Should I be concerned about these marks/scabs on Juliet's nose?

[jersharocks]

My husband and I just adopted Juliet (and her sister Contessa) on November 18th. We took them to the vet on November 24th and the vet mentioned that Juliet's nose was a little red and cautioned us to keep her out of the window since her coloring and skin make skin cancer more likely. We kept her out of the window during the day until we could get UV blocking window film installed. Since then she hasn't been in the window much (the film makes it darker which I think makes it more boring for her).

Juliet has had these little marks on her nose along with some scabbing since we brought her home but today they seem much darker and more alarming.

This is from the day after the vet visit, the marks are hardly noticeable but she did have some black gunk that looked like scabs inside her nostril (I don't have a good picture of that):

This is from today:

Now keep in mind that the second photo was taken under a very bright light (I wanted a good picture of it) and the first was just normal lighting but this looks rather alarming to me in comparison.

Here's a regular photo taken today, not under bright light:

The vet did not say that she thought Juliet had skin cancer but looking at google images of skin cancer on cats, it looks very similar. Should I be concerned? Should I bring her back to the vet? I hate to stress her out again, it's been a very eventful few weeks for her. But I'm kind of freaking out. I lost my cat Flakes to cancer just over 2 months ago. I can't go through this again.

 

[jersharocks]

Forgot to mention that the foster said both cats had a "cancer screening" and it came back clear but I'm not exactly sure what that cancer screening entailed.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I would contact the foster and get a clearer definition of what exactly the cancer screening was, and then I would send these photos to your Vet and get their opinion since there is definitely a change since the first visit. I would include the first photo too, even though it was just the day after her last visit. It will be a good reminder of what the Vet first saw. Hoping for the best in this scenario. Have no idea what it might be, but always best to have any changes checked out.

 

[fionasmom]

I doubt that "cancer screening" means much to be honest, and I am not criticizing the foster who probably did a great job with the cats. I would contact the vet again as well, and if you feel that you are being overly reassured, find a veterinary dermatologist or maybe a cat only vet. My dog had melanoma on his leg....it was big and black, so that is not what I am thinking, but continual red spots on a white cat would concern me. If Juliet is very sensitive to the sun and you need to know that as a precaution for the rest of her life you should be made aware of that.

 

[jersharocks]

I doubt that "cancer screening" means much to be honest, and I am not criticizing the foster who probably did a great job with the cats. I would contact the vet again as well, and if you feel that you are being overly reassured, find a veterinary dermatologist or maybe a cat only vet. My dog had melanoma on his leg....it was big and black, so that is not what I am thinking, but continual red spots on a white cat would concern me. If Juliet is very sensitive to the sun and you need to know that as a precaution for the rest of her life you should be made aware of that.

To clarify, the vet visit on the 24th was just a checkup for both kitties since we had just adopted them. She noted that Juliet's nose was red and said not to let her stay in the window. I personally think the red nose was more of an excitement/stress thing because it was back to a light pink by the end of that day. It was red again after we had her groomed (she had some matting that needed some professional help) and she hadn't been in the window at all that day.

I definitely trust our vet but I did go ahead and find a veterinary dermatologist if I feel like they are dismissive of our concerns. Apparently they only have appointments available once a month though so that sucks.

The only window Juliet can get in now has a UV blocking film that says it blocks up to 99% UV rays so I don't think she's getting much sun exposure at this point.

I'm wondering if it's possible that these are bruises? She is a very clumsy girl so I wouldn't be surprised. She also gets pretty stressed if she has to stay in her carrier for very long and she throws herself against the sides trying to get out. We have a soft sided carrier so I don't think she could get hurt in there but the foster brought her in a hard sided carrier so maybe it's possible she got a bruise from there? I'm probably grasping at straws though.

 

[jersharocks]

I would contact the foster and get a clearer definition of what exactly the cancer screening was, and then I would send these photos to your Vet and get their opinion since there is definitely a change since the first visit. I would include the first photo too, even though it was just the day after her last visit. It will be a good reminder of what the Vet first saw. Hoping for the best in this scenario. Have no idea what it might be, but always best to have any changes checked out.

Thanks, I'll see what the foster says. I am guessing it was more of a physical check for lumps/tumors than anything else but maybe it was more than that.

I'll definitely send pictures to the vet and call them first thing Monday morning and see what they say.

 

[jersharocks]

I was washing my hands a few minutes ago and noticed what looks like a tiny spot of ringworm on my wrist/forearm area. I've had it before and it looks pretty similar to what I've had in the past. Annoying little fungus.



I wonder if that is possibly what is going on with Juliet?

 

[fionasmom]

The local veterinary ophthalmologist in this area is hard to get an appointment with, but at least you did locate a dermatologist. I can certainly go with bruises from a crate as I owned a cat years ago who, if put in a crate, emerged with waffle marks on his nose. Ringworm...could be?

 

[jersharocks]

The vet didn't seem alarmed by the pictures, at least not enough to suggest I take a day off work to bring her in. We have an appointment on Tuesday which is my husband's day off. The foster said that she noticed the same thing when she had the kitties. She said it would get worse and then better which is what it seems to be doing now. It spread to another spot but one of the original spots is back to being pink. Very strange. Hopefully we have some answers soon.

I'm wondering if it's a food allergy. I'm feeding one meal of what the foster fed them which is Royal Canin hairball care dry food and then for the other two meals she gets Friskies pate canned food (turkey or chicken). I didn't want to just drop them into eating something completely new so I've been transitioning to wet food. I'm almost out of the Royal Canin (it's stupidly expensive so they're eating that whole bag lol) and then they'll just be on the canned food.

 

[jersharocks]

Of course we're a day away from her appointment and her nose is almost back to normal. I have been taking pictures every couple days though and I'll send them all to the vet so she can see what we saw.

Here's what it looked like on Thursday:

And here's yesterday:

Both of my kitties have been off dry food since Friday so I really do wonder if it's potentially a food allergy since it's clearing up so quickly. They're eating Friskies pate canned food now. I know that has a lot of "junk" in it though so I'll probably transition to something better soon.

 

[jersharocks]

Well the vet had no idea what it could be and it was pretty much gone on the day of her appointment but it's coming back again.

Here she is today:

I guess we're going to need to make that dermatologist appointment.

The interesting thing about Juliet is that her nose gets bright red when she's stressed out. The vet reminded us to keep her out of the window and said her nose was really red but it's not like that when she's at home and we have the UV film on the window (which the vet OKed after we told her about it this time).

I really wonder if this is somehow related to stress. I have a skin condition that rears its ugly head when I'm stressed out so it's not really a stretch for me to imagine that a skin condition could flare up when a cat is under stress. I know that feline herpes does that, my boy Flakes had that.

This doesn't seem to bother her one bit. She doesn't paw at it or act like she's in pain so maybe it's purely cosmetic? I just want to make sure it's not going to turn into anything worse down the line.

 

[jersharocks]

In case anyone was wondering, Juliet's nose is completely normal now. Juliet and her sister have a vet visit on Tuesday to get their teeth cleaned. Since there is no sign of these scabs on her nose right now, I'm curious to see if it flares up after the vet visit. If it does, then I'm guessing it's stress related. We haven't made a dermatologist appointment yet but if it comes back we well.

 

[tarasgirl06]

In case anyone was wondering, Juliet's nose is completely normal now. Juliet and her sister have a vet visit on Tuesday to get their teeth cleaned. Since there is no sign of these scabs on her nose right now, I'm curious to see if it flares up after the vet visit. If it does, then I'm guessing it's stress related. We haven't made a dermatologist appointment yet but if it comes back we well.

It is true that light-colored cats, like pale-skinned-and-haired people, are more susceptible to skin cancer and should not have prolonged exposure to strong/direct sunlight. We took an all-white cat to our vet and were treating him unsuccessfully for an unknown skin condition; I finally was able to get him admitted to Best Friends where they successfully treated it, and he was adopted about a year later by a wonderful woman in Canada, where the sun is not as strong. He had a wonderful, very pampered life with her. But your Juliet's nose looks normal in the most recent pic. Very mystifying! They can certainly do a simple test for ringworm and if that's what it is, it is easily treatable. All the BEST for her! and may her adorable nose remain normal.

 

[jersharocks]

It is true that light-colored cats, like pale-skinned-and-haired people, are more susceptible to skin cancer and should not have prolonged exposure to strong/direct sunlight. We took an all-white cat to our vet and were treating him unsuccessfully for an unknown skin condition; I finally was able to get him admitted to Best Friends where they successfully treated it, and he was adopted about a year later by a wonderful woman in Canada, where the sun is not as strong. He had a wonderful, very pampered life with her. But your Juliet's nose looks normal in the most recent pic. Very mystifying! They can certainly do a simple test for ringworm and if that's what it is, it is easily treatable. All the BEST for her! and may her adorable nose remain normal.

Yeah, it's very strange. It hasn't come back since the last time I posted pictures so I'm hoping it stays gone. My best guess is feline acne presenting on the nose instead of the normal area on the chin.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Yeah, it's very strange. It hasn't come back since the last time I posted pictures so I'm hoping it stays gone. My best guess is feline acne presenting on the nose instead of the normal area on the chin.

My roomies' beloved cat used to inhale his food, literally. He'd end up with food all over his nose. It turned his nose fur darker (he was a blue-cream Maine Coon) but never caused any redness or irritation of any kind.