kitty cold sore??

[angelas1191]

My cat has two dots around her mouth. they do not seem to hurt her. she is 10 months old and is eating and going to the bathroom fine. Should i be concerned? Anyone know what this could be?

[angelas1191]

http://bayimg.com/aaibgAaDI image isnt showing up for me for some reason. this is the url for it.

[MissBoots]

Acne?

Boots has kitty acne on her chin/lower lip. Looks just like that when she scratches at it.

Are you feeding in stainless steel bowls? Many things can cause acne. Plastic bowls are a major one. I used to use one then switched to stainless, got rid of her acne. Food allergies can cause acne, too.

[Meezer_lover]

Definitely looks like chin acne. Sumo used to have that. He had ceramic bowls all his life, so it must have been caused by something else.

I used to clean it with a paper towel and peroxide. I just put the peroxide on the paper towel and gently wiped his chin. That always helped clear it up.

[angelas1191]

thank you so much! i was starting to worry. ill try the peroxide but she does eat out of plastic bowls so ill have to get her a ceramic or stainless steel. I am so relieved

[MissBoots]

Walmart has stainless steel bowls for 97 cents in the kitty food dish isle. I bought 10 of them, and a wrought iron frame for them for $15 total. Another thing is ceramic dishes can have holes in the glaze that harbor bacteria. Acne can show up out of no where, even when there's no changes in dishes or diets. You can use plastic for years and one day have a kitty with acne.

My vet gave me stridex pads to clear it up. Given I never used it, just switched the dishes. But that's what she recommended aside from cleaning her chin regularly with mild soap and water.

[catloverami]

Looks like feline acne. A flat plate may be easier for her to eat off than a bowl. I used to have a cat that had feline acne for most of her 17-1/2 yrs. Sometimes, it would completely disappear for months at a time, and then she would have a flare-up. I think some of it was related to stress and possibly the food I was feeding her. I used various creams, medications (can't remember the names now) with various degrees of success. Occasionally she would scratch it and get her chin infected, the she would have to have some medication to clear that up. Sometimes the acne would go away for months and then reappear. It's a strange thing really and fairly common. It's not contagious as none of my other cats ever got it from her and there was a lot of mutual grooming. I do know that if you rub off the gunk too vigorously that seems to aggravate it and make it worse, at least it did with my girl. I never used plastic bowls, so the cause of it is somewhat mysterious---maybe a type of autoimmune thing, I really don't know. It didn't seem to be genetic.

[Mitts & Tess]

Looked like classic ringworm to me. A lot of times its active in moist warm places to begin with in the head area. If this kitten was from out of doors and the ringworm fungus was in the soil it can show up other places of the body. If it is ringworm this is an easy fix.

[angelas1191]

Ringworm ? She is an indoor cat so doesn't go outside. There's no other evidence of anything wrong other than the blotches on her chin. Could these be a sign of ringworm or is appetite and behavior affected first or more commonly with ringworm?

[Mitts & Tess]

Ringworm is not health threatening. Try blacklighting it in a dark room. If it turns green its ringworm. There are many different kinds of ringworm. Some wont blacklight. How long have you had your cat? Does it come in contact with other cats. Do you volunteer at a rescue? Sometimes it is in their system and come on later or when stressed. If you have other adult cats with healthy immune systems not to worry.