A setback for Ella

Ella is the Katrina cat we're fostering. She has some sort of problem with the skin on her nose. She's been treated for infections, for ringworm, etc., and nothing has changed.

We hoped that being in a less stressful situation would help, and it looked like it had, until we came home today and found two new scratches on her nose. We're pretty sure she did it herself; we've watched her groom (and possibly over-groom) her nose, and I think she scratches herself with her dew claw. We had clipped her claws a little over a week ago, but it might have gotten sharp enough to cut.

We're thinking she may just have the bad habit of overgrooming, but it's not impossible something else is causing her nose to itch. Any ideas? She does seem to have a "snirk" in her purr, but I've heard all kinds of different purrs in my day.

Tonight, we put softpaws on her front claws in hopes of keeping the nose damage down.

Given her history, I would venture a guess that she has a fungal or bacterial infection of some sort, probably in her nasal passages/sinus cavities. If your normal vet is out of ideas, you may want to ask for a referal to a specialist. Deep nasal infections can be hard to treat--if it's bacterial, it typically requires a longer course of antibiotics because there is less blood flow in that area. Because she is a Katrina kitty, she may have a fungal infection due to the aftereffects of the storm and flooding. I would talk to a vet you trust about these possibities. Rhinoscopy may suggested as a way to determine what is going on--be aware that while it is a good option for determining the cause of the problem, it is also very expensive. I don't say that to discourage you, but it's good to be prepared so you aren't taken by surprise--Spot's rhinoscopy (basically a camera into the nasal passages along with the ability to take tissue samples) was about $1200, including the examination of several tissue samples. In his case, they found bacteria. We tried antibiotics briefly, but he reacted badly to them (he had an allergy to many forms of antibiotics). Nevertheless, the procedure alone did seem to help. In his case, his symptoms were single-sided nasal discharge, occasionally bloody, and frequent sneezing.

I've never seen her sneeze, and she seems perfectly healthy and happy other than the nose issue. Thanks for the suggestions; I doubt we'd go that far, but you never know.