So, we have an ongoing curious case of chin acne among the cats. Katharine's face is swollen and black against her usually pristine white chin. She saw Compassionate Care vet Dr. Forbes for laser treatment last night. She also received a shot of Convenia, the antibiotic. She and Jimmy will return on Sunday (yes, a place with Sunday hours!) because Jimmy's has returned a bit. Elizabeth and Bette also have it but not as bad so I will hold off taking them in. But Baby and Myrna have no acne.
Two possible reasons since they all get different goops, somewhat different foods, all get the same clean glass dishes for each meal, use the same litter boxes, etc.: either it's the toothpaste or the exposure to the herpes virus. Toothpaste-same tube and brand we always use by CET but this is a tube we've had for a month when-voila!-chin acne appeared. Four siblings get their teeth brushed daily while Baby-being the difficult, angry cuss she can be (but very loving and sweet most of the time) gets her teeth brushed a couple times a week. She doesn't always get her meds first thing and gets them later when my husband comes home (when she's decided to hang out in the basement on the top shelf all day where I can't get her but I can reach up and feed her.) She doesn't need her meds first thing so far so she's fine. But by the time he comes home, the toothbrush has been put away and we don't think about it since we are busy with other things at that point. And Myrna hasn't had her teeth brushed a lot recently because of her CHF and meds and vitamin goops and it's just one thing I've let go of but she gets brushed at least once a week.
The other thing is the herpes virus: siblings were exposed as kittens when spayed/neutered. They initially got sick as kittens in the order of when they were spayed/neutered and a week apart just as they were spayed/neutered. The only two to have recurring bouts of herpes related illness over the last six years are Jimmy and Katharine. Baby being the oldest is considered immune and Myrna was never as sick as the others initially and was the last to be spayed. Bette and Elizabeth were sick initially but not as sick as Jimmy and have never been as bothered by a virus-such as the one last summer-as were Jimmy and Katharine.
According to photos from this site, they only have acne-black granules on the chin-and not herpes sores. They do get lysine daily to fight off the herpes virus and I can easily increase their daily dose to see if it helps. We will change the type of toothpaste or even stop using it-the dentist from MSU said we don't need to use toothpaste as it's the scrubbing of the gums with the brush that does the trick (but wet the brush as a dry brush can irritate the gums, hurt the cat.) If we stop using toothpaste at all and the acne clears up and doesn't return and then comes back if we use it again, we'll know. And process of elimination is the only way to know for sure. But then again, who wants it to return?
So, more lysine, no toothpaste for the next week or two and we'll see how it goes.
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