Boi has been struggling for a couple of months with chin acne. black heads on cat chin turn to pustules which break and blead causing scabs. Had 2 antibiotic shots and 1 steroid shot , using high grade stainless steel bowls only, meticulously clean. Anyone have luck with changing food?
Hi RPOP, chin acne can be pretty frustrating. At its core it is a disorder of the hair follicles themselves. It is called an idiopathic disorder because there is no underlying cause consistently linked to it though there are many possibilities. Strategies for follicular flushing are an important part of therapy. Benzoyl peroxide products, like shampoos, are very good getting into the follicles. There are a couple of products on chewy like a shampoo made by Davis and DermaBenSs by Dechra. You can use human acne wipes, though most contain salicylic acid only, which can be irritating to the skin and dry it out if used too often. If the follicles get really plugged, that's when bacteria can overgrow and cause the pustules. Systemic antibiotics can be helpful initially, but will often not fully resolve the issue. A topical antibiotic ointment called mupirocin is very helpful because it has good skin penetration. There are many cats with bad acne that will continually need management for their life once it develops. There might be some cats where an allergy is involved, but changing food alone without really addressing the area with topical therapy is not going to provide great results.
Mupirocin is prescription only. It is available on chewy.com. If you order it, they will send a prescription request to your veterinarian for approval. If you keep your vet in the know and let them know you're having continued frustrations with the acne and would like to utilize this approach, they will hopefully approve it for you.
@chris-vanderhoof Thank you. I do have the Davis Benzoyl Peroxide shampoo, cat is not fond of that treatment, or any time I even look at his chin now. He's lost all trust with me. Will try the mupirocin. Thank you.