My boy Joe is 15 and has a bad liver, glaucoma, and a cancerous tumor on his leg. So he’s not exactly on the top of his game, physically.
As he’s aged and deteriorated, his nose has dried up and gotten Velcro-like. I’ve been putting pure aloe on it for the last couple days and maybe it’s gotten marginally better, but is there a better, longer-lasting solution? He tends to want to lick off whatever I put on there, naturally, so I wonder if something greasier would be better. Any ideas?
I am completely pulling this out of my ass, but what about vitamin E or fish oil supplements or something? You know, moisturize from the inside out.
Is he dehydrated perhaps? I would make sure he has a consistent supply of fresh, cool water within easy reach.
One of my dogs has a dry nose. Last time I was at the vet I asked about that and the vet said that a dry nose really isn’t anything to be concerned about, some dogs just have dry noses.
My ex-MIL wanted to put Vaseline on it. I told her she was more then welcome to do that as long as she kept the dog at her house until said dog was finished wiping it off on all the furniture.
He’s actually trending toward excessive water drinking due to his bad liver, so he drinks more than plenty.
If it’s some kind of inside-out solution, it needs to be in a good-tasting, non-pill form. This dog will abso-friggin-lutely not take a pill. No way, no how.
I’ll call the vet next week & see if he has any ideas.
I just had my elderly chihuahua in to the vet for an unrelated problem and mentioned to the vet that his (the chihuahua’s, not the vet’s) tongue dries up and looks uncomfortably leathery because it’s always hanging out of his mouth. The vet suggested using a water-based lubricant like K-Y jelly on it. He specifically said not to use petroleum jelly, but I got distracted by a cute puppy passing by and don’t recall if he told me why.
My first thought was that it’s just simply going to make a mess, but on second thought it might give them diarrhea (this is based on mineral oil being a laxative).