There’s this old lady (Mrs. Mann), who lives next
door to my mother, and believe it or not she has 11 cats. Her place is
not like one of those homes that you see on reality TV shows where cats
are run amok fouling up and stentching out the house. Everything is
neat an tidy and the lady obviously takes great care of her feline
companions, but it’s the awful howling and wailing that’s disturbing my
mother’s sleep at night.
Most of the moggies were pretty well
behaved until about a month ago. Okay, so there was the occasional cat
fight outside the bedroom window, but that was more not than often.
Anyway, my mother suggested her neighbor check to make sure her wailing
whiskers were healthy and not crying because of medical problems.
According to Mum, Mrs. Mann looked a little upset at first by such a
suggestion, as if to insinuate she wasn’t taking care of her animals.
My mother went on to explain that many cats can have latent problems
that are not always apparent from just looking at the animals and that
it might be a good idea to get a vet take a look.
Mrs. Mann did
as my mother suggested and it appeared that one of her cats had feline
acne and it was this one that was doing all the wailing at night. In
fact, it was having a knock on effect among the other pets because when
the troubled one started it’s crying they all joined in. A kind of
cat’s choir if you like!
Apparently, it was the introduction of a
stray that was the culprit. A lost and crying kitten on the way back
from the shops one day was more that old Mrs. Mann could bear, and she
took the kitty home with her to join the rest of the family.
Whenever
taking a stray cat into any home, one of the first jobs should be a
trip to the local vets to get the animal checked over. Even our well
groomed moggies can pick up fleas, worms and all manner of other cat
complaints, so just imagine what kind of health problems an unchecked
stray could bring into the home?
Mrs. Mann’s big heart cost her a
big cheque as she had to get all of the animals checked over in order
to find the culprit. Feline acne is not always obvious and can
sometimes look like a couple of other complaints that mimic the
condition, which are ringworm (dermatophytosis) and demodecosis. These
were ruled out by the vet and feline acne was diagnosed as the problem.
This was somewhat of a relief for ole Mrs. Mann as demodecosis could
have spread through all the animals, and then she really would have a
job on her hands.
Demodecosis is extremely contagious among cats
and the way this is treated is by using a kind of lime sulfur dip and
it can prove to be a very uncomfortable treatment for the cat.
In
this case, the feline acne was treatable by a topical treatment which
was a benzoyl peroxide shampoo. There are other treatments but the vet
will usually advise what to use on a case by case basis. Vitamin A
ointment (Retin-A, Rx), metronidazole gel and mupirocin ointment are
perhaps the other most common recommendations.
In some cases a
topical treatment alone is not sufficient, and it’s necessary to use
systemic antibiotics or corticosteroids, but once again, the veterinary
surgeon is the one to advise here.
