Cats’ holders are always concerned about their pets’ problems and issues. One of the most well common issues is the wetting of the cats ‘noses, especially when the situation of nose wetting is quiet, not normal. However, knowing the reasons behind it can simplify it to be just a natural biological state of the cat, as well as it may be a serious medical issue. Our article will detail all the reasons and some common questions answer.
Although a cat’s nose is tiny and cute, it also very sensitive to different smells. And it is well known that Cats do move a lot around the house sniffing and licking their owner’s hands. Surprisingly, the owner may find the cat’s nose over wet, leaving behind wet spots in the house or its body wet because of the nose water. When things are out of its normal status, it is so questionable to wonder: why are cats noses wet? What are the possible reasons for the nose getting wet?
NOTE: We want to inform our blog readers that before we publish any article, the team “Proudcatowners” does deep research based on experience and knowledge about cats and everything related to them, to guarantees reliable and precise information, satisfy the readers is our first priority.
Why are Cats Noses Wet?
There are some common reasons for the wetting of the cat’s noses. Some of them are biologically natural, and some are indicators for some serious health issues that have to be checked by veterinaries.
- The fluid production from sweat glands on the nasal planum is the main reason to have a wet nose. The lower tear duct that dribbles normal tear fluid also is another reason for the constant moist of the nose. The normal biological function of the wet noise is to regulate the cat’s body temperature by evaporation and to improve the sense of smell.
- Cats by nature are squeamish pets, and because they lick a lot, they keep their nose moist due to the draining of their saliva. In a recent survey, it has been declared that pets as cats and dogs love to lick their noses often.
- Wet noises for pets can be a good sign of dehydration.
- The way cats sometimes drink their milk or water keeps their nose wet. If their bowls are so deep, the cats dig in them to keep drinking.
- Some cats have a sudden wet nose, which is not a good sign at all. It can be simply cold or some virus. They can go from good moist noses to runny noses, which is not a likable thing at all. It is an indicator of illnesses that you must check and take your pet to the veterinaries.
Illnesses (Catching Cold Sometimes)
As we have mentioned above reasons why your cat’s nose can get wet is because it may be sick. It is known in pets’ world that cats have silent illnesses, and veterinarians indicate that a runny nose is an indicator for many of those sicknesses like cold and respiratory infections. Cats with colds and respiratory infections as sneezing, nasal discharge, and a dripping nose have a serious respiratory infection. There is also the issue of a stuffy nose for cats, which causes anxiety.
Dehydration is a big concern that should be taken into consideration because it causes weaknesses and make the body of the cat exposed to so many other virus and bacteria. A runny nose is a sign of dehydration where you should be stressed t take your pet to the vet.
Cats have allergies. A runny nose can also be another sign that your cat has an allergy to something. It can be in food or from the external environment. Cats’ allergy comes with runny nose symptoms with other symptoms. Each allergy has different symptoms as a change of food desiring for specific things. In this case, you have to check with your vet about it.
Some other symptoms that come along with the wet runny nose, which indicates illnesses in your cats, are: appetite’s loss, behavior change, lethargy, fluid retention, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and coughing.
Those cats’ holders have not to worry when their cat has a cold and flu because the period of cold does not last more than ten days. However, they should consider the age of their cats, because this may project them to other deadly diseases. It is usually advised to use towels to remove their nasal discharges and change their food offering those more nutrients elements.
The symptoms we mentioned above are similar to the symptoms of flu or cold. However, you should take your pet to the vet to check other symptoms. As we said, cats’ illnesses are silent ones.
Fluid Production of Cats Sweat Glands
Many vet surveys have assured that cats, in general, do not sweat, and it can be replaced by its saliva, which is produced in its thermoregulation system. Cats cool their bodies by their self-licking, yet they produce sweat that is removed and relieved through sweat glands found in some specific strategic spots of the body as lips, anus, legs cushions, and the chin.
Cats do not sweat when it is very hot, and it is produced out of fear and excitement. However, excessive wet can leave wet spots all over the area. This sweet scent can be easily discovered.
Cat sweat glands are rare and concentrated only at specific points of their body, unlike humans, who have a full skin surface. As is known, the body generates perspiration to release the heat it feels while stimulating the skin at the same time.
Smell Rolls
Many veterinaries indicate that the cat’s scent and the smell are related to a specific cat’s behavior that is rolling on the ground. Cat’s way of communication is through their smell. Cats’ scents indicate many things with the rolling on the ground. When this was first discovered, it was a bit strange for vets, yet it makes it easy to understand the cat behaviors.
Cats use their sweat glands to put a personal scent on anything. An acute sense of smell is more in cats than humans. Scent glands exist most of their bodies as tails and lips.
These scent glands are related to their behavior because specific acts make this smell spread all around the place to indicate particular messages like rubbing their cheeks and heads. It can sometimes be an indicator of mating desires or territory marketing. Rolling its back and dropping on the ground with sometimes head rubbing can be well explained as follows:
I am Safe:
Cats smell rolling happens when the cat feels safe and secure. It also happens when it is relaxed and in a cozy environment. If it rolls a lot, it shows trust as well where any owner can take advantage to bond the relationship with its pet.
Attention:
Cats smell rolling times, and circumstances can also be an indicator to look after your cat because it wants attention from you. Experts say that this can usually happen in the morning.
This is my territory:
Cats smell rolling is also a marking behavior that has to be respected from pets’ owners. Sometimes cats leave a specific scent on a place in the house because they may love it and feels comfortable relaxing on it.
I am Mating:
Cats smell rolling for this cause can leave behind it a strong scent to attract other males in the area. This will be a good help for the owners to control things for the mating of their cats. This makes cats enjoy rolling after inhalation.
Some Cats Like To Lick Their Noses:
Some cats lick their noses which is normal behavior if we understand the reasons behind it:
- Some cats lick their cats to keep food scent in their mouths on their noses. The reason behind doing this is to protect themselves sometimes from undesirable smells in the environment around them that can be not interested in them.
- The occasional lick of their noses can be a sign of stress and worry if it happens after some actions seen in the house or around the cat.
- Cats lick their noses to keep it moist, which is good for the effectiveness of their olfactory sense and not to keep it too dry. It may be a sign of cats’ allergy or respiratory infections.
- If the cat is over licking the nose, it can be a psychological problem as well. In this case of being excessive, you have to check with your vet.
Maybe Your Cat was Drinking:
If your cat was wet, it might simply be your cat was drinking water. When cats lick their water or milk from the bowl, they may use all their face. Then the cat licks its face and nose, which keeps it always wet. The anatomy of the cat’s face shows how everything in the cat is small and close to each other. The mouth, the nose, and the tongue are all related to each other.
Are Cats Noses Supposed to be Wet?
Cats, in general, have a moist nose. It prevents them from a lot of illnesses and health problems. Cat’s noses help vets to study very well cats’ behaviors throughout their scents. As we mentioned above, about cat wet noses, cats can have a dry or a warm nose. Some people ask if this is a healthy thing, and it is a healthy thing when it does not happen suddenly, it is a sign of sickness when it changes from a wet nose to a dry nose. A dry nose is not an indication of sickness when:
- Cats live in a hot town, or they spend time near the chimney when it is winter.
- There is no good air conditioning.
A dry nose is also an indication of health issues for some other cats also as wet noses can be another indication of health issues. Some vets say that many pets’ owners can be very worried when their cats have dry noses because they believe it should be moist and wet. Fever and dehydration can leave cats noises too dry.
Wet Noses are a Sign of a Good Smell:
Everything we have mentioned above is linked to each other. Cats always smell good in comparison to other pets as dogs. The reason behind its good smell is related to the fact cats licks its body and to the body size as well, which makes it easy for the cat to self clean it.
We mentioned that cats lick their noses, so wet noses are generally clean noses, and clean noses mean good smells as well. A lot of information that many vets have published showed that cats’ nasal discharges leave a stinking smell in the cat. Also, statistics indicated that cats spend half of their daily time, grooming their bodies.
This leaves behind a nice good smell because, in the process of body grooming, they lick their noses, which keeps it always well moist and wet. Cats’ saliva has a detergent-like substance. When a cat with good health has freshly bathed itself, it smells clean. Of course, there are also bacteria present in cat saliva. Some cats still smell like she’s powdered herself after she’s bathed.
Cat’s Nose is not an Indication for its Health:
There is a very weak relationship between a wet and a dry nose and good health in general. Healthy cats can have a wet nose and dry nose as well. As we mentioned above, a dry cat nose can be parallel with fever and dehydration. Health indications foe cats can be difficult because most cats’ health issues are silent. However, the nose can help to start noticing other symptoms only.
For instance, to test a cat fever after finding a dry nose is by using a cat’s thermometers. Some vets mentioned that to test for a dehydrated cat are by assessing skin turgor and the thickness of the saliva in the mouth. The problem that vets always talk about is the sudden change of the nose status when it changes from dry to moist or vice versa, the nature of cats’ nasal secretions differs from a cat to another, but if this dry nose or wet issue worries you, you must have a constant check.
Dehydration that comes with fever can be cured by doing some normal things with your cat as inserting a thermometer in the rectum of the cat. Both dehydration and fever cause sickness to pets, also lethargy, and poor appetite are good and bad health indicators. Both of them are greater health concerns where any pet owner should check a vet whatever happens with the nose.
When to Tell Your Cat Nose is Wet and not Watery:
We can switch the question a bit and say: how the nose of my cat can be watery? Because we have already explained what a wet nose can be, a watery nose is just the next level of a wet nose in bad health issues with the cat. Any sick cat can have a watery and thick nasal discharge.
A watery nose means a nasal discharge occurred with infections, inflammations, and chemical substances in the nose. There might be a foreign object in the nose that makes it a watery one. However, it may sometimes just be a watery nose.
Every pet owner can know the health status of its cat nose because it has to be checked occasionally by a vet. So any changes can be parallel with other symptoms to say that the cat has a problem.
It is normal for cats to have some changes as humans. Despite this fact, when excessive nose issues and chronic status of watery noses are over, it should be checked.
Conclusion:
Because we care about our cats, a simple change can mean a lot of good and bad things. When our cat noses are wet, this can be shown as a positive and negative thing. Cat wet noses are the normal biological status of the cat because of sweat glands, and because wet cat noses are an indication of good health status.
However, it is not always the case with sudden changes from dry cat noses to wet noses. Another thing to be concluded is most of the cats have wet and moist noses as a way of body cooling. Cat wet noses can happen because cats lick their noses always when they groom their bodies.
What to bear in mind is that we must not always take wet cat noses as a real indicator for good health, it has to be along with other possible symptoms to say anything about it. If your cat has a small beautiful wet nose, and you have already checked on its good health that it may not be any chronic health issue or a bad allergy, enjoy kissing it! And allow your cat to sniff on you!
