Best Dog Nose Balm for Our 14-Year-Old Pom (And How I Keep Her From Licking It Off)

Our oldest girl is a 14-year-old black Pomeranian, and her nose is dry pretty much every single day. Look close and the top edge turns rough and grayish white, like a little crust sitting on the black. After one balm that just sat there, the best dog nose balm for her so far has been a small 2 oz jar of TOP PAW Nose & Paw Balm. I really like it, and I’ll tell you exactly why below.

Here’s the part that gets me. Her two little brothers are 3. They eat the same food, get the same bath every two weeks, see the same groomer and spend every minute in the same house with her. Their noses are fine, and their skin doesn’t flake. It’s only her. I think it might just be her age, and honestly, it makes my heart hurt a little.

So if you’re wondering what you can put on your dog’s dry nose, here’s everything I’ve learned: what her nose looks like before, where to buy this balm for about a third of what I paid, what’s actually in it, and the slow, thin-layer way I put it on so she doesn’t lick it right off.

Quick Look: Our Dog Nose Balm Routine

Our dog	A 14-year-old black Pomeranian girl, about 12 to 13 pounds, with a dry nose and flaky skin
What we use	TOP PAW Nose & Paw Balm, Unscented, 2 oz (56.7 g)
Where it goes	Her nose only. We don’t use it on her paws
How often	Whenever her nose looks dry. No set schedule
How I apply it	A thin layer, let it soak in, then another. 4 to 5 thin coats
Texture	Soft, light and smooth. Not thick or heavy
How fast it absorbs	Not instant, but not slow either
Where to buy	PetSmart, $8.99. Buy it there. I paid $26.05 before tax for one jar on Amazon (prices checked October 2026)
Best for / Good to know	Best for senior dogs with a dry, rough nose in dry weather. Good to know: call your vet instead if there are open sores, bleeding or anything that looks new

What Our 14-Year-Old’s Dry Nose Looks Like

You can see it in the first photo. The bottom of her nose and her nostrils are still dark, but the top edge, right where her nose meets the fur, gets rough and dry with a gray-white crust.

Her body skin is dry and flaky too. Because she’s so dry, I asked our vet about it. That conversation is why we switched to an oatmeal shampoo on bath day (the whole routine is in my post on how to get rid of dog dandruff) and why she gets nose balm now.

We live in a hot, dry climate, so there’s no dry season for her. Her nose is dry in summer, it’s rough when the seasons change, and the rest of the year it’s still dry. For her, nose balm isn’t a nice extra. It’s a must.

Quick note: I’m not a vet. A crusty nose can have a lot of different causes, so if your dog’s nose suddenly changes, start with your vet like we did.

The Best Dog Nose Balm for Us (and Why We Switched)

Before this one, I tried a different nose balm, and it just wasn’t the right fit for her. The texture didn’t feel right to me, and it didn’t really absorb. It kind of sat on top of her nose, and a balm that sits on top is easy for a dog to lick off.

Then I found TOP PAW Nose & Paw Balm. It’s a 2 oz jar with a teal label that says Vitamin Complex on the front. It’s made for noses and paws, but we only use it on her nose.

Here’s how the two compare, side by side:

	The balm I used before	TOP PAW Nose & Paw Balm
Brand	Honestly, I don’t remember	TOP PAW (sold only at PetSmart)
Texture	Not the right fit for us	Soft, light and smooth, not heavy
Absorption	Never really soaked in	Not instant, but it blends in if you give it a little time
Price	I don’t remember	$8.99 at PetSmart ($26.05 on Amazon, where I bought mine)
Still using it?	No	Yes

Is it the best dog nose balm for every dog out there? I can’t promise that, since I’ve only tried two. But for an old girl with a dry, crusty nose who lives in dry air, it’s the one that works for us, mostly because of how easily it goes on in thin layers. More on that below.

What’s Inside TOP PAW Nose and Paw Balm

Here’s the ingredient list on my jar, in the order it’s printed: Aqueous Purified Water Extracts [Panthenol, Biotin, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Phylloquinone, Retinyl Palmitate, Avena Sativa (Oat Kernel) Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract], Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Linum Usitatissimum (Linseed) Oil, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, DMDM Hydantoin.

A few things I noticed reading it:

• Water is listed first, so this is more of a soft cream than a waxy stick. That matches how it feels.
• The bracket includes vitamin-type ingredients: panthenol (a form of vitamin B5), biotin, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E), ascorbyl glucoside (a form of vitamin C), phylloquinone (vitamin K1) and retinyl palmitate (a form of vitamin A).
• Oat kernel extract and chamomile flower extract are in there too.
• The jar says it’s unscented and free of sulfates, parabens and artificial colors.

The back of the jar says, “This balm relieves dry, cracked skin on your dog’s nose and paws.” That’s the brand’s claim, not mine. What I can tell you is how it goes on and how we use it.

The warnings matter even more for a nose product. The label says to keep it out of reach of children and unsupervised pets, not to use it on skin with open wounds, not to let your pet eat it, and to avoid the eyes (flush with water if it gets in). That “do not allow pet to ingest” line is exactly why I put it on the way I do.

What It Feels Like: Texture and Absorption

Out of the jar it’s bright white and soft. On the back of my hand it spreads easily and doesn’t feel heavy or pasty, but it still feels moisturizing. That light, smooth texture is the biggest difference from the balm I used before.

To be honest, it doesn’t absorb super fast. It’s not slow either. It’s somewhere in the middle, and that works fine for how I use it, because I’m going in with several thin layers anyway. The old balm never really sank in. This one blends in if you give it a little time.

How I Apply It So She Doesn’t Lick It Off

Dogs lick their noses all the time, and our girl tries to lick the balm right away. If I put on one thick blob, it’s gone, and that’s the part the label tells you not to let happen. So I go slow and thin. Here’s exactly what I do.

1. Take a tiny bit on one fingertip. Way less than you think you need.

2. Dab a thin layer on the dry part. For her that’s the rough top edge of the nose. (The label says to avoid the eyes.)

3. Hold her chin gently and let it soak in a bit.

4. Do it again, 4 to 5 thin coats total. Each thin layer gets time to soak in before the next one, instead of one big layer she can lick off.

Yes, it takes longer than one quick swipe. That’s the whole point. Going slowly gives each layer time to soak in. The day I took these photos, about five minutes passed between my first photo of the first coat and the close-up below.

This is right after. You can see the balm still sitting in the rough texture on top while it soaks in. This isn’t a before-and-after photo. It’s just what her nose looks like while the balm soaks in.

How Often I Put Balm on Her Nose

I don’t have a set schedule. I put it on whenever her nose looks dry, and with the air where we live, that’s often.

For her, “looks dry” means the top edge goes rough and gray-white instead of staying dark. When I see that, out comes the jar.

Why Only Our Oldest Dog Has a Dry Nose

This is the part I keep thinking about. Our two 3-year-olds, a mini goldendoodle and a maltipoo, live the exact same life she does. Same food. Same bath every two weeks. Same groomer, and we keep all three clean between visits the same way (here’s our routine between grooming appointments). Same house, all day, every day. Their noses stay normal and their skin doesn’t flake. Only hers does.

So I think it might just be her age. She’s 14, and a few things have changed for her lately, which I wrote about in how long Pomeranians live and what 14 looks like on her. The dry nose is one more small thing we take care of.

Do dogs’ noses get drier as they get older? I can’t say that for every dog. I can only tell you that in our house, the 14-year-old is the only one with this problem.

Where to Buy It: PetSmart Has the Best Price

Learn from my mistake on this one. I bought my jar on Amazon. That listing shows $26.05 before tax for one jar right now, and I think I paid around $29 all in.

Then, while I was writing this post, I looked it up on PetSmart’s site. TOP PAW is sold only at PetSmart (their page says “Only at PetSmart”), and they list the exact same 2 oz jar at $8.99 (item #5296424). That’s about a third of what I paid. Honestly, my jaw dropped.

So if you want to try it, buy it at PetSmart, not on Amazon. Here’s PetSmart’s product page so you can check the price yourself.

Prices checked October 2026. Prices change, so check before you buy.

What I Like and What to Know

What I like

• Soft, light and easy to spread
• Not thick or heavy, but it still feels moisturizing
• Perfect for several thin coats in a row
• Unscented

Good to know

• Where you buy it matters. I paid more on Amazon, and at PetSmart it’s $8.99, so that’s where I’d get it.

Keep in mind

• It doesn’t absorb instantly, so a licker has time to try. Thin layers help.
• The label says not to let your pet eat it, which is tricky for a product that goes on the one spot dogs lick all day.

When to Call the Vet Instead

The label says not to use it on skin with open wounds, so if your dog’s nose has sores, cuts or bleeding, skip the balm and call your vet. I’d also call if the nose suddenly looks different than usual, like crusting that shows up fast or a change in color.

For us, the vet conversation came first. The oatmeal shampoo and the nose balm came after.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you only remember two things, go thin and go slow so the balm soaks in instead of ending up in your dog’s mouth, and buy this one at PetSmart, where it’s $8.99, not $26 like I paid on Amazon. And if the nose changes suddenly or has sores, the vet comes before the balm.

I’ll keep sharing the small things we do for our senior girl in our pet care series. Does your old dog get a dry nose too, or is it just ours? Tell me in the comments. And if you’re cooking for an older dog, here’s the homemade dog food for senior dogs we make for her.