Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 8/22/2005

Question
My 9 year old cat has developed feline acne on his chin and around his nose.  We have removed house plants, changed to glass feeding/water dishes, done two rounds of oral steriods, one long acting steroid shot three weeks ago, and he still has acne...no improvement.  My vet suggested using vitamin E oil topically which bugs him to no end.  Any ideas???  We have no vet dermatologists in the area.

Answer
I would advise shaving the cat's chin and affected facial areas so you can wash these areas with soap and water daily.  Then ask the vet to do a skin scraping and a cytology to see if it is mange or a yeast called Malassezia.
If those tests are negative, then I would use a topical creme called Bactoderm and an oral antibiotic called Clindamycin.  In addition, I might recommend a diet change to a hypoallergenic diet for cats called z/d.