My cat's nose is perpetually dry, and he will get "boogers" with moderate frequency (similar to eye boogers, dry clumps of something or other with no associated mucous that come free if I pick at them). He is half Persian but his nose is just small, not squashed, and apart from occasional (brief) sneezing fits and a spat of flea dermatitis years ago, he is a very healthy and happy cat.
My concern is not so much that he's sick as whether or not I'm doing the right thing in response to his nose issues. I am a bit of a compulsive groomer with my animals and there are basically two points on which I can't tell if I'm helping or just being fussy:
As with eye boogers, I will immediately take out nose boogers if I notice them. He lets me but he's clearly not happy with it and will squirm. Since he is part Persian and does have occasional sneezing fits, I worry that these things could obstruct his airway, but I also know that with humans, nose-picking sometimes just makes the problem worse.
I'm increasingly tempted lately to try to put something on his nose to help the skin. He loves to sit in front of the heater, which I'm sure is most of the reason, but his nose will get flaky and hard sometimes and it bothers me. I worry it might be uncomfortable. Is there something that would be cat-safe (like coconut oil, even) that I could put on it, and is this even a good idea in the first place?
This is all stuff I could easily leave alone if I knew it was detrimental, but it's hard to find anything specific. Help & info is appreciated.
Edit: Here's a picture - the white is not camera glare but a dry patch, and you can see a little bit of gunk on the left.