Why does my cat have brown or black crust on his nose? Is it serious?

This sign could be compatible with an upper respiratory tract inflammation/infection (affecting the eyes as well) and possibly to a chronic rhinitis (inflammatory, allergic, infective). A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Antibiotics may be needed. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

It is difficult to tell from the pictures exactly what could be going on. However, crusty skin lesions can be due to parasite (skin or mite) infections, bacterial infections or even fungal infections. Your veterinarian can perform a skin scraping to determine the cause of the crustiness and prescribe appropriate treatment.

This is common with cats that are getting over an upper respiratory infection. You can clean the nostrils with a warm, damp cloth to remove the crusties and then apply a thin film of Vaseline around the area. This will prevent discharge from sticking to the fur. Make sure you clean out the ear discharge with a cotton ball before applying more medication in the ears. It often takes several weeks for all of the discharge to come out and for the ears to become clean. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for James.

Your kitten may have an upper respiratory infection, which is common in stray cats. The nasal discharge can form as black crusty discharge in the nostrils. If it is eating and drinking well and seems to be growing, you can clean the crusty discharge with a warm washcloth. At some point it needs to be examined, vaccinated, and dewormed when you can afford to do so.

Your kitty has either a bacterial infection above his eye or ear mites making him scratch his ears and this area raw. Look inside the ears, and if there is black nasty crusty discharge, he has ear mites. The infection above his eye needs to be seen by a vet for antibiotics and possibly even allergy treatment. If he has mites, he needs a Revolution or ivermectin treatment to kill them. Hope that helps!

The mark on Cleo's nose looks like a bit of crusted fur. This could be due to a scab from scratching herself, or could be the start of a mild bacterial or fungal infection. As long as it doesn't seem to be bothering her, it's perfectly reasonable to keep an eye on it for a week or two before taking further action. If it gets better - problem solved! If it stays the same or gets worse, it would be best to have it checked out by a vet. During the exam, your vet may need to scrape a sample of skin cells to be examined under a microscope to get to the bottom of this issue. I hope that everything goes well!

It's probably dried up mucous discharge which is typically caused by a runny nose. Monitor Luna for continued nasal discharge after initially wiping this away with a warm moist cloth. If she continues to have discharge and other signs of an upper respiratory infection (sneezing, congestion,or runny eyes)then it is best to have her evaluated by your vet and treated with oral antibiotics.