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This is a relatively common disease and mainly occurs in the chin area …

Cat Acne

I had a nice six month old British Short Haired cat in the clinic today called ” Olley ” he is with us for his castration operation, like most vets I am a great fan of male cat neutering and you can read my thoughts on the subject HERE.

The owner also asked me to look at a skin condition under Olley’s chin,I took the above photo while the cat was recovering from his operation. The condition is in fact Feline Acne, this is a relatively common disease and mainly occurs in the chin area though in some cases it can affect the upper and lower lips as well. The main signs that you see are blackheads and spots, while this condition is ugly to look at it rarely affects the cat. This condition occurs in all ages of cats, and is generally regarded as a trivial disease although the odd case may be secondary to immunosuppression.

Mild cases like we see here may actually require no treatment except perhaps a cleansing shampoo. More severe case would benefit from an antibacterial/anti-malassezia wash once a week, and very severe cases where there is a deep pyoderma [ skin infection ] may be put on a course of antibiotics in addition to the wash.

This is a condition which responds well to treatment but recurrence is likely in some cases.

Scott