Bleeding and Bruising in Dogs

Violent sneezing can result in minor nosebleeds. If not, the more serious cause of a bloody nasal discharge is a fungal infection or even cancer. Alternately your pets nasal bleeding may indicate a wider bleeding problem all over the body –when you can see bleeding or bruising all over and not just the nose. If the discharge is on from one nostril only, then this could be due to a root abscesses that can later progress to both nostrils.

Nasal tumors

It’s important to try and treat nasal tumors before they grow to cause seizures and other behavioral changes. What’s worse visually is that nasal tumors can distort the face, by breaking through facial bones. But treating a nasal tumor is easier said then done, since they do not respond well to anti-cancer drugs.

In short, you may find bleeding due to a nasal tumor, tricky to treat. This is also because a dog’s nose is built in such a way as to make surgical removal of a tumor from within the nose impossible. As an alternate therapy you should try and put your canine through some radiation therapy to slow nasal tumors. But be warned, you will need to search hard because radiation therapy is only available in lager cities and renowned Veterinary Institutions.

Fungal infections

It could be that your dog is bleeding from the nose due to a fungal infection. If fungal infection is the cause then you should be prepared to let your pet go through months of treatment on anti-fungal drugs. A cat that has fungal infection in the nose, should be tested for ‘feline leukemia virus.’

Nasal discharge can be bloody, thick and green or a cloudy gray. It can also flow from one or both nostrils depending on the reason for the discharge.

Allergies

Most allergies are seasonal. A pet that sneezes too much and has a clear nasal discharge must be suffering from an allergy. There may also be some bruising and bleeding due to excessive scratching, rubbing of the face and paw licking, all of which also results in hair loss. The nasal discharge in such cases will be evident from both nostrils and is irregular.

The most common causes of a bloody nasal discharge are:

• Nasal cancer
• Foreign materials like grass inhaled in to the nose that can aggravate your dog to sneeze and paw the nose
• Infection of roots of the upper teeth
• Due to fungal infection

Bruising and bleeding in and around the nose can also be due to nasal mites in addition to the above causes. Usually drugs that kill nasal mites can take adequate care of the problem. Tooth infections at the roots can also puncture the nasal passage. You may require dental cleaning to treat your pet’s teeth; and you may need to extract the tooth if this treatment does not help.

Nasal mites

Nasal mites are small tiny bugs that aggravate a nasal discharge and sneezing. The mostly clear discharge will flow from both the nostrils. If you examine the sore nose area carefully, you will notice tiny white and tan spots around the nostrils-that are actually nasal mites.