# Cracked nose



## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

Anybody have any ideas on the best way to clear up cracks on a dogs nose? My dog has had a cut/crack running vertical above each nostril for a while now. I been using KeraSolv and it helped a good bit but it just don’t seem to be heeling all the way.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Chris McDonald said:


> Anybody have any ideas on the best way to clear up cracks on a dogs nose? My dog has had a cut/crack running vertical above each nostril for a while now. I been using KeraSolv and it helped a good bit but it just don’t seem to be heeling all the way.



KeraSolv is a pretty good humectant and kind of a "peel" for crustiness, etc., IME, but I have better success with pierced capsules of Vitamin E applied twice a day when it's more of a crack or split in the nose leather.

But is there anything else happening, like loss of pigment? Is there any scabbing or rawness? There are a couple of pretty serious (but treatable) conditions that could be underlying and that you'll want to get a biopsy for, I think, if there is anything like color loss or lesions.

JMO, and of course I'm not a health professional.


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

Coconut Oil from a health food store works really well on dry cracked noses. 

Here is a little bit about it as far as humans go, but I know Sarah used it on Dutch's nose and it really helped. She said it is also delicious too....LOL


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## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

Just two clean looking cuts that would not heal, there was some scabbing over the cuts in the past, and then he would tear them open digging or barking. Doesn’t look like nose leather or dry. There looks to be a bit of scar tissue in the area of the cuts now. The cuts are smaller now but just don’t seem to fully heal. I explained it to my vet in the past on the phone and he left some KeraSolv at the desk for me. 
I thought that it was from digging with his nose and banging his nose on the back window of my truck when barking. I don’t think it is a fungus and it didn’t look infected but it’s been a while now. I heard about the vitamin E like you said. I’ll give it a try for a while. If it doesn’t work I might have to stop by the vet.


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Chris, you are gonna have to teach that dog he is supposed to dig with his feet, hogs dig with their nose


On the serious side, I would want to know for sure what is causing it. I just can't see digging being the cause.


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

zinc deficiency can show up as cracked nose leather and cracked foot pads. You can try a zinc supplement like http://www.howlingdogalaska.com/index.php?page=zincgluco


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## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

I think your right I got to find out the “why” . Lots of dogs use their nose to dig without tearing them up 
Dam chipmunks.


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## Daryl Ehret (Apr 4, 2006)

Nyx was about 4 months old and received about a 1.5cm tear on her nose, nostril flap hanging loose. I think it must've accidentally caught on Hutch's fang. I'm not sure, but she never made a peep about it in the brief time I'm certain it occured. I just left it alone, and it healed fine these last few months. Kind of freaked me out when she wiped it against me and it caught, but I did my best not to touch it. It was pink where it mended for a little while, but now black again. You'd never know it happened.


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## Jason Hammel (Aug 13, 2009)

Chris this is all you need for yourself and your dog http://www.climbonproducts.com/

This stuff is the best! swear by it.

Of course if it is just for small flesh woulds or scraps. Heed the advice of others if it is more than that.


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## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

Just in case anyone else has a dog with long term cracks in it nose. After looking online and talking to a few people I kinda thought it might be some infection I read about that dogs can get from sticking their nose in the dirt with cuts already on the nose. I was going to give the dog a round of antibiotics but it was time for the dogs to go to the vet anyway. I told my wife to have the cuts on the nose swabbed to confirm and get some antibiotics. So my wife took the dogs to the vet and didn’t say anything. The vet did some blood work and found that the dog tested positive for one of the tick born diseases out there. I don’t think my dog really had the disease, I think it was just a false positive. The vet said to use the same cream we were using unsuccessfully for several months. Thanks for nothing.. 
Anyway my wife started giving the dog the antibiotics that were for the tick disease (I think the disease began with an “A”). After starting the antibiotics I saw dramatic improvement in the nose healing by the next day. 3 days latter and its pretty much all good.


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## Daryl Ehret (Apr 4, 2006)

JMO, I'm no expert, but I used nothing at all, and got fantastic results regarding a pretty bad slice on the nose. Seems to me that a cream would interfere with the skin's attempts to graft with itself. Maybe more optimal with a pup than an adult, though.


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## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

These two slits on the nose were not there because of a physical action that actually cut the nose. They were two deep slices that went from each nostril straight up from the nostril about 3/8 of an inch. I did nothing about it for a long while but the slits were getting deeper. So I tried the cream helped a bit but just wouldn’t heel. A day on antibiotics made things look much better. I wish the slits were cultured for my own curiosity. 
Im just glad its getting better


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## maggie fraser (May 30, 2008)

Chris McDonald said:


> These two slits on the nose were not there because of a physical action that actually cut the nose. They were two deep slices that went from each nostril straight up from the nostril about 3/8 of an inch. I did nothing about it for a long while but the slits were getting deeper. So I tried the cream helped a bit but just wouldn’t heel. A day on antibiotics made things look much better. I wish the slits were cultured for my own curiosity.
> Im just glad its getting better


There's a pretty nasty condition that can be characterised by something like you're describing...it's called lupus, I think that may have been what Connie was getting at ? You could always google it....


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## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

maggie fraser said:


> There's a pretty nasty condition that can be characterised by something like you're describing...it's called lupus, I think that may have been what Connie was getting at ? You could always google it....


Ya, I heard there could be a few not good things that go along with this. I think the vet did a bunch of blood work on him and everything else seems normal. And a few K9 guys that seen is said that there dog had the same thing and a round of antibiotics fixed it up. So hopefully its all taken care of now. I am pretty confident its all good now, time will tell.


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## Chris McDonald (May 29, 2008)

I think I just uploaded a few images. The images are not very clear but you should be able see where the cuts were. I should have taken some images of the cuts before. Hopefully I won’t have the opportunity to take pictures of them in the future


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## Ashley Campbell (Jun 21, 2009)

My mom's GSD/wolf hybrid (supposedly) had this problem a lot. We never did find out a medical cause, but we think his was sunburn since he had a pink nose. Anyway, we used bag balm (the stuff in the green cans) on it and it seemed to help, it's nothing but lanolin so if they lick it, it won't hurt them.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Chris McDonald said:


> Im just glad its getting better



Me too. 

(I _was_ thinking of discoid lupus and hoping that wasn't it.)


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