Why is blood coming out of my dog’s nose and what should be my next steps?

Original Question: Mollie is a Labrottie and in a couple of weeks will be a very active 11-year-old dog! She is more Labrador and loves people – smart with typical Lab qualities. 6 months ago we spent 4 weeks with our vet and then a specialist as Mollie has a runny nose. After many exams, blood tests, X-rays etc, they could not diagnose the problem. We saw a specialist that was referred by our terrific vet. Many tests done and they all came back fine. Our visits initially included the emergency room, then our vet twice, and then a specialist that had a group of doctors who checked Mollie. Afterwards, our terrific vet said it had to be allergies. After 4 weeks one evening all of sudden she starting coughing up a major amount of blood from her nose, sneezing, mucous, etc. After a terrifying 20 minutes, she was fine and the nose/throat congestion, mucous, and runny nose had stopped. Now 4 months later, here we go again! This time just the runny nose and very congested sinus and nose. She hasn’t sneezed out any blood or when we soft paper tissue her nose to help clear the mucous. I am giving her an antihistamine-Chlorpheniramine Maleate 4mg but it doesn’t work very well. It did clear her nose slightly about 2 hours after she took it however within a couple of hours it’s all back. We have also tried steam in the bathroom, etc. 2 days ago she was fine most of the day into the evening, then it was back the next day. She does eat her main meal of the day but ignores her treat. Can you offer any suggestions/advice? Thank you so much. - Jim

Nov 8, 2018

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your question.

Bleeding from the nose is called epistaxis. It’s a concerning symptom and one that I would get to the bottom of. In theory, if bleeding is occurring then there is damage to tissues to the extent that the blood vessels are rupturing. I can think of a few rule outs for this.

They would include:

Nasal aspergillosis
Nasal tumour
Blood clotting disorder
Liver disease
Nasal foreign body
and others

I have never seen allergies cause a bloody nose but it’s possible there is more than one condition occurring here. I would recommend you get a CT scan as soon as possible. Consider an internal medicine specialist. If all the other tests were negative I would have some confidence that a CT scan would reveal the issue. I would also perform blood clotting tests and liver tests including imaging. The CT scan would be my next step.