Dog with small, slow bloody nasal discharge from one nostril - Update- he's gone. :(

[DressageLin]

Late last week, my husband and I noticed a couple spots around our dog’s bed. We noticed a couple more the next day, but did not see them anywhere else. We checked his feet, mouth, etc. and did not see anything. Finally on Saturday, we were both home watching him and saw a tiny drop of nasal fluid mixed with blood drop from his nose while sleeping. We realized he, of course, licks this when he is awake.

We called our vet, who was getting ready to close on Saturday. He referred us to take him to the emergency vet, even though we explained it was not an acute nosebleed and thought it could wait until Monday. Regardless, we take him to the emergency vet who does an exam, draws blood, and takes some x-rays. He’s a big labradoodle that is 9.5 years old, very active, and on previcoxx. His WBC were normal, one liver enzyme was borderline elevated (could be from previcoxx, so we are reducing dosage and will re-check labs), no fever, no other visual abnormalities. After spending a fortune on the skull, neck, chest x-rays, we were basically told they are difficult to read but don’t show anything glaring. We were sent home with an antibiotic in case it is a respiratory infection.

We have now determined the bloody draining is only coming from his right nostril. He has been on the antibiotics since Saturday. I am inclined to give it a few more days before we go to a specialty clinic to have him “scoped.”

I love this dog, but he is my husband’s pride and joy. He loves this dog more than me, no doubt. Realistically, I know it could be totally fine and just a respiratory infection or could be terrible and some hidden mass.

I keep thinking that I need to give the antibiotics time to work – how long would that be?

If the antibiotics do not result in improvement, I think the odds of it being something serious are more likely. Are there questions I should ask?

Any advice would be appreciated. Right now, he seems fine. Not quite as playful, but we are honestly trying to keep him from running around like crazy. Fingers crossed the antibiotics do the trick.

[Simkie]

That “well, we’re not really seeing much” is just so frustrating, especially after spending a bucket o cash, isn’t it?

Is it particularly dry in your house right now with the winter weather? Wouldn’t it be great if a humidifier was the solution?

I hope the antibiotics are the ticket for your puppers!

[DressageLin]

I would love for it to be dry air, but we actually installed a whole house humidifier last year to help my husband. We also run one in the room at night, so our house is much better than in years past.

Today my husband thinks the discharge looked more viscous and yellow today. Hopefully it’s just a mild infection.

[MustangSavvy]

Given that it is only out of one nostril I would be concerned about FB or something more sinister like a tumor. I think it is reasonable to wait a few days to see if the antibiotics will work. But I would suspect within 48 to 72 hours you would have seen some improvement.

[Sswor]

My first thought is a tumor and you may see nothing until it grows. A friends dog recently passed from such a tumor. There were tremendous nosebleeds near the end. There is no cure that I am aware of. Just supportive care. If all seems well going forward, perhaps shoot another film of the head in 30 or 60 days time and compare.

[hoopoe]

dental root abscess, foreign body or tumor / disease lesion.

on long nose dogs these are challenging since visualizing is tough. While sedated for Xrays did anyone probe the dental sockets?

[Garythesquirrel]

Hopefully it’s just a sinus infection or irritation going on.

I had an 11 year old beagle who had bleeding from one nostril, just a few drops here and there and I only noticed it because it was on her blanket. The only other outward symptom or change we noticed was reverse sneezing. I took her in to the vet who felt a suspicious lymph node in her neck. Had it biopsied the next day and while she was being intubated the vet saw a small mass on her tonsils. Turned out she had squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsils which had spread to her lymph nodes and sinuses.

[Sobriska]

Not trying to scare you, but a bloody discharge, one nostril only was the first sign of sinus cancer in my horse.
Jingles for a quick resolution for your pup and that is all well.

[DressageLin]

Thanks, everyone. I think my husband and I both realize that this is likely something more sinister than an infection. Thankfully, our pup seems happy and comfortable right now. We’ll get him to a specialist likely next week.

[millerra]

Does your dog like to “hunt” outside - snuffle a lot? DH’s hunting buddy’s lab snorted up a huge chunk of cattail one time out hunting - he sneezed it out with blood and pus about 2 weeks later. Very gross. Poor dog had to have one heck of a sinus head ache…

[Parrotnutz]

Realistically, if the antibiotics aren’t doing anything a scope is called for. Like others have said, when it is one nostril it, unfortunately, can be a mass of some sort or I will keep fingers crossed that he got something stuck up that nostril. Or something with a tooth root. Do you have any “specialty” hospitals near where you live who do scoping routinely and other procedures. I am very fortunate that 3 different 24 hour emergency clinics also are specialty hospitals with every specialist one might need under one roof.
Please keep us posted! Hoping you get an answer quickly!

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I lost my beloved Berner a few years back. It started with a nose bleed. Got it stopped, brought him in. They ran blood work, he was anemic and as they were waiting for further follow up results. He got another nose bleed two days later. Tried to stop it, couldn’t, took him to emergency. Nothing could be done, he was bleeding out. I had to say goodbye. Nothing helpful in this post and for that I’m sorry. Just want to say nose bleeds like his, terrify me now. Not normal and never a good sign of things to come.

[stressgirl37]

We had a similar thing happen just this year with our beagle mix. It took a lot of diagnostics (exploratory scope, several cultures and finally a head CT) to determine it was an inoperable tumor in his sinus. I hope this is not your situation. The other thing they were thinking it could be was a fungal infection, which is curable.

[S1969]

@millerra

Does your dog like to “hunt” outside - snuffle a lot? DH’s hunting buddy’s lab snorted up a huge chunk of cattail one time out hunting - he sneezed it out with blood and pus about 2 weeks later. Very gross. Poor dog had to have one heck of a sinus head ache…

This would be my first thought; a lot of hunting breeds get foreign bodies in their nasal cavities. Foxtails are one of the worst and can travel through a dog’s body depending on where it started.

A nasal scope is probably the best option.

Fingers crossed.

[Foxtrot_s]

Was thinking the same thing - depending upon where you are. A JR got a foxtail at an event we were at - stuck in its throat. The darned things work like a flea - the movement makes them gravitate further in. Good luck.

[stressgirl37]

@DressageLin How’s your pup?

[DressageLin]

Unfortunately, we still don’t really have more information. My vet referred us to a specialty clinic that said it would be 3-4 weeks to see an internal medicine vet, but could be sooner if we are categorized as higher priority. However, they said if we pay a $160 emergency fee, we can walk in and be seen.

We initially think that we’ll wait to see if the referral can get us in a timely manner. Over the weekend, we see that pup has cracked tooth in front of canine tooth into three pieces. It’s badly broken. On Saturday, we also completed the two weeks of antibiotics. This weekend we see more bloody drainage (after it had decreased over last week).

So my husband is off from work and calls the specialty clinic to see if an internal medicine vet is working and whether the vet could see our dog if he brings him in on emergency basis today. He is told yes. He arrives at clinic and is eventually seen by ER vet. ER vet says the tooth is not the cause of the drainage (not connected to root canal?). Vet recommends scope and CT at same time. My husband asks if can start with scope and vet says they are usually done together. Quote is 4k. Vet also says it will not likely be done today. (My husband was told to go to their bigger clinic, which was two hours away, so he is frustrated by the communication breakdown).

We are torn. However, I keep thinking if nothing can be visualized on the scope, it will likely be a mass found by CT. The differential diagnosis of those things that could be found via CT are probably not good. And although I spent big bucks last year with MRI and all the big guns to try to save my heart horse, I don’t know that I want to go that route again, if the outcome does not look promising. Google seems to show that nasal cancer in dogs, even if treated aggressively with radiation, etc, does not give usually more than 18 months. Ultimately, my goal is to keep my pup from being in pain, but I am trying not to spend an enormous amount of money if it will only had months to his life.

I am feeling heart-broken and would appreciate any advice. Is it reasonable to start with a scope and extraction of the tooth and see what we find? That feels like the right move at this point.

[BAB]

Take care of the tooth - that has to be painful, unless it isn’t. For the rest, spending all that money on diagnosis, when it most likely is a tumor is up to you - I didn’t do it with my Corgi, just kept her comfortable and got a good 13 more months with her. She told me when it was time - she just dripped blood from her nose off and on during that time, played, was comfortable. Then the bigger bleed came - I only let it happen once because her eyes said she was ready. I never regretted how I handled it with her. Good luck. I will text or email with you if you want. Just let me know.

[Foxtrot_s]

I think I would take the approach of BAB, too. Hard tho it be.

[stressgirl37]

The scope is where we went after trying a round of antibiotics. It didn’t show evidence of a tumor but they took cultures to check for a fungus and also looked for cancer cells. Both were negative. It took the CT to see the sinus tumor. Surgery was not an option due to the location. As already mentioned, the tooth has got to be painful so I’d take care of that. I’m so sorry you are going through this.