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My cat has scabs on her chin. What's causing them and how to help?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

My cat has a scab like thing on her chin. And now I've noticed she has another little one coming. I don't know what it is but she has been scratching it Cruz now its scabby. What do you think it can be and is there a home remedy to hello her out. Nothing new going on that why I'm puzzled. Thank you Nancy

4 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on November 21st, 2016

This is probably due to a severe allergy, although it could also be fleas or mites.

First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment (advocate or advantage), then get her to the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation.

 If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try discovering the cause of the allergy.

 Some medications can be given by the vet in order to stop the chewing and repair the skin lesions (steroids and antibiotics). Hopefully you will see some results after all this, if not you and your vet should consider starting on a long term allergy treatment.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on September 20th, 2018

    It is possible she could have picked up fleas, they could have been brought inside on your person or by someone else. The bumps could be flea allergy dermatitis. If she does have a flea allergy from having fleas, that would take additional medication from the vet to treat, not just a flea medication. I'd take her into the vet for treatment sometime this week. I hope this helps!

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    Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on November 14th, 2016

    This is probably caused by an allergic reaction. first of all make sure you flea your cat regularly every month with a high quality flea product (ex. Advantage Multi) as fleas are by far the most common reason for these reactions. If the fleas are not the problem, it could be an allergic reaction to food or an environmental factor. this is more complicated to treat and will sometimes require medications such as Steroids, anti histamines or cyclosporin in order to stop the allergy. In some cases a course of antibiotics is also needed in order to treat the secondary infection that has appeared

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    Answered By Ricardo Fernandez, DVM

    Veterinarian, Veterinary Oncology Resident

    Published on December 7th, 2017

    Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes, this is likely due to skin allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

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