Shawnee has a very very dry cracked nose.

[Shawnees Mom]

My Brindle Boxer Shawnee is going on 11 years old. Her nose is very dry and "flaky or scaly" is this normal,is there anything can you do about it?? She ends up with fuzzies from her blankies stuck in the rough splits (even though it is cracked from being dry it has never caused bleeding). I tried some of my special diabetic lotions they are fragrance free, non irritating etc...but she still licks it off. I'm so afraid that it will make her sick that I stopped using any lotions. I have tried Vaseline, but she immediately licks it off.

Has anyone heard of this or experienced this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Shawnees Mom

Shawnee - Female brindled docked with natural ears 10 years
Tiffan - Female white spaniel mix 11 years - rescue dog
Kayto - Male buckskin Pit/Mastiff?? 9 years - rescue dog, crossed the bridge in February, was Shawnees best and special friend for 8 years.

 

[gmacleod]

Has she seen a vet about it? If not, it could be worthwhile.

For something to put on it in the meantime, I'd suggest a product called bag-balm. It's actually for soothing/moisturising the udders of cows, but it works very well on dry, cracked dog's noses also. http://www.bagbalm.com/

 

[ferrety]

One of our boxers has a dry, flakey nose. It basically starts to ruffle right at the top of the front and across the top.

We have taken him to the vet. Our vet said that it is basically chapped because he licks so much. The line where the dryness starts is right where his tongue stops. He said it is harmless and the only way to fix it is to squeeze a vitamin e capsule on it every day. We did this for a while. It took once in the morning and once at night for the first 5-7 days then one capsule per day. He did not appreciate the vitamin e and would rub it on everything afterward so we ultimately quit doing it because it is only a cosmetic thing and does not bother him.

You may watch your pet. If she is licking a lot (you, herself, the air...heh) it may just be that.

 

[cherylynn]

My little girl, Layla, has something called hyperkeratosis on her nose and it does the same thing. We use either vaseline or bag balm and if used daily or every other day it works very well to soften it up! She likes the taste of bag balm you know so she tries to lick it all off!!! She is used to it now because we always tell her we are going to "butter" her nose. (We nicknamed bag balm - utter butter!!!).

Best of luck,
Cherylynn

 

[TossBranAbi]

My Tossie's nose was the same way. She always had stuff stuck in the "ruffies" of her nose. If it wasn't fuzzies it was mud or grass. She had it pretty much all her life and the vet said it wasn't anything to worry about and it didn't bother her. We came to reason that we would be woken up with a ruff nose nosing under the blankets in the morning and we were fine with thet. If you find out what it is, please let us know, I am curious myself having gone through the same thing.

 

[Queenmum]

I wait till the babies are asleep and then I do the ear cleaning and the vaseline on the nose trick. Ususally they are so wiped out they just lay there and take it. Wil will ususally open one eye and then go right back to sleep! I think Vaseline works great.

 

[morrissey11]

My Morrissey's nose was exactly the same way, I think it started when he was about 10 years old. We just put some lotion on it but often he would lick it off so we stopped, his nose didn't bother him, I guess we were more worried by what it looked like. Morrissey's mommy.

Morrissey. Our Angel
Loved forever.

 

[Shawnees Mom]

Thanks so much!!!!

My vet has also told me to ignore it, but I'm afraid it hurts or irritates her.

"Ferrety" you are exactly right about where it stops exactly where her tongue reaches. We always say that Shawnee is part snake, because she smells with her tongue! She will lick the air, walls, floors, carpet and the molding. She will lick the blankets and sheets so bad that I have at times thought that one of my doggies wet on the bed.

I had never thought of the night trick when they are sleeping, I will try that and let you know.

Thanks again for all your helpful hints!

 

[ferrety]

Yup! It is likely that she is just has chapped nose. Tahoe licks everything too. If he is sitting or lying across the room and you say his name he starts licking the air.

Like someone else mentioned, the ruffles are full of dirt and grass and left over breakfast.

Tahoe really seems to be bothered less by the nose than the treatment. It does look pretty gross sometimes!