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My cat's chin is bleeding, swollen, and he's depressed. What's wrong?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 6 years and 5 months old | 15 lbs

My male cat of 7 years has been scratching his chin excessively the past few days to the point it has no fur, is bleeding, scabbing, and is swollen. Since this has started, he's become severely depressed. He sits in one spot all day and does not move. I've been regularly applying animal antiseptic and cleaning the wound but its only getting worse. I suspect feline acne but what could be causing something this bad?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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

Veterinarian

Published on October 27th, 2018

Hi, and thanks for your question. This is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. Feline acne is a possibility but a picture of it would help to confirm it. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask 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 to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Rodrigo Roca, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Hello, I am sorry to hear about Charlie. What you are describing does sound like feline acne. With lots of scratching and rubbing the scabs can become secondarily infected, which might be contributing to Charlie’s change in attitude. I would recommend contains to clean the area with the antiseptic, if you notice any pus or colored discharge Charlie should be seen by a vet so that he can be started on antibiotics. In the future you can try to prevent flare ups by removing any plastic water or food bowls from Charlie’s environment. These can be irritating to cats and predispose development of scabs. Hope this helps, good luck!

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