Raw/Bloody nose

My orange tabby cat "Cheese" is a 8 month old male. He is our female cat "Kitty" baby.

Both Kitty and Cheese have always been in good health, and they are both indoor / outdoor cats.

Lastnight when I let Cheese into the house I noticed that the outside of his nose was raw. I really don't know how else to explain it so I've attached pictures to my post.

I don't know if this is some kind of infection, or if he got into a fight with another animal. I looked around him for other signs of a fight but didn't see any.

Can someone help me out with some advice here? I will take him into the vet if I have to, but I really can't afford to. I don't want to rush him off to the vet unless I know 100% sure that he HAS to go.

Thank you for any help

Welcome to TCS!

We aren't vets so cannot diagnose anything. I'd definitely have a vet take a look at him ASAP. It could be anything - from some sort of trauma/severe injury, a skin scrape from a fight, to just a "runny nose" gone bad.

You say they're indoors/outdoor - are they fixed? If not, I know you said $$$ is tight but I strongly advise you to have them S/N. We're more than happy to help find low cost S/N resources.

That kind of injury is usually caused by jumping/falling from a great height (their faces hit the ground when they land hard). Hit by car is also a possibility. He could have internal injuries as well. I'd get him to the vet as soon as possible.

Neither one is S/N.

Cheese (orange one w/ nose problem) appears to be in good health otherwise. He doesn't show any signs of illness, and doesn't show any signs of broken bones or weak spots anywhere in his body. I've kind of poked and prodded at him to try and find injuries but I haven't found anything besides his nose. I've been thinking its some kind of injury because he was gone for several hours (nothing out of the ordinary), but when he came home his nose was as you see in the pictures. The explanation of jumping/falling makes perfect sense.

Is there anything that I can do to treat this at home over the next few days until I can get the money together to get him into the vet? I'm thinking about putting some anti-biotic cream on it. Not a lot, just a little bit to help it out. Would this be a bad idea?

Please don't use any over the counter creams, or creams we humans would use.

Cats are good at hiding pain, so if you ring a vet and ask if they would do payment plans, but i know the first thing my vet would do would be to give an antibiotic injection to help it heal, because that looks really painful

It's best to get them spayed and neutered ASAP, because the last thing you want is unwanted kittens

Talk to your vet about a payment plan. That nose looks painful and needs to be treated. Never use over the counter medicines or creams on your pets unless under the direction of your vet. They can be toxic and kill your pet.

Also I would keep him inside..Letting him out with this raw nose is just going to maybe get it very infected..

I agree with the others' advice. Cheese needs to get to a vet.

If you can give us your state and county (if you're in the US), or country and area, we can see if we can locate low cost spay/neuter resources for you. There are already too many unwanted cats and kittens, please don't let your cats breed.

PLEASE take Cheese to the vet. That looks real nasty and painful. You cannot treat that at home. He needs antibiotics too.

And, I am sorry, but that is just wrong that your cats are not fixed and you let them outside to roam. Do you know how many ferals that are born into this world to suffer terrible outdoor lives because people didn't get their "PETS" fixed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I spend countless hours/and money (I don't have) trapping and taming these lost souls. I am very bothered that people still own pet cats that are unaltered in this day and age.

That looks incredibly painful, even if he is masking it with purrs or acting non-chalant. Cheese needs a vet because that looks like it can easily become infected and cause a whole slew of problems.

Also, you said money is tight, but the cost of caring for another litter of kittens would be enormous compared to the $30-$60 combined it would take to spay Kitty and neuter Cheese at a low cost clinic (and if you wait for her to get pregnant, they probably won't let you do a cheap spay since it's more complicated). It's bad for Kitty's health to get pregnant again, but it's even worse with cheese, since he could be impregnating a queen every single day without you knowing.

Also, this is gross, but you don't want inbred kittens running around (a male cat CAN AND WILL impregnate his own mother if neither is fixed), so keeping them inside without getting S/N is still bad.

That looks really really painfull! You should get him to the vet right away. Also if you wait to long, it could get infected and make things even worse for him.