Cat acne, infections on chin

[WG]

Yes, it is a personal preference, but in my experience with hundreds of cats, it is most cats' preference as well.

If she tolerates antibiotic pills, then by all means, use the pills instead. My point is making the experience a tolerable, positive one for any medication administration.

Do you have any specific suggestions for how to make getting LIQUID antibiotics into the cat easier? (Maybe my cat is just a freak and unusually difficult, or maybe we weren't doing it right, although I called the vet's office twice to ask for more specific instructions and they didn't help.) How should the cat be restrained?

Yes, the vet should take back the bottle....she can use it for other purposes around the clinic. Yes, you can ask for a refund or credit if you take the bottle back.

Take one capsule, open it, and mix it with the food. Give the cats today and overnight to eat the food. Chances are they will. If they don't, then take the bottle back and ask for a refund or credit.

The cats are SORT of eating the food, but they seem less than thrilled. I honestly am not sure how much they normally eat, so while I know at least one of them is eating SOME food, I don't really have any idea if it's the normal amount or not.

I did call the vet's office and was told that I cannot return the capsules or get a refund/credit.

Edited to add (I always hit the post button too soon!) - Could I buy some wet food and mix the EFA oil with a spoonful of that or canned tuna and see if I can get the (one) cat to eat it that way? Or is that asking for trouble with the potential allergic component? And maybe the wet food would be too messy for her face/chin?

- WG

[Traci]

Sit on your knees on the floor...place kitty gently between your knees so her body is facing away from you. With left hand, gently lift her chin, but not straight up. With right hand, use syringe with liquid, place in the inside lower corner of the lip/mouth, squirt liquid quickly but gently. Gently hold mouth closed and rub the neck very gently until she swallows.

I'm surprised the vet wouldn't credit you. Did you talk to her specifically or a receptionist?

Monitor both cats and ensure they are eating. You should do this on a daily basis anyway.

If you think canned food is a necessity to administer the DermCaps, buy only the canned Science Diet, since you're already feeding them Science Diet dry. Absolutely NO tuna. You could mix the contents of the capsule in about 2 or three tablespoons of food and see if she'll eat it that way. When she is finished eating, try to dab away excess food from the chin using a cotton ball dabbed in the scrub solution. The problem with this is that she may get dependent on the canned food and quite possibly finicky about food from this point on. Not that the canned is bad in any way, you just don't want her developing a food aversion or finickiness (since at some point in the very near future, you're probably going to have to get her on a hypoallergenic diet). There really should be no reason the capsules can't be broken and the oil mixed in the dry food. But you really do need to monitor them both to ensure they are eating.

[JUDY S]

I have to agree that giving cats a liquid medicine can be quite the challenge. I had five cats on liquid and I'm not sure they got what the needed as it oozed out a lot! I don't know if the thickness was a problem, but when we got pills things got a bit easier. It's amazing how cats react differently to the pills. I had two that took it well, two that were okay and one that tried to take my fingers off twice a day. I ended up getting my family over to my house twice a day to help us, you may want to consider that. Good luck, you have my sympathies!!

[WG]

Sit on your knees on the floor...place kitty gently between your knees so her body is facing away from you. With left hand, gently lift her chin, but not straight up. With right hand, use syringe with liquid, place in the inside lower corner of the lip/mouth, squirt liquid quickly but gently. Gently hold mouth closed and rub the neck very gently until she swallows.

Yeah, that's what we did. She always completely flipped out, bit the syringe and our fingers violently, growled, struggled, clawed us, and spit out the meds. I guess maybe she's just particularly uncooperative!

I'm surprised the vet wouldn't credit you. Did you talk to her specifically or a receptionist?

I talked to a receptionist, but she put me on hold to go ask the vet.

If you think canned food is a necessity to administer the DermCaps, buy only the canned Science Diet, since you're already feeding them Science Diet dry. Absolutely NO tuna. You could mix the contents of the capsule in about 2 or three tablespoons of food and see if she'll eat it that way. When she is finished eating, try to dab away excess food from the chin using a cotton ball dabbed in the scrub solution. The problem with this is that she may get dependent on the canned food and quite possibly finicky about food from this point on. Not that the canned is bad in any way, you just don't want her developing a food aversion or finickiness (since at some point in the very near future, you're probably going to have to get her on a hypoallergenic diet). There really should be no reason the capsules can't be broken and the oil mixed in the dry food. But you really do need to monitor them both to ensure they are eating.

Just out of curiosity, why no tuna? Is it because of the possible mercury content, or is it just bad for cats in general? I mostly ask because when she was on the liquid meds and we were having such a hard time getting them into her, the vet suggested mixing them with tuna (not that it worked.)

How much "should" they be eating? Should I separate them completely to make sure they're both eating a certain amount? Molly is 13.6 lbs and Zoe is only a hair over 6 lbs so I'd assume they have different needs as far as amounts go? At what point do I need to be concerned if they haven't eaten the amount they should?

- WG

[WG]

I have to agree that giving cats a liquid medicine can be quite the challenge. I had five cats on liquid and I'm not sure they got what the needed as it oozed out a lot! I don't know if the thickness was a problem, but when we got pills things got a bit easier. It's amazing how cats react differently to the pills. I had two that took it well, two that were okay and one that tried to take my fingers off twice a day. I ended up getting my family over to my house twice a day to help us, you may want to consider that. Good luck, you have my sympathies!!

One thing I thought was weird was that the flavor of the meds was "orange pineapple." You'd think medicine made for cats would be flavored to resemble something like fish or chicken, not something like citrus. When I asked one of the vets about it, she said that the medicine is actually manufactured for humans (thus the flavor) and just re-packaged for pets. Which makes you wonder what the pharmaceutical industry is up to!

- WG

[Traci]

ANY fish, or canned cat food fish varieties fed in excess, can cause pansteatitis, otherwise known as yellow fat disease. Most fish contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids and/or insufficient amounts of vit E. Most fish also are vit K and thiamine deficient as well...canned tuna is high in fat and magnesium and fed on a long term basis may lead to pansteatitis.

Most cats will eat around 1/2 cup a day, but this also depends on the cat, weight, ability to maintain an ideal weight, optimal health status, activity level, and the quality of the food being fed. You don't have to seperate them when they eat. (unless they have a medical condition where one cat requires a specific veterinary diet that is not appropriate for the other cat). Avoidance of food, weight loss (sudden or drastic), lethargy, withdrawal, inactivity, jaundice, or any other obvious sign of eating/behavioral changes would indicate a problem in which you'd want to get your cat to a vet immediately for an exam.

The orange-pineapple is a new one on me. Unless you were referring to the cefa-drops, this is usually an orange flavored med. It is rarely compounded for pets, but probably could be for those pets whom are difficult to medicate.

[WG]

ANY fish, or canned cat food fish varieties fed in excess, can cause pansteatitis, otherwise known as yellow fat disease. Most fish contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids and/or insufficient amounts of vit E. Most fish also are vit K and thiamine deficient as well...canned tuna is high in fat and magnesium and fed on a long term basis may lead to pansteatitis.

Well, I'd think there'd be a big difference between "feeding in excess" and using one tsp to make a supplement more palatable. I can certainly understand why it wouldn't be a good idea to feed it to your cat as a significant percentage of its diet, though!

Most cats will eat around 1/2 cup a day, but this also depends on the cat, weight, ability to maintain an ideal weight, optimal health status, activity level, and the quality of the food being fed. You don't have to seperate them when they eat. (unless they have a medical condition where one cat requires a specific veterinary diet that is not appropriate for the other cat). Avoidance of food, weight loss (sudden or drastic), lethargy, withdrawal, inactivity, jaundice, or any other obvious sign of eating/behavioral changes would indicate a problem in which you'd want to get your cat to a vet immediately for an exam.

Thanks for the info. They're both older cat so their periods of high activity (ie playing) alternate with lying around snoozing.

The orange-pineapple is a new one on me. Unless you were referring to the cefa-drops, this is usually an orange flavored med. It is rarely compounded for pets, but probably could be for those pets whom are difficult to medicate.

Yes, sorry for the confusion, it was the Cefa-Drops that were orange-pineapple flavor. (The packaging of the ones we got were just like this - http://www.medi-vet.com/detail.aspx~ID~2250 ) I think it would have been a good antibiotic for her if we'd been able to get it into her. The new vet said the same thing that the old one did, that Cefa Tabs (pill form) are supposedly manufactured but for some reason difficult to get?

- WG

[Traci]

Don't know why they would be hard to get, all they have to do is call their Fort Dodge rep. Could also be they have an equivalent antibiotic and don't want to stock the tabs. I've always used the suspension form though.

[WG]

Update -

The new vet called to say that the culture didn't show anything but staph, which she says should have responded to all of the three antibiotics Molly was on (for a total of 12 weeks, I think.) She says the thing to try now is an injection of (I forget the name,) but I think it's some kind of steroid, on the assumption that this is EGC. She says the response to the shot should make it pretty clear whether this is EGC or not.

Molly's chin seems to have stopped the weird scabby peeling since we stopped using the OxyDex. (I say seems to have because there's still a lot of scabby bits clinging to her fur -- since I'm just very, very gently dabbing with the surgical scrub, the little bit of scab aren't really being washed away.) She does have two or three lumpy looking blackheads (but nothing that looks like a cyst or infection) at the moment.

Under the circumstances, does this seem like a reasonable course of treatment?

Thank you!

- WG

[Phoebe's human]

WG, my former cat, who lived to be nearly 13, had feline acne for years. The vets (same vet clinic all the time) kept watching it but never did a biopsy though one was mentioned a couple of times.

Twice the vets prescribed Oxydex Gel, and both times it dried my cat's skin but her chin had dozens of brown scabs hanging from it. This condition didn't improve, and both times the vets had to stop the Oxydex.

My cat often had abscesses or boils develop on her chin, sometimes three at a time. I felt obliged to drain these because she couldn't eat--I'm assuming she was in too much pain with those swollen, inflamed places on her small chin.

I used hot compresses to drain them and was always alarmed at how deep they seemed to go. After draining, there would be a deep narrow hole where the abscess had been. But she was obviously feeling better after the drainage.

The vet also recommended keeping her chin shaved, and I did that regularly. She got Bactoderm ointment on the chin twice a day.

The problem never went away--but apparently it didn't contribute to her death, as far as I know. She probably died of a liver tumor.