Cat acne and recurring bad ears

Zapperzy

My 7 month old kitten has what I think is cat acne under her chin. She's had it since she was found as a stray at 2 months, never came across this before so thought it was just dirt and when she didn't clean it off I presumed then it was her markings until a few weeks ago I started scratching it and it came off, cleared most of it off doing this but it's come back again.

Her skins not red or inflamed looking and she doesn't seem to be in any discomfort. Will it just clear with age or is there something I can put on it?

Also she has recurring bad ears, she's been treated for ear mites a few times and I'v cleaned her ears well a good few times but it keeps coming back. She's on good quality wet food so I don't think it's diet related.

Pumpkinseeds

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

There's a really good article on the link above, poor puss, I hope it gets sorted soon.

Nody

Your vet should be able to give you a soap to wash it with; in one our cats who had it they simply grew out of it eventually. As for ear mites; are you feeding wet/dry only or a mix?

Zapperzy

Nody wrote: »

Your vet should be able to give you a soap to wash it with; in one our cats who had it they simply grew out of it eventually. As for ear mites; are you feeding wet/dry only or a mix?

Mix of both, I'd say a 75/25 wet/dry mix. Hibiscrub is it?

ferretone

For the acne, can't beat Pumpkinseeds's article, that covers it. As for the ear thing, is it definitely mites still? My 8-month-old kitten had an ear infection shortly after her spay, and I had her back in the vet's recently, as she was getting very dirty ears still. He found no infection, no mites, but just she produces too much wax, so he told us to use an earwash once a week, as she could get a recurring infection if we don't. Just to note, she is a mostly white cat, with just a few black spots and a black tail, and she has one green eye and one blue. If yours is darker, this stuff is probably less likely to apply.

Pumpkinseeds

Meant to asky you Zapp, have you tried Canaural ear drops for the ears? It's what we use if ours have any ear problems.

boomerang

Is there a possibility she is being re-infected with the earmites from another pet in the home (dog or cat) or a dog or cat that lives nearby? How spread apart were the instances where the earmites came back? The earmites stimulate additional wax production and that can continue after the mites themselves have been sorted.

Also as the lifecycle of the earmite is three weeks, it's best to give a second treatment either two weeks or three weeks (vets differ on which) after the first spot-on application. What treatment were you given? Advocate or Stronghold are the spot-ons.

boomerang

PS - re: the acne - Dilute Hibiscrub on some cotton wool works great; give the area a good, thorough rub. Then once the chin and fur are damp, run a flea comb through the fur and it will take a lot of the blackheads with it. This is what our vet does. It can become very severe and painful so definitely keep on top of it.

Zapperzy

ferretone wrote: »

For the acne, can't beat Pumpkinseeds's article, that covers it. As for the ear thing, is it definitely mites still? My 8-month-old kitten had an ear infection shortly after her spay, and I had her back in the vet's recently, as she was getting very dirty ears still. He found no infection, no mites, but just she produces too much wax, so he told us to use an earwash once a week, as she could get a recurring infection if we don't. Just to note, she is a mostly white cat, with just a few black spots and a black tail, and she has one green eye and one blue. If yours is darker, this stuff is probably less likely to apply.

Actually it mightn't be mites, she doesn't seem to be at her ears at all they just look waxy and dirty when you look in.

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Meant to asky you Zapp, have you tried Canaural ear drops for the ears? It's what we use if ours have any ear problems.

Her ears were cleaned with something when she was spayed, probably canaural or something simlilar but I haven't used it on her myself.

boomerang wrote: »

Is there a possibility she is being re-infected with the earmites from another pet in the home (dog or cat) or a dog or cat that lives nearby? How spread apart were the instances where the earmites came back? The earmites stimulate additional wax production and that can continue after the mites themselves have been sorted.

Also as the lifecycle of the earmite is three weeks, it's best to give a second treatment either two weeks or three weeks (vets differ on which) after the first spot-on application. What treatment were you given? Advocate or Stronghold are the spot-ons.

No she's a fully indoor cat and the only other cat she has contact with definitely doesn't have mites so no reinfection. Maybe a week or two after a good cleaning, it's been 2 months since they were given a really good cleaning while she was being spayed and it's taken longer to come back this time. She's had a few advocate spot ons, due another one now.

boomerang wrote: »

PS - re: the acne - Dilute Hibiscrub on some cotton wool works great; give the area a good, thorough rub. Then once the chin and fur are damp, run a flea comb through the fur and it will take a lot of the blackheads with it. This is what our vet does. It can become very severe and painful so definitely keep on top of it.

I'l give that a go thanks

I changed her bowls to metal bowls over the weekend and I'v read that they should be washed every day which I'm not always good at but will definitely do now. Looking at pictures it doesn't seem anywhere near as bad as it could get, it just looks like she has a load of black dots on her chin, hopefully now once I get on top of it it'l clear up.

Pumpkinseeds

We use Advocate flea drops which also tackle ear mites and some worms. I always have a bottle of Canaural in just in case one of ours starts scratching at their ears during the winter as I don't really use the Advocate in Novemeber/December. It seems to do the trick very quickly, worth a try as you only have to put the drops in the ear and give the ear a quick massage afterwards, so the cat doesn't shake the drops out.

The Advocate might help keep things under control.