the mix power InstinctTC for my cat raw meat: http://www.felinefuture.com/?page_id=24
This website contains lots of info and maybe you can find cases of cat acne: http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/bb/bybcatfood.htm
If not, you can still contact the writer (Franny), she is very good and will be able to answer.

I think you should try to find a higher quality of food for your kitty.
My cat loves HiLife (you can find them at Tesco, it contains min.60% meat) and Encore (but can find them only at Sainsbury). I am not a fan of dry food at all...

TskTsk

muppet_man wrote: »

If can anyone has had this problem and can suggest a possible solution or diet change too help please let me know.

I'd recommend choosing the appropriate variant from the Royal Canin range. They're recommended by most vets and breeders, and seem to tick all of the boxes in terms of nutrition for your cat. I feed my 18 month old Asian the 'Indoor' variant and she's never had any urinary/digestive issues at all. It also helps to reduce stool odours, which is a bonus

Rancid

muppet_man wrote: »

Thanks all for your good advice. I'll be definitely changing his food so.
Now it's just a matter of what type, wet or dry food, and brand.
Lorebringer mentions a few brands, any others that you'd recommend?
Which is best, wet or dry? Is there much difference or should I go for a mix of both?

Thanks again

I'd go for Royal Canin, they do many different types of dry food, find the most appropriate for your little guy.
I've been feeding mine the Senior Neutered and despite being a fussy eater, she still likes it after almost 2 years. She's 14/15 years old.
As well as the Royal Canin she gets some boiled chicken every day.

Rancid

muppet_man wrote: »

He's white under chin so the acne stands out a bit.

If can anyone has had this problem and can suggest a possible solution or diet change too help please let me know.

Justy & Oscar

From everything I've read about this problem, it's related to the secretions from the sebaceous glands and these glands are found in large numbers around the chin area. The sebum secreted by the glands is supposed to "waterproof" the hair and protect the skin but also seems to harbour bacteria picked up from food bowls, among other things.
They use this sebum to mark their territory so the chin comes in contact with a lot of different surfaces, indoor and out.

As long as there is no breakage of the skin, a little bit of cotton wool in warm water regularly should do the job.
If it's at the point where it's turned into a sore, or there is swelling, or your cat seems to be constantly irritated by it, then you need a trip to the vet.

Themadhouse

Stick with dry food. Wet can irritate acne. If you come across forever living aloe vera jelly cream but only the forever living stuff. Rub a bit into the acne and it lifts the dirt and reduces the redness. After a few days of applying it the acne will disappear.

muppet_man

Themadhouse wrote: »

Stick with dry food. Wet can irritate acne. If you come across forever living aloe vera jelly cream but only the forever living stuff. Rub a bit into the acne and it lifts the dirt and reduces the redness. After a few days of applying it the acne will disappear.

Thanks madhouse for the suggestion on this. I'll try Boots later if it's not there I guess I'll try the Body shop or some other health shops. I'll try to post some pre, during & post treatment pictures as I go along. I think it's a commom issue so hopefully it will help others.

After reading some of the health conditions linked to dry cat foods (http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canned_food.htm) I believe I will go for wet food. Several of you good folk recommend Royal Canin. After checking their website there range of foods are quite comprehensive. I'm sure I'll find one that suits.

Thanks again for your help.
I'm sure Oscar will be grateful

katiemaloe

Hi all, I just got a gorgeous new rescue cat the other day. The lady that I got him from said all her cats were fed a mixture of wet and dry food. He loves the wet food but doesn't seem impressed with his dry food. Ive heard that is is good for cats teeth to eat some dry food.

Do yer cats eat both meat and dry? Are many cats spoiled like this where they only eat the wet food- Im sure it tastes yummier! Should I mix the wet and dry together? I like the idea of weaning him onto a dry only diet as it keeps fresher for longer, whereas the wet food dries out after a few hours.

What do ye think? All opinions and advice welcome!

Adventure Pout

My cat is only on wet food because the idea of dry food to clean their teeth is absolutely wrong.
If you look at your cat when you give him dry food, you will see that they just gobble the biscuit..dry food does not clean cat teeth at all, this is just for commercial use!!!
Their teeth get clean by chewing/biting/tearing meat, this is the way feline are in the wild - remember that cats are originally wild african animal...

lorebringer

Adventure Pout wrote: »

If you look at your cat when you give him dry food, you will see that they just gobble the biscuit..

Nope - chews every single piece, quite slowly...