My senior cat has a new brownish line on her nose. Is it serious?

Hello, as you may now cancer can only be diagnosed by looking at the cells of the area in question. Certainly, we can get a suspicion for cancer by assessing the gross appearance of the area in question. This means that although looking at Blue's nose I don't think it looks very aggressive to be considered a cancer, we are unable to tell unless we sample that area. Cats can get pigmentation changes with age, so this may very well be a normal change associated with his age and nothing you need to be concerned with. I would recommend monitoring the area for progression of this pigmentation change or any evidence of mass, ulcer, or thickening of the nose which would be more concerning for a cancer. Hope this helps and best of luck.

If the skin appears normal and the brown color is just a color change in the fur, it may be a normal part of growing up - I see that George is only a year old. Many cats will have some color changes in their fur as they become adults. If the skin appears sore, red, or otherwise abnormal in this area, then it could be caused by an allergy problem, a bacterial or fungal skin infection, or even a tumor such as a squamous cell carcinoma, although this would be somewhat unusual in such a young cat. If you are concerned about the brown area, I would recommend having it checked by a vet when you are able to - he/she can do some simple skin tests if needed to determine if there is any problem.

This is actually very concerning. I suggest you get her to your vet as soon as possible. I would be very worried that this is skin cancer (like squamous cell carcinoma) because of her coloration (white), the location of the lesions and the duration of the lesions. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/skin-squamous-cell-carcinoma-in-cats

Hi Your cat may seem fine, but even so, you should have a veterinarian check it out. There's no way to know what's going on by just seeing or feeling it. It could be an abscess, a mild trauma, or a more serious problem. The vet will preform a fine needle aspiration to take a sample for analysis and diagnosis.

This appears to be just a change in color of the hair alone. No worries. THe haircoat in kittens often does change as they get older. As long as the skin itself looks good as you part the hair, there is no concern. : ) Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Take care. : )

I mostly worry about infection and tumors as the cause of the swelling and bleeding. There is a common fungal infection known as cryptococosis that can cause this, which is treatable, but requires long- term therapy. There are also other fungal and bacterial infections that can cause this. Tumors can also be treated with varying success depending on the type of tumor present. It's important to get Spike to a vet sometime soon to exam her and diagnose the specific problem. These types of diseases are often life-threatening and are more treatable earlier in the course of the disease. I hope that helps and Spike gets better soon.

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!