Cat is in the emergency clinic after vomiting 7 times

[cmshap]

So, I'm applying the cream, he's still behaving normally and eating well, but it looks like to me that the skin of his nose is actually peeling off. My first thought this morning is that it looks like burned skin - it's not bleeding, but it's clearer now that it's indeed external because the texture of the skin (and moisture) looks different in these new pics (taken a few minutes ago) on the bits that are redder.

What's weird is that he's a fully indoor cat. Can you really get sunburnt through a window? We just spent a few months in Brazil during summer and it never happened.

Honestly though, I've recked my brain and can't find any other source of heat in this apartment. We have radiators, and they've been on, but it's not even hot to the touch. I've questioned my flatmate whether the building has turned it on at all, because I'm constantly cold.

I just hope it doesn't keep getting worse my poor baby...

Have you noticed him licking his nose?

Just brainstorming here, but my cat has licked his skin raw on one of his feet early in his life because of allergies. I'm just wondering if a cat could lick his own nose repeatedly enough to cause this much skin irritation.

 

[gabicards]

Have you noticed him licking his nose?

Just brainstorming here, but my cat has licked his skin raw on one of his feet early in his life because of allergies. I'm just wondering if a cat could lick his own nose repeatedly enough to cause this much skin irritation.

He does lick his nose, but I’m also not certain about it being to this extent. It seems like he does it mostly after eating, since it gets dirty.

The thing is, it was fine yesterday morning. I feel like if it was irritated due to licking, it would have gotten increasingly worse until it looked like that, wouldn’t it? I have pics of him from the night before and his nose looked completely normal.

 

[cmshap]

He does lick his nose, but I’m also not certain about it being to this extent. It seems like he does it mostly after eating, since it gets dirty.

The thing is, it was fine yesterday morning. I feel like if it was irritated due to licking, it would have gotten increasingly worse until it looked like that, wouldn’t it? I have pics of him from the night before and his nose looked completely normal.

I would think that if a cat was licking his nose so much as to cause irritation like this, you'd notice. It would have to be a constant activity.

When my cat licked his paw raw years ago, he basically did it all the time, licked the same spot over and over.all day, and I noticed and had to constantly stop him.

Of course, the skin on the nose is more delicate.and wouldn't take as much licking. But I'd still assume it would have to be repeated enough for you to notice. I was just brainstorming and trying to think of possible explanations.

 

[gabicards]

I would think that if a cat was licking his nose so much as to cause irritation like this, you'd notice. It would have to be a constant activity.

When my cat licked his paw raw years ago, he basically did it all the time, licked the same spot over and over.all day, and I noticed and had to constantly stop him.

Of course, the skin on the nose is more delicate.and wouldn't take as much licking. But I'd still assume it would have to be repeated enough for you to notice. I was just brainstorming and trying to think of possible explanations.

I appreciate your brainstorming! With the amount of exams he did 10 days ago and how nothing other than the slight inflammation in his intestines showed up, I assume this is what a vet will do if I take him there too.

The main theories are: allergies, sunburn. I don’t know whether any type of external injury would make the skin peel progressively. I’m just scared of what it might look like soon if it keeps going.

What was the treatment like for your cat?

 

[fionasmom]

I still wonder about the shape of it. It looks a little less triangular today than yesterday; odd that a sunburn would be in that shape. Anything is possible, like a slit of light through a blind, I suppose. I wondered about licking, too.

 

[gabicards]

I still wonder about the shape of it. It looks a little less triangular today than yesterday; odd that a sunburn would be in that shape. Anything is possible, like a slit of light through a blind, I suppose. I wondered about licking, too.

My reasoning is that it doesn’t necessarily look like it’s gotten worse - once the skin peels off a little bit, it’s not unusual for that area to increase, specially if you rub at it. It will just come right off if part of it is already gone.
I have a vet appointment tomorrow afternoon, and in the morning I will have a thorough look at it to see if I will take him or if I will reschedule it for next week and just observe. I’m leaning towards not taking him unless it looks significantly worse or unless his behavior changes.

 

[cmshap]

What was the treatment like for your cat?

When he licked his paw raw, we determined he probably had seasonal environmental allergies, and the vet said we could just use OTC human antihistamines. I gave him children's Benadryl and it helped through the season.

This was like 5+ years ago, and thankfully that stopped happening as he got older.

 

[gabicards]

When he licked his paw raw, we determined he probably had seasonal environmental allergies, and the vet said we could just use OTC human antihistamines. I gave him children's Benadryl and it helped through the season.

This was like 5+ years ago, and thankfully that stopped happening as he got older.

I'm so glad it got better as he got older! Thanks for sharing that with me.

So, I got home (after over 15 hours outside, and my friends were keeping an eye on him) and his nose looks more or less the same as this morning. It definitely looks hurt, but I feel like the part of the skin that was already hurt yesterday looks like it has calmed down a little.

Still no changes in behavior. He talked to me when I arrived home, asked for food, I gave it to him (his 4th meal of the day, he ate well), he's alert and playing with his favorite toy. Some bunny kicking, some scratching on the post in my bedroom... honestly, nothing. We'll see tomorrow morning - if I wake up in the middle of the night, I'm gonna apply some more cream again.

I tried to take pictures, but it's rough because when it's wet it looks angrier than it actually is when you see it in person. Here's a pic my friend took about 5 hours ago, which I feel is more realistic. There's nothing inside his mouth or around his eyes, and I inspected his full body - his paws look fine, no fur missing anywhere, his butt looks okay too. Peed and pooped fine today as well.

 

[fionasmom]

He has such a cute little lion face nestled there in your hand. It does not look worse and he isn't exhibiting signs of anything systemic, so that is good news.

 

[BellaBlue82]

Hm... I know you mentioned about the bathroom incident, is it possible he may have gotten some of the chemical on his nose? I work in the (human) medical field and while I know kitties are different, it almost looks like a chemical burn. As if he sniffed where the chemical was and might have gotten a teensy bit on his nose. If anything, maybe a little vasoline on his nosey might help.

 

[cmshap]

He has such a cute little lion face nestled there in your hand.

Yes, he is a gorgeous cat.

 

[gabicards]

He is indeed gorgeous, thank you <3

Yeah it's odd, in certain lights it looks a bit frightening because it's more red - but whenever I see him, which is in the morning and at night, it's right after I feed him, so the skin looks angrier - because he eats wet food, then licks his mouth and nose a lot to clean it, and then proceeds to lick his arms and rub them on his face to clean it even more. When my flatmate took that pic I just posted, it had been hours since he ate, she said his nose looked more dry, and the skin looked much calmer. His vet looked at it and thought it looked better than yesterday.

I just had a call with my parents, pointed a light from my work phone to his face and showed them on camera what his nose looked like, and they also think it looks better than yesterday. I am completely paranoid about his behavior now, just obsessed with it while I look for something, so for my sake I hope he doesn't paw at it and make it worse during the night. Either way, I've ordered him a soft cone to see how he takes to it (I know some cats don't despise it entirely, differently from the hard one) and might keep that on him at times when he doesn't have supervision, while it heals.

Hm... I know you mentioned about the bathroom incident, is it possible he may have gotten some of the chemical on his nose? I work in the (human) medical field and while I know kitties are different, it almost looks like a chemical burn. As if he sniffed where the chemical was and might have gotten a teensy bit on his nose. If anything, maybe a little vasoline on his nosey might help.

I've been looking everywhere in the apartment for something that might have caused this, but no cleaning product has been used anywhere since that incident. They are all stored in places where he can't reach. His vet's first guess was that it was an allergy due to contact with something, and then I also thought it looked like burned skin - because it has that raw, angry look, no texture, but it's not actively bleeding. A sun burn just feels like a reach, to be frank, and I just can't find anything else around the apartment that could have caused it.

Seasonal allergies would also seem a bit abrupt - but I don't know how people experience it. His vet says she suffers with this herself when the weather changes, and sometimes her nose's skin looks angry and raw too because it itches. I'm open to all ideas of what could have caused it because I'm just as confused as everyone else. We've lived in this apartment for over a year and he had never gotten hurt.

 

[gabicards]

Morning!

Oookay, so over here we think the nose is healing. It's hard to explain why, but it was my immediate thought when I first saw it this morning, and when I showed to my flatmate it was also the first thing she said to me (yesterday it was "damn it, more of it looks hurt now", and today, when I asked "what do you think? Do I take him to the vet this afternoon?" she said "I think it's healing, so I wouldn't, but do what would give you a peace of mind"). I think it's mainly that, although it still looks red, it also seems generally drier, like a scab that got picked on and is drying out again.

Granted, it does look moist in the picture, and gooey, but that's because I had already applied a cream to it earlier in the morning (forgot to take a picture before doing that), and you can see a bit of the cream on his fur, it's a thick white/yellow-ish substance. When I woke up, it was a bit moist as well, but clear - nothing thick, yellow or white, that would make me think of an infection. I'm still keeping an eye on it, of course, but I'm leaning towards rescheduling his vet visit for Tuesday instead and give it time to see if it will continue healing. If it stays the same, then I'd give in and take him. *My* peace of mind, as my flatmate put it, would definitely be to just take him. I'm holding back because he's been to vets too many times since January, and, despite being one of the calmest cats to walk the earth, I don't want to put him through another visit unless it really is absolutely necessary. I feel like in this case it would be more for me than for him at this stage (unless, of course, it worsens).

Behavior continues to be normal - very vocal in the morning, which isn't unusual for him (I think it's boredom, because he meows around the apartment or at me even after he's eaten). He ate 1,5 sachets pretty much immediately after being offered them (for ages after the surgery, up until early last week, it was taking him over 1 hour to finish 1 sachet. It's like he became a bit of a grazer) so his appetite is good. Very active and alert in the morning too, jumping up and down on my bed, on my desk, playing with his toy, scratching his (admittedly pitiful, I desperately need to change it) scratching post. He's been grooming himself (and me hahaha) as usual.

His body doesn't seem warm. The temperature of his ears is something I started paying attention to after surgery - since it was so hot in Brazil, we kept the air conditioner on in the bedroom where I was staying with him, and I was always worried he was cold. I noticed that his ears would be a bit colder, then I'd cover him, and they'd warm up a bit. Now I've gotten used to touching them and they vary in temperature during the day - are generally colder in the mornings, then warmer depending on where he naps during the day. He was colder this morning, and now, as he's getting ready for a nap on my warm bed, he's warmer. So, this paired with his good appetite, makes me think he hasn't had a fever. (I don't know if I'm far off here, but so far my experienced with cats is that one of the first indications of a fever is reduced appetite).

I could take his temperature, as I learned how to do that for my previous cat after his surgery - he always had a fever. But I know I'm unhealthily paranoid, so I won't.

I think he hurt the top layer of the skin only, so hopefully this lessens the chances of an infection due to the licking.

I'm sorry for the loooong posts, this is basically my stream of consciousness in 2023 when it comes to my cat.

 

[cmshap]

I'm still keeping an eye on it, of course, but I'm leaning towards rescheduling his vet visit for Tuesday instead and give it time to see if it will continue healing.

I think this is what I would do, especially given that you don't see anything else wrong. And if it continues to heal, I'd probably cancel the vet for reasons you mentioned about minimizing stress.

I was thinking that it may have taken a long time to heal just because the tissue on the nose is more delicate, and also cats naturally lick their noses after eating. Like you said, he probably injured himself somehow, and then via normal licking of his nose with his abrasive tongue prolonged the healing time.

 

[gabicards]

Here are some new pics of my beautiful flower lol (This was the only soft cone that would arrive on the same day)

The wound is still doing okay. Really good appetite all day today, but obviously less than pleased with the flower outfit. Since all the vets have been anxious about me changing his food, he got to taste a little bit of the new one today - just, like, 5 grams. The start of our very slow transition (I would have liked to wait a bit more, but we can't rule out that he is itchy all around and the nose just took the blunt of it due to food allergies, so I relented).

He's never done really well on dry food, but this one has limited ingredients and I thought it was worth the try. If it goes well, the vets have recommended another one that is also just rabbit meat and is wet, which means that, if he doesn't react poorly to rabbit, he could have a diet of both of those foods.

This is the food. These are the ingredients:
48% rabbit (based on 26% rabbit meat meal, 22% fresh rabbit meat), peas, sweet potatoes*, rapeseed oil, 2% salmon oil, beet pulp (desugared), carbonate of calcium, cranberries*, fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), spirulina, Yucca schidigera, (*dehydrated)

We shall see...

 

[fionasmom]

He looks adorable in the flower cone and is evidently calm enough to sit on the sofa and have his picture taken, so that is all good. The sore, to me, seems to have lost that triangle shape that made me think it was a burn and now it looks more like an irritation of some kind. I think that Tuesday is up to you. If he is not too reactive at the vet it might be good to take him just for peace of mind; it does have three days to heal, so it might improve over the weekend and seem more like it is resolving itself.

 

[gabicards]

He looks adorable in the flower cone and is evidently calm enough to sit on the sofa and have his picture taken, so that is all good. The sore, to me, seems to have lost that triangle shape that made me think it was a burn and now it looks more like an irritation of some kind. I think that Tuesday is up to you. If he is not too reactive at the vet it might be good to take him just for peace of mind; it does have three days to heal, so it might improve over the weekend and seem more like it is resolving itself.

Yeah, I want to see how it progresses to see if it's worth a visit - if it continues to heal like a normal wound would, then I probably won't take him. It would be nice to have a biopsy done and rule out a calicivirus infection, which I've been thinking about since the would evolved on the 2nd day, but upon some research I've already seen that, if that's what it is, and if it stays this way - without a change in behavior or appetite - there is nothing we'd be able to do to speed up recovery anyway, and he's fine. He has a hurt nose and occasionally sneezes, but hasn't been sleeping more than normal, ate very well and played a lot with me today (I got him a new toy). I've read that it's all about making them comfortable and keeping an eye out for signs of complications. I hadn't mentioned this theory before, I think, but I originally thought about it because of this post on reddit. Notice the wound is almost exactly like Topaz's, and it would make sense due to the incubation period of the virus, too. OP says their cat was more lethargic the day before the wound appeared - in Topaz's case, that's when I texted my friend and asked her if cats sleep more during winter... The wound appeared 9 days after he left the hospital. He's vaccinated against this... and I've checked his mouth, there is nothing on his tongue or gums. But, anyway, yet another theory, as they're all we have for now.

He had just done a bunch of other exams 10 days ago, so it can't have been anything that was already there. Nothing internal unless he caught it at the hospital, then, and the other alternatives are allergy, an accidental scratch or a chemical burn. All of which would heal like a normal wound if it doesn't get infected.

So my main goal is to keep an eye on it, keep it clean and apply the cream to reduce the chances of infection, and then take him to a vet if any signs of that start to show. I don't really think there's anything else I could be doing, honestly.

As for the flower, I kept it on for a couple of hours while the cream dried. Once I noticed the nose looked dry again, I removed it. He doesn't seem bothered at all. Here's a pic I took of him as I started to write this post hahahahaha (that's not the new toy next to him, this is his favorite stuffed friend and it looks disgusting, but I swear it's clean. I think it got stained at some point when he chewed on it right after eating!)

 

[fionasmom]

He certainly does not seem stressed out by any of this! The post is very odd as it does look exactly like the sore you found. If you do suspect calcivirus, it will hopefully be a mild case and not progress to a more severe stage depending on the variant.

 

[gabicards]

He certainly does not seem stressed out by any of this! The post is very odd as it does look exactly like the sore you found. If you do suspect calcivirus, it will hopefully be a mild case and not progress to a more severe stage depending on the variant.

Exactly

I mean... he had that day where he slept more, than the next day he had the wound, and nothing has happened since then. The wound is better, he isn't sleeping any more than usual, and his behavior is normal. He seems alert, and even the sneezes aren't that often, either - he would normally sneeze every other day, his vet had already mentioned he could have a mild case of allergies. During the past week there were a few days in which I noticed him doing it a few times, such as today. But there is literally nothing else that is normally attributed to the virus, such as lethargy, lack of appetite, fever, nasal or eye discharge, trouble breathing... so, in the end, the theory is as valid as all the other ones we've come up with. His nose makes him look like a slightly injured cat, but there is absolutely nothing here that would make you observe him and think he is a sick cat, you know?

Fingers crossed (praying for literally all the saints here) that the wound just continues to heal and his behavior continues to be stellar.

 

[fionasmom]

I agree as there are some disturbing pics of where certain strains of calcivirus can go and he does not seem to have taken that direction, thankfully.