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Why is my cat's nose suddenly dry, rough, and scabby? Is it serious?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Mediumhair | Female | spayed | 5 years and 4 months old | 10 lbs

My cat's nose is all of the sudden very dry, rough, and looks scabby. She is only 5 and is an indoor cat, but we so have 3 other cats as well. Thoughts on what this might be? The last photo is what her nose normally looks like.

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3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jenny, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on September 8th, 2017

It may be the start of a fungal or bacterial infection or growth of some sort. You can try to apply a warm compress to see if it will loosen some of the scabs without hurting her for tonight. You will have to talk to your vet about further testing such as a culture or biopsy and medication to clear it completely though.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Dr. Heidi DVM, CVA, CCRT, CVTP, CVSMT, CVCH

    Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner

    Published on

    Poor Sunita. It is impossible to tell what is going on by just looking at the pictures, but I would consider a bacterial, yeast or fungal infection. I would recommend having your veterinarian examine Sunita. They can run a few simple skin tests to rule out fungus, yeast, or a bacteria as the cause and decide on an appropriate treatment plan. I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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    Answered By Vanessa Yeager DVM MPH

    Veterinarian

    Published on March 12th, 2020

    Hi and thanks for posting. The pictures came out very blurry so it is hard to get an idea of what it looks like or what is going on here. It could be a skin infection from an allergy or potentially fungal related. Batsy will need to see his veterinarian for an exam and may need a skin scraping and/or fungal culture of the area near the lesion to get a better idea of what the cause is. Treatment depends on the diagnosis. Batsy may need oral and/or topical medications depending. For now, I'd try and keep the area clean and dry. If Batsy is scratching at it you may want to put an ECollar on him to prevent him from doing this.

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