Pet Haven

Surprisingly acne on the chin is not restricted to humans, feline chin acne is a fairly common condition. A cat’s face has two types of gland, the sweat glands and the sebaceous glands. The sebum produced by the sebaceous glands waterproofs the skin and as in humans, it keeps the skin soft and supple. However a cat has larger sebaceous glands on the chin, the top surface of the tail and the eyelids, and in the case of the chin these glands are referred to as the submental glands.  These extra sebaceous glands excrete an oily substance that is used for marking the cat’s territory.

These submental glands can get over stimulated and when they are  active they  can clearly be seen on the cat’s chin as an oily greasy “stain” it is more apparent on cats with a very light coloring. Sometimes it appears as a dark greasy mark, which can easily be mistaken for flea dirt.

This over activity of the submental glands is feline chin acne and when it is only mild the feline chin acne appears as a blackhead,  a black comedone is clearly visible and it is not flea dirt. Feline chin acne can be a particular problem for Persian carts and it is called

Idiopathic Persian facial dermatitis often referred to in the vernacular as “dirty face!”

Feline chin activity can often be made worse in cats that are messy feeders. Interestingly the cat acne treatment is not that different from the acne medications that the humans have, it is a topical cream.

Unfortunately cats are more likely to lick the acne medication off their faces than humans are, and it can be less effective, and they need a stronger acne treatment. Acne is something that is not confined to humans and neither is the treatment, but fortunately, your cat will not be worried about the scars from feline chin acne. 

• Cats Need First Aid Too!
• Combating Separation Anxiety in Dogs
• Available Feline Vaccines
• Cat diseases
• Could your Cat have Feline Diabetes?

Comments are closed.