Acne is certainly familiar to everyone. But have you ever heard of feline acne? In the following article, you will learn how to recognize feline acne and how to best help your feline friend.
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In rare cases, feline acne can also spread to the mouth and nose.
Typically, the sebaceous glands produce an oily substance that protects the skin from drying out. However, when there is a blockage, the substance cannot escape, and the glands become clogged.
The development of feline acne is particularly influenced by an increased production of this substance combined with a keratinization disorder (hyperkeratosis or parakeratosis).
Hyperkeratosis means excessive formation of keratinized skin cells on the outer layer of the skin, often due to various immune-weakening factors like stress, mechanical strain, UV rays or infections. Parakeratosis, on the other hand, is a disturbed keratinization of the outer skin layer, which can be caused by toxins (e.g., thallium), infectious diseases or a lack of essential nutrients (e.g., zinc).
As a result of these keratinization disorders, bacterial inflammation of the sebaceous glands often occurs. Fungi and mites), which are typically present on the skin, can rapidly increase due to the inflammation.
Feline acne most commonly appears around the chin (chin acne), and less frequently around the mouth and nose. Depending on the severity, it causes various skin impurities:
Usually, no other symptoms occur. In rare cases, affected cats may experience itching or pain. If the inflammation of the sebaceous glands reaches deeper skin layers, many cats show restlessness, increased scratching, hair loss and scaly skin.
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Due to the very noticeable skin impurities, the suspicion of feline acne usually arises quickly. To determine the best therapy, the vet looks for the underlying cause.
Besides taking a history from the owner (anamnesis) and performing a clinical examination, special examinations of the skin are particularly important.
The vet might take a hair sample or a skin smear. This helps to detect bacteria or fungi (e.g., Malassezia) that are often involved in the inflammation. A parasite infestation (e.g., mites) is usually identified through a skin scraping. The vet scrapes the affected skin areas several times with a scalpel and then examines the collected material under a microscope.
For mild cases of feline acne, regular disinfecting cleaning is usually sufficient. Severe cases, however, require the use of various medications in the form of ointments or tablets:
Additionally, you should reduce stress for your cat and ensure adequate hygiene of feeding areas and the litter tray.
Before self-treating feline acne, always discuss it with your vet. Home remedies like coconut oil and chamomile tea can be used to clean the skin and potentially soften crusts. Vitamin A ointment soothes irritated skin. However, in more severe cases, these measures alone may not be enough. You can, of course, use these home remedies to support the therapy recommended by your vet.
Never treat your cat with human acne medications. It is also better to leave the removal of comedones to the vet.
Additionally, it is advisable to minimize severe stress. Ensure proper hygiene of feeding areas and the litter tray.
Although feline acne often occurs in phases, the prognosis is generally good. The quality of life for the cat is hardly affected. However, the condition often persists over a longer period.
Severe sebaceous gland inflammations rarely lead to deeper tissue infections or bacterial blood poisoning.
Regular parasite prophylaxis using collars, spot-ons or tablets is recommended. Also, ensure your cat’s diet is balanced to avoid nutrient deficiencies and excesses.
If your feline friend has had feline acne before, you can prevent further outbreaks by regular cleaning. However, do not clean more than once or twice a week, as disinfectants can dry out and further damage the skin.
Since plastic bowls are suspected of promoting feline acne, it is also wise to replace them with easily cleaned bowls made of stainless steel or ceramic.
At the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen I was extensively trained as a veterinarian and was able to gain experience in various fields such as small animal, large animal and exotic animal medicine as well as pharmacology, pathology and food hygiene. Since then, I have been working not only as a veterinary author, but also on my scientifically driven dissertation. My goal is to better protect animals from pathogenic bacterial organisms in the future. Besides my veterinary knowledge, I also share my own experiences as a happy dog owner and can thus understand and enlighten fears and problems as well as other important questions about animal health.
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