It’s Never Easy With Bud

Little man’s got acne and won’t let me use a hot compress. Will a topical cream work?

The gross picture you’re looking at is the underside of Bud’s chin.

I knew he’d gotten acne again, but was surprised to see it’s this bad.

So I turned to Google, read a bunch of stuff, and watched a video in which a veterinarian had her arm around calm cat, who allowed her to rub its chin with a warm compress and witch hazel.

These veterinarians with their calm cats! You never see them with a cat like Bud, and I know there’s no magic to their approach because I’ve warned vet techs about him before and have seen them still come away with scratches.

Buddy’s selfie, triggered by the little guy himself when I was trying to get a clear shot of his acne so I could assess how bad it is.

I don’t have any witch hazel, but figured a warm compress could help. I should have known better. He won’t let me do it, just like he won’t let me trim his claws, brush him for more than two seconds at a time, or do just about anything else for his benefit.

When it’s his idea, of course, I can rub his chin until his heart’s content, as well as the top of his head, his cheeks and around his ears. But at all other times? Terrible! Unacceptable!

He is such a pain in the ass. A Pain In The Bud, you might even say. I love him very much and he’s generally a good boy, but what a pain in the ass.

I already have stainless steel bowls for him, so unfortunately this may be my fault for either not cleaning them well enough or not running them through the dishwasher enough to kill off all potential bacteria with heat as well as soap. Normally I wash them by hand with soap between meals/water refilling, and once a week in the dishwasher, but it looks like I’m going to have to be a lot more thorough and really scrub the hell out of them.

In the meantime, can anyone recommend a good topical cream? Bud won’t let me apply anything with a warm cloth or even a soft tissue, but I think I may be able to distract him and apply a topical cream with a Q tip. Then hopefully he’ll realize I’m only trying to help and allow me to apply it.

20 thoughts on “It’s Never Easy With Bud”

    1. Hey Kymber! Welcome back! How are you feeling? I was happy to see the update saying you were doing well, then got a little nervous when several weeks passed without another update, so it’s great to see that you’re back!

      I hope all is going well with your recovery, and that you take it easy for as long as you need. At least it’s a good excuse to play Sims, yeah? 😁

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  3. Maybe call his vet and see if they could recommend a cream. I’m sure they’d be glad to if it meant that they’d avoid the claw of death.

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    1. lol. They can’t say I didn’t warn them either. They were like “Oh, it’s okay, we deal with cats like that all the time.”

      You’re right, they may be happy to avoid him.

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  4. Poor Buddy! The plague of acne continues well into adulthood!! Fortunately the only thing that others will focus on is his ripped physique!!

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    1. “Just flex your meowscles, little dude, no one will notice the acne.”

      “Ya think?”

      “Definitely. People won’t be able to take their eyes off those guns.”

      “You’re right, of course. My meowscles are pretty huge.”

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  5. I keep a pump bottle of Melaleuca “Renew” around for abrasions, sore spots, and other skin irritations on my furballs, as it has no fragrance, is non-toxic, and my kitties will tolerate it pretty well. Barring that, you may want to double-check w your vet as there may be either a prescription or an OTC salve that they would recommend. Sorry the little bugger is having that issue. I imagine it is irritating to him?

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    1. Thank you! I found information that says it should be significantly diluted because tea tree oil can be toxic to cats, but it sounds promising.

      That’s the thing, I don’t think the acne bothers him much, but I do want to get it cleared up. He seems to be more bothered by my attempts to clean it, as he hates being restricted, picked up, etc.

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  6. Some cats just tend to have chin acne, no matter how carefully you keep everything clean, get the right bowls, etc.

    I found a very fine tooth comb – sold in pet departments – helpful to get the crumbly dirt off. Soaking the spot makes it easier to remove the gunk.

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  7. Don’t you know how to Wrap A Cat? My mother taught me when I was just a child.

    Get a large towel. Maybe a beach towel.

    Sit with one end of the towel on your lap and put the Budster’s fanny on the end of the towel.

    Start wrapping the towel firmly around Buddy, including the edge of the towel that he was sitting on. Keep wrapping until he is enveloped. Make sure to wrap up his legs.

    BE FIRM. Don’t let him squirm out of it or tug your heartstrings with complaints.

    Clean his chin as needed.

    Clean his bowls in the dishwasher after every meal, not just once a week. What about cleaning other areas in the house where he spends a lot of time?

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    1. Yeah, I’ve used a towel before, the problem is he screams bloody murder, does everything he can to squirm out, tries to bite and scratch me, and then inevitably he’s angry at me afterward.

      And yes, that’s just it. I hate seeing him in distress, and then I stop. So he does tug at the heartstrings, but I don’t know if it really causes him that much distress or he’s just being a pain in the ass.

      I will try again and be forceful and hopefully he eventually realizes it’s not so bad, just gently wiping his chin.

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  9. I recommend you replace the metal bowl with a glass bowl. I’ve used glass bowls for my cats for years, with zero getting chin acne.

    Plastic bowls almost guarantee chin acne. I’ve known people who used metal bowls, and about half of them reported Kitty getting chin acne.

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    1. Thanks for the advice. Do you know if those friends had stainless steel bowls? Right now I’m making sure to scrub them and make absolutely sure every last molecule is rinsed off, but if that doesn’t work, glass could be a good option.

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      1. The metal bowls they had are the ones PetSmart and Petco sell. So I guess they were stainless steel.

        Note that my glass bowls are small dessert bowls I found in thrift stores. Almost every thrift store I visit has a least a couple of these bowls.

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