Ringo has growing crust around the mouth

Ringo is a 5-year-old, indoor-only cat, and lives with five other cats who are all indoors only. They were all rescued from the outdoors four years ago. Ringo is a very active and muscular boy, and up to now he has had no health problems. But starting four days ago, I noticed a thin black crust at the corners of his mouth. Each day there's been a little more crust, so now it's around almost half of his mouth, starting at the corners. Today, which is the fourth day, there was a pretty small difference of crust size from yesterday. The crust has remained thin over the four days. I tried washing it off with a warm cloth, but the stuff is stuck on his fur and I got very little off. I called my vet yesterday, who said it could be any number of things--for instance upper respiratory, mites, some complex I'd never heard of, or just some accumulated dirt! The vet told me to monitor it or else bring him in, but I'm hoping someone here can give me some advice. It's hard to get this guy in the carrier (I have a large one), he hates it and usually squirms free! He isn't sneezing, and there's no discharge from his eyes. There was a tiny bit of mucus in one of his nostrils yesterday, but that mucus is almost all gone today. THANKS for anybody's response. --Peter (aka bobtail on catoftheday.com)

It could be as simple as Feline Acne. There are mild cases which are most common, then (as pictured in the second link) it can progress into very severe.

I have one that from time to time gets a very mild outbreak. The stuff is black and kind of waxy, I just keep bathing the area with warm water, it's very difficult to remove and the sores if there are any are under that. If there is a sore I use a small amount of neosporin on a q-tip, to help it heal. It can sometimes take weeks though. You have to keep at it if that is indeed what it is.

http://www.valleypetnews.com/felineacne.htm

(more severe in this link)

http://www.fabcats.org/acneandstudtail.html

I agree with the previous post about the acne. It is treatable, but get it looked at, it can progress to a really messy situation. Had one cat with it so bad, he could not eat.
I am glad the previous post has Persians. I have a Persian, Raven(COTD 12/9/04), she has a conditon called idiopathic dermatitis. Persians and Hyimilians(sp) are known to get this. It is also a brown debris that clings to the fur under the chin, around the mouth, and sometimes even in the space on the cheeks. Has anyone ever seen that. That was a possibility I thought of when I read about the affected cat in the first post. You never know with these creatures!!!!

Shady, Thank you for responding to my post about my cat Ringo. It helps because I think I can now rule out cat acne. The crust is a lot thinner than cat acne, only about one-eighth inch thick. I think it is best described as a continuous crust, not independent globules like cat acne is. Also, it is equally on the top and bottom of his lips, and I think cat acne primarily appears on the bottom lip but seldomly on the top. No real change in the crust today, the fifth day it's been there, and it looks to me like nothing new has accumulated. Instead it looks like the same stuff is stuck there from the past couple of days. So the crust is still on about one-third of his mouth, starting from both corners. It's stuck on the fur beside his lip and doesn't come off easily. Ringo tolerates me wiping with a warm damp cloth for not very long (that's just his springy personality), and I haven't been able to wipe much off but I'll try again. The reason I haven't rushed off to the vet is that in every other way, he appears and behaves just fine. He's eating well, and full of energy like he always is. I've looked at some web sites for cat health but couldn't find information on this condition. If Shady or anybody else has any further ideas, I'd greatly appreciate your sharing them. Thank you so much. --Peter

A closer look today shows that the crust is almost entirely confined to Ringo's lower lip, and hardly at all on the upper lip like I had last reported. Possibly, this condition is receding. And, since now I am seeing it mainly on the lower lip, maybe after all it is cat acne, but in the form of a crust. By the way, Raven's Mother, thank you very much for your post! I will keep examining, of course, and will post Ringo's progress here. Am still very interested to hear anyone's comments about this condition.

Good luck!! I hope it is something simple, and will not affect Rusty too badly!!

hello,
I just wanted to say, that my 2 of the 3 cats i have; have had this crusted.. what i call dirty mouth, i took them to the vet for it and vet cleaned thier mouth area with poroxide and told me that it is like bacteria and dirt.. generally comes from them eating from plastic dishes. told me to use stainless steal dishes... they occasionally get it now and then but only since i used a plastic dish for their food, still use a steel one for water.. so thinking maybe they got it back because of dish.... hope this helps.:p

Maybe get Ringo and the others some teeth-cleaning treats - that might help. There are also drops that can be added to their drinking water that help fight tartar and thus any associated infections.

A free call to the vet tech might be able to advise you on which of these might be a good idea.

I hope Ringo is healed soon!