Bleeding and Bruising in Dogs

Blood cancers can be due to an increase in the number of white blood cells in the bone marrow or blood. Untreated, this could lead to bone marrow failure and loss of organ function.

Catching the culprit early

As a dog owner you should be aware of the early warning signs of blood disorders. Pale gums can be a sign of internal bleeding or anemia signaling the need for an immediate blood transfusion. Other warning signs of cancer include-

• Bleeding gums
• Blood in the urine or stool
• Low energy levels.

If you see any of these signs-seek out a good vet immediately.

Most vets recommend a thorough blood test once your pet reaches the age of six. The test should include a ‘complete blood work count’ of the red and white corpuscles, platelets and plasma along with a ‘chemistry panel’ to zero in on organs whose functions are faulty due to an imbalance of electrolytes.

Prevention is better then cure

The good news is that the ‘complete blood work’ tests and ‘chemistry panel’ are easy both on your dog and your pocket. And you won’t have to wait endlessly for the results.

Forewarned is forearmed!

Here are some warning signs to watch out for. If you see your dog doing any of the following, don’t wait. Rush to a vet immediately, because it could be really serious.

If your dog is collapsing or Fainting-

Some dogs recover quite fast after fainting while others can collapse completely due to internal bleeding and the subsequent loss of strength. If your dog shows signs of fainting into unconsciousness- (medically known as syncope) – rush to your nearest veterinarian.

Is your dog pacing around restlessly?

Restlessness and pacing is an indication that your pet may be in considerable distress due to pain or bloating of the stomach or a more serious problem.

Has your dog stopped eating?

Pets below six months are affected mostly by loss of appetite. Loss of appetite could be due to jaundice or the inability to eat. Lack of interest in good food is often the first sign of ill health in your canine. If your dog does not receive nourishment for over 24 hours then things could get serious.

If you find that your pet is extremely anemic with pale gums and can barely stand, even after stopping the use of medications that could be causing the bleeding or bruising, then you should give an immediate blood transfusion on an urgent footing, even before a proper diagnosis can be made.

Optimal treatment for your dog

To ensure that your canine gets the best possible care along with the highest chances of survival-you need to properly combine home care with the finest veterinary care that is available in your neighborhood.  Proper follow up to any treatment is especially critical if some tell-tail symptoms lag on. Unchecked, bruising or bleeding can prove a threat to your canine’s life.

It is vital to monitor your pet very closely and notice the severity and frequency of both, bruising and bleeding. To ensure that your dog gets optimal treatment, take the following steps: -

• Alert your vet if you meet any obstacles during the course of treatment. Make sure that you follow the correct dosage and use only those medicines that are prescribed, as described by your vet.
• Do not miss any follow up visits as recommended by your vet.
• You may need to take more then one measurement of platelet counts and clotting tests
• Omit all medicines that can accentuate bleeding and other symptoms

Source: http://www.terrificpets.com/articles/dogs/health/blood-disorders/

Check with your vet before using any over-the-counter medications (OTC’s) on your dog. Painkillers like-

• Aspirin- can result in metabolic acidosis
• Acetaminophen-Tylenol- can cause liver disease
• Ibuprofen-Advil can induce kidney disease
• Naproxen –Aleve- can lead to perforation of stomach ulcers

Poison hotline

Once you believe your pet has eaten a poisonous substance, do not waste a moment. Call your vet or the ‘The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ APCA’s Animal Poison Control Center as soon as you can and try to keep a sample of the poison with you.

The ASPCA is affiliated to the University of Illinois’ College of Veterinary Medicine, who offers a 24-hour hotline run by licensed vets that have specialized in toxicology. Along with timely help this 24-hour hotline keeps some ready info on the latest research of the latest products, along with the best specific treatments. If you think your pet is poisoned, don’t panic-just call 888-426-4435.

Do not succumb to the whiles of your pet for chocolate (even though every canine drools dreadfully for it!) A large enough amount of chocolate can prove lethal to dogs and cats– for whom it is a toxic substance. This is because even the yummiest chocolates consist of the chemical stimulant- theobromine- that dogs and perhaps cats, are unable to metabolize.

As a result, your pet can have traces of theobromine in his/her blood as much as twenty hours after greedily gobbling up some chocolate. This will increase your canine’s heart rate and be accompanied by-

• Internal bleeding
• Chronic diarrhea
• Hallucinations
• Seizures
• A heart attack
• Eventual death. *

* (Just thirty grams of baking chocolate per kilogram (1/2 ounce per pound) of body weight is sufficient to poison a dog. If your dog is small and has just wolfed down a sizable chocolate, contact your vet pronto. Vomiting can and should be induced up to two hours after your dog has eaten the harmful substance.

You need not panic over much if your dog is larger in size, and has eaten a large amount of chocolate- (even though even a large dog can also find it difficult to digest chocolate.)

According to the Veterinary Institute of Integrative medicine, rat or mouse poison can result in chronic hemorrhage- (bleeding) – and bruising. Mouse and rat poisons can look like a yummy thing to eat to most dogs-(maybe that’s due to the shape of the tiny green blocks.) Your pet can easily detect and gobble up these harmful poisons without your even being aware of this!

As far as possible, protect your dog from rat and mice poisons. In the unlucky event of your dog unknowingly swallowing some, you will find an increased tendency to bleed due to ‘Anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity’ or poisoning. The bad news is that this bleeding appears days after ingesting the poison.

Alarmingly, a poisoned pet might start bleeding from the mouth, nose, urine or stools. Bad as this may seem, internal bleeding is scarier, as it can go on unnoticed till more serious respiratory problems or shock sets in. Poisoning can prove fatal; so make sure that you treat it on an urgent footing.

Rat poison in a pet can lessen your pet’s Vitamin K storage and without vitamin K the blood is not able to clot properly. If your canine looks depressed and is bruising and bleeding from any part of the body, while having difficulty breathing, along with signs of weakness—then the chances are that your pet is poisoned.

Vital self –help tips for poisoning

If you know that your canine was poisoned two to three hours ago, the best thing to do is to try and make them vomit it out.

• Your vet could give your dog the required dose of hydrogen peroxide or apomorphine to induce this vomiting.

• A dose of activated charcoal can also be given to soak up traces of leftover poison in the gastrointestinal tract.

• Next a blood test will locate any clotting abnormality.

Make sure that you give a Vitamin K supplement to your pet for from three to four weeks, depending on the type of poison found by your vet.

Remember to re-test these clotting times at the end of the treatment when your pet’s ability to clot blood should show a marked improvement.

But if you are treating your pet about three days later-after the symptoms show up, then there is no point trying to flush the poison out as indicated above. At this stage the only thing that could save your canine is an entire blood transfusion.

You will also need to treat the anemia with plasma and Vitamin K in order to control the bleeding. Sadly, a complete cure at this stage is rare. This is why it is so important to protect your canine from any kind of poisoning.

Where poisons lurk…

Keep your pet away from lawns and gardens that have just been fertilized- since iron-based fertilizers contain harmful herbicides like ‘mulch’ found in cocoa hulls. Like chocolate (YES CHOCOLATE!) Cocoa hulls can be toxic for your pooch if eaten in large enough quantities.

Other danger spots are piles of leaves that could conceal fungi and harmful molds that can produce toxic substances. Protect your pet by covering these piles of decaying matter and remember to clear them away as soon as possible.

If your dog constantly suffers from bleeding of the nose and bloody stools it could be a sign of Von Willebrand’s disease, especially so if your dog is a Doberman or a Pinscher. The cause of this bleeding disease is a lack of a particular protein in the system that makes platelets coagulate. The best treatment for a dog with Von Willebrand’s disease is a blood transfusion.

Other disorders that reduce platelets include: -

• Viral infections like canine distemper virus and parvovirus
• Bacterial infections like Salmonella
• Rickettsial infections like ehrlichiosis
• Bone marrow cancer, myelofibrosis and myelophthisis
• Parasites causing heartworm disease and Plasmodium infection

Frequent blood related problems-

While bleeding gums, the odd wound or bruising, can easily stop, other causes of bleeding and bruising could be far more serious. Apart from a low pallet count, common blood related problems in your best friend could be due to poisoning or cancer.

There is nothing very unusual in seeing an occasional tiny bruise or blood spot in the stool, but if it is ongoing and severe –don’t neglect it. There could be a number of reasons for blood in the stools like-

Platelet disorders# Platelet dysfunction may be inherited, or develop later in life, when the platelet count decreases and results in bleeding or bruising. A decrease in the platelet count (also known as ‘Thrombocytopenia’) can also occur due some shortfall of the bone marrow, or due to bleeding.  You should definitely sit up and notice, if your dog’s platelet count is below 25,000. Such a low count can result in hemorrhages that can prove fatal.

Your dog’s low platelet count could be due to cancer, a recent infection, or a drug reaction. In Thrombocytopenia the immune system treats platelets, as it does any foreign body, by destroying them.

Other causes of low platelet count: -

• Drugs like aspirin, estrogen, sulfas, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, azathioprine as well as albendazole can alter the production or function of platelets.
• Hormonal imbalances, like the over production of estrogen can contribute to a low platelet count.
• Spleen disorders
• The inflammation of the blood vessels-known as Vasculitis
• Disseminated intravascular hemolysis can also result in a low platelet count

If your canine is a Basset hound, Foxhound, Otter hound, Great Pyrenees or Scottish terrier, then you need to check their blood count; since low platelet counts are common amongst these breeds. Platelet function disorders can also be due to-

• Sugar diabetes
• Kidney disease causing Uremia or an increase in waste products
• Liver disease
• Vaccination with modified live viruses

It’s easy to notice bleeding on your dog’s mouth, nose, eyes, skin or external genitalia. Less visible are signs of internal bleeding. Bleeding in your dog’s intestinal tract will be visible: -

• As fresh blood in the stools
• As dark stools
• As bleeding in the urinary tract that is passed out along with the urine

Clotting abnormalities

Clotting can also result in abnormal bleeding and bruising. These abnormalities are due to the blood’s inability to coagulate or clot. Bleeding due to clotting abnormalities can be seen on the skin, the mucous membranes, internal organs, tissues, and body cavities in the form of excessive bleeding.

Blood in the stools indicates…

Bright red, fresh blood in stools #indicates ‘Hematochezia’ due to bleeding in the lower intestines, as well as the colon and rectum. This bleeding may turn out to be a minor problem- Blood in the stools of a younger dog can indicate the presence of parasites. In older animals it can prove far more serious.

Do not ignore persistent or repeated signs of red blood in the stools of your canine or pet since this can signal a more serious illness (especially in older pets in whom it could be a sign of cancer.)

Dark colored stools or ‘Melena’ indicates the presence of old digested blood that has bled from higher parts of the small intestines or stomach. The discoloration is due to the presence of this digested blood in the stools. If Melena in the stools persists, then it could be an indication of a fatal illness or reaction that should not be neglected.

Possible causes include certain drugs, infectious agents, cancer, swallowed objects, inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases, or clotting disorders that result in extreme bleeding that refuses to clot.

Severe lack of blood clotting- Can also be due to liver failure and intravascular coagulation or snakebites from a viper or a rattlesnake.

Other reasons for bruising or bleeding in dogs are due to clotting disorders, platelets, or the blood vessels. These disorders can affect your dog regardless of his/her age or breed.  In fact bruising or bleeding can be due to a number of illnesses or disorders. These can be mild and take the form of tiny bruises or prove severe enough to prove life threatening.

The golden rule here is never to ignore unexplained or abnormal bruising or bleeding. Try to get an early examination by a good vet and especially so if your pet is abnormally pale, lethargic, weak, or in pain.

Getting the right diagnosis is half the battle won. It is also important to evaluate abnormal bleeding through the diagnosis of the kind of clotting abnormality- after identifying the core causes.

It may take a while before you notice the symptoms of anemia that are directly caused by tissue destruction or chronic bleeding due to a very deep wound. Internal bleeding due to parasites or gastro-intestinal bleeding can also cause anemia.  Non-regenerative anemia occurs when the bone marrow cannot restore red blood cells fast enough.

Springers, Spaniels or Basenjis are often diagnosed with this disorder.