How cute is that nose?

As you have surely noticed, Frankie is a very handsome dog. He has many appealing features, including soulful eyes and a tousseled chic coif.

But the one attribute that stands out for me — literally — is his nose. Black and cute as a button, it’s like the cherry on the top of an ice cream sundae.ย  The nose is tough for me to resist touching.

Which is why I was quick to notice an odd growth on it.

First, I thought it was a sticky piece of dirt, but when it didn’t flick or wipe off easily I became concerned.

Mind you, I’m not clueless. I’ve seen Frankie sneeze. It immediately occurred to me that the offending matter might be hardened mucous. Nor am I squeamish. I’ve removed crud from Frankie’s eyes, dangling dingleberries from his butt.

But this whatever-it-was extended tumor-like from inside the nose out to the top.

And it wasn’t falling off.

So for the next few days I became obsessed by Frankie’s nose. Among the things that went through my mind:

  • If it was a natural excretion (a.k.a. dog booger), why wouldn’t Frankie try to remove it?ย  I’ve seen him substitute my rug for toilet paper (and no, it wasn’t an anal sac issue, just a cleanliness thing). And sometimes he rubs his face like a cat after eating. For a dog, he’s rather fastidious.
  • What if I tried harder to remove the thing and it turned out to be a scab from an unobserved wound? Or the aforementioned tumor? His nose would bleed and then what if I couldn’t stop it? The nose has a lot of blood vessels. I researched that.
The nose, in profile

It was driving me crazy, to the point that I was contemplating taking Frankie to the vet. Two things stopped me: The potential for embarrassment. And the expense.

That afternoon, I explained my dilemma to my friend Barbara over happy hour cocktails. We didn’t arrive at any conclusions but, after the second mojito for each of us, we found the fact that we were discussing dog snot really, really funny.

Laughter must have been the magic release formula. Lo and behold, I came home to discover that Frankie’s nose was growth-free. I’ll probably find the offending matter somewhere near my pillow, which is gross, but not medically worrisome.

The moral of this story? There really isn’t one. I just figured that, if you have a tendency to freak out over unexplained dog growths, you might want to know you’re not alone.

It also gave me the excuse to show you some mighty cute pictures of Frankie’s nose.

***

By the way, I considered calling this post Out, Damned Snot! But I didn’t want to give away the ending.

13 thoughts on “Only the nose knows: A Frankie mystery tale”

  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention Only the nose knows: A Frankie mystery tale -- Topsy.com
  2. Ha! Yes, I TOTALLY freak out about little things all the time. I have gotten MUCH better- when we just had our first dog (Mickey) every time his nose would run I would be googling (did I spell that right?) like mad. I would not recommend this by the way.

    Now that I have 2 dogs, if I ran to the vet everytime they sneezed I’d have to… I dunno… cut down on my lattes or something horrid like that.

    (we know that I’m kidding, right? I would cut out AT LEAST ONE latte a week for the pups. Oh yeah. I’m that kind of rockstar Dog Mom).

    My point being: I’ve chilled out considerably about their health. I’ve also chilled about their little spats (I let them work it out themselves, unless they draw swords or something) and I no longer inspect their paws every time they step on a pebble in fear that they chopped a toe off.

    Guess we’re all growing up together ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. I figured I wasn’t the only one who had periodic freakouts over weird little stuff… When I first got Frankie it was a lot worse because he was my first dog and I had no baseline for “normal.” About 6 months after I got him, he started hiccuping in his sleep. I never knew that dogs had hiccups and it was about 3a.m. so I couldn’t phone anyone, even in another time zone that I could afford (this was pre-Twitter, which is wonderful for freakouts as the many people who were privy to my dog sitting hysteria can attest). Anyway, I’m far calmer too but every now and then, something like the nose emergency arises!

  3. The main thing that finally stopped me from rushing Archie to the vet for every “mysterious” flicker of an eyelash was my increasing sense that the vets were beginning to think of me as a Munchhausen’s mom. You’re not alone.

  4. I’m a severe hypochondriac so that definitely doesn’t help things when Pru gets little bumps, bruises, sniffles, anything. And as Shauna said, google, not so good. I am slowly getting better at no speed dialing Pru’s vet every time she sleeps in late, but I’m glad that I’m not the only one that does this ๐Ÿ™‚

    Also THE NOSE! Pru has the same black, button nose. Kissing it is my favorite hobby (much to her dismay).

    1. Frankie doesn’t generally let me kiss his nose — he gives me pre-emptive kisses that block my approach — but there’s little he can do about my touching it with my index figure every chance I get!

  5. So at the end of the day, it’snot what you thought?!

    You do within yourself what Amy and I do with/to each other. She’s the worrier about the health issues … I’m the “let’s wait and see what happens” – unless arterial bleeding is involved ๐Ÿ™‚ Amy usually wins these ying/yang battles.

    Except for when it comes to leave the dogs by themselves. I am the one who is worried about how they are doing and feeling the need to get back to them. Amy is more like ‘they’ll be fine.” I usually win these discussions.

    1. I can’t tell you how many snot puns I almost put in the title.

      I’m not sure if it’s better or worse to have someone (besides your own alter ego) acting as the buffer. A little less schitzy I guess, but when you argue with yourself you always win!

  6. I remember bout 20 years ago when one of my cats had a strange new growth on her chin I jumped in the car and rushed her right over to my vet for an emergency check. My vet looked at the growth, rubbed it with her finger and like magic the growth fell off. It was a scab from a cut she had on her chin. :O

    I have mellowed considerably with Penny and will usually take a few deep breaths and like Rod, also take a more “wait and see” approach if there aren’t immediate signs of distress or life threatening symptoms. Although I must admit that whenever my wife (Penny’s her first pet) notices something “strange” I still get that momentary pang of panic in the pit of my stomach, but at least I can keep it in check and keep everyone calm.

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