Can you treat a wound on your cat's nose yourself?
When a cat has a wound on its nose, then obviously an accident has happened to him. He may have been in a fight or collided with a vehicle. As long as your cat doesn’t have a major wound, you can treat it yourself. The wound edges should not be far apart when the skin is completely through. And the wound should not be larger than half a centimeter. But if there are superficial abrasions then it’s okey that the wound is bigger. Are you in doubt? Then you can ask a veterinarian for advice. If the wound is very large or there seems to be more damage than just the skin, it is wiser to take your cat to your vet.
How do you treat a wound on your cat's nose?
Calm
It is of course very shocking when you see that your cat has a wound on his nose. Some people can react very panicked to it. Cats get very stressed by this. And they had already had a good portion of stress from the reason why they got a wound on their nose. So first make sure you calm yourself down. If you are calm, your cat will let you better assess his wound on his nose. Even if it bleeds, you can take 5 minutes to relax. Unless, of course, large puddles come out at the same time. But with a little blood, the wound is also cleaned. So relax for a while and only then approach your cat to view the wound on its nose if you have calmed down.
Cleaning the wound
All wounds must be cleaned immediately after they occur. Preferably within half an hour. This means that dirt must be removed as much as possible. So sand, leaves, small twigs, hair, etc. must be removed from the wound. Also check if your cat has other wounds on his body. Especially the eyes can also have a wound on the cornea if there is a wound on his nose.
You can clean the wound by wetting a gauze compress with tap water and cleaning the wound with it. In some countries the tap water is not very clean. Use bottled water or boiled cooled down water in that case. If you have a long-haired cat, see if it is necessary to trim the surrounding hairs a little short so that they do not stick to the wound.
Disinfect the wound
After cleaning the wound on your cat’s nose, the wound should be disinfected. When disinfecting, we ensure that the bacteria, viruses and other organisms that have entered the wound die. This reduces the chance of a wound infection many times. Disinfection is best done with iodine ointment. You put this on the wound on your cat’s nose. You can also use iodine solution, but it is a bit more difficult to use. However, the effectiveness of both is equivalent. Make sure not to put too much on the wound. It only needs to be slightly ocher coloured.
Stimulate wound healing
After cleaning and disinfecting the wound on your cat’s nose, you want to encourage healing of the wound. This means that you treat the wound in such a way that bacteria have no chance to grow and an infection therefore stays away. And you also ensure that the recovery tissue is produced as quickly as possible. Depending on how deep the wound is, part of this tissue will be normal skin that will grow back from the wound edges. And part of it will be granulation tissue, which you better know as scar tissue. The faster the wound is closed with this, the less it will bother your cat and the less chance of complications there is. A good way to stimulate wound healing is honey ointment. It is best to apply this remedy to the wound 3 times a day for 5-7 days.
How do you protect the wound on your cat's nose while it heals?
In principle, you do not need to protect a wound on your cat’s nose while it is healing. Allowing to air dry between ointment applications is best. But some cats scratch their wounds. They do this when they experience itching or pain from the wound on their nose. In this case, it is best to put a protective cap around their neck. Make sure you take a longer collar because hind legs can sometimes prove to be very flexible if they really want to scratch the wound on the nose.
What if the wound doesn't heal properly?
In that case, there is probably still an object in the wound on his nose or a bacterial wound infection has occurred. Cats regularly suffer from abscesses as a result of fights. As a result, the wound cannot heal properly and may even fester. In this case, you should take your cat to your vet. He can see if it is necessary to clean the wound on your cat’s lip under anesthesia. But in most cases, a course of antibiotics is sufficient.
Good luck!
Hopefully the wound on the nose of your cat heals well after giving him the proper treatment. Good luck!