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

6 years ago

Dog nose bleed after having a runny nose and coughing

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.

Good luck and I hope this helps.