Crusty Nose in French Bulldogs

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Frenchies and Dry Nose

There’s not much worse than a painful dry & cracked nose— fortunately there are many products for dry nose that can help soothe your Frenchie’s dry nose.

French Bulldogs are a brachycephalic breed (flat-faced) and experience dry/crusty noses at a much higher rate than other dog breeds.

There are many causes for their dry nose. The most common reason is hyperkeratosis, a condition that causes excess keratin production— this can cause issues with their nose, paws, nails, and skin.

Sometimes dry nose will come on slowly, other times it’ll just appear out of nowhere. Thankfully, all you usually need is a nose butter.

Why does my Frenchie have a dry and crusty nose?

There are many possible reasons why your Frenchie has a dry and crusty nose. These are 7 common causes:

1. Allergies
2. Dehydration
3. Environment
4. Older age
5. Sleeping too much
6. Sunburn
7. Any other medical condition

Reason #1: The Environment

• Extremely cold weather or extremely hot weather
• Dry weather and/or low humidity
• Exposure to windy conditions for extended periods of time

While identifying an environmental cause for your Frenchie’s dry nose may be useful in some cases, it’s not really practical to move to an entirely different area just to fix their nose issues…

Reason #2: Dehydration

Dehydration can be caused by

• Lots of activity
• Being in a hot environment

Reason #3: Sunburn

Has your Frenchie recently spent a lot of time hanging outside?

Did their nose suddenly become dry?

Chances are, their dryness is caused by a sunburn!

Yes, that’s right… our Frenchies can definitely get sunburns. Fortunately, they can also wear sunscreen just like us!

Protect your Frenchie from the sun

Reason #4: Allergies

Another possible reason for your Frenchie’s dry nose is allergies.

There are many types of allergies, including but not limited to:

• Food allergies
• Environmental allergies
  • Contact allergies
  • Inhalant allergies
• Flea or insect bite allergy
• Drug allergies

Reason #5: Sleeping too much

Our dogs are constantly licking their noses throughout the day… this helps keep their nose wet.

When our Frenchies are sleeping, they obviously don’t get the chance to lick their nose— this can lead to a dry & cracked nose.

For the snoozing Frenchie

Reason #6: Older age

As dogs get older, they tend to sleep longer than when they were younger…

As mentioned before, dry nose can occur when dogs are sleeping— so the more your Frenchie sleeps, the more likely they are to experience a dry nose.

Reason #7: A medical condition

There are a few medical conditions that can cause a dry nose, including but not limited to:

• Nasal hyperkeratosis
• Lupus
• Pemphigus

How can I fix my Frenchie’s Dry Nose?

Depending on the cause of their dry nose, the treatment will vary.

Just dryness

If your Frenchie is just having benign (harmless) dryness, a nasal balm like the Snout Soother is the best thing to try first.

A health condition

If the dry nose is due to an underlying health condition, treating the root cause will help the dryness subside.

The last thing you’d want to do is just apply a soothing nose balm to your Frenchie to cover up the underlying condition.

How to clean your Frenchie’s nose

You definitely want to keep your Frenchie’s nose clean & moist… A dry, cracked nose is no fun!

• Use wipes to clean their nose on a regular basis (multiple times a day)
• Apply nose butter as needed (usually 2-3x a day initially, then a few times a week)
• Using a humidifier inside your house can help if you’re from somewhere hot & dry

Frequently Asked Questions