Veterinarian on Nosebleeds in Dogs: Indianapolis Vet On The Nosebleeds Nightmare

by Dr. Greg Magnusson, DVM

Generally speaking, dogs don’t get nosebleeds as often as people do. 

Bumps on the dog nose do very little internal damage, and injury-related bleeds are super uncommon. So when a dog’s nose starts dripping blood, there is often cause for concern.

The worst part about nosebleeds in dogs though, isn’t the various and sundry causes (which I will list in a moment) but the fact that your veterinarian rarely has any effective tools to help stop the bleed.

Think about it – with humans, your doctor might tell you to put some pressure on the nose, lean forward a bit, then maybe hold an ice pack over your face for a few minutes until the bleeding stops, right?

Veterinarian on Nosebleeds in Dogs: Indianapolis Vet On The Nose Bleeds Nightmare

Stopping nosebleeds in dogs

With a dog, the moment we start fussing with the nose, trying to stuff things inside the nostril, or holding pressure over the nose, the dog usually freaks out, which makes them throw their head around, which makes the bleeding worse.

So the problem with dog nosebleeds isn’t even just figuring out the cause of the bleed (which is complicated enough!), it’s the damage they do spraying blood everywhere while you’re trying to get the bleeding to stop. 

It’s frustrating for the vet and owner, messy as all get out, freaky for the dog… just a nightmare.

Many times the only effective treatment for an ongoing nosebleed is to heavily sedate the dog so that she stops sneezing blood everywhere, giving the poor vessels inside the nose time to clot. And then crossing our fingers that it doesn’t start right up again when she wakes up.

I mean, nobody ever dies of blood loss from a nosebleed, but you wouldn’t know it from the visuals.

Primary differential diagnoses (causes) for epistaxis include clotting problems (any mouse poison ingestion in recent history?), foreign bodies stuck up inside the nose, weird rare fungal infections, severe dental disease/tooth abscess or the worst (and most common) cause of them all, a bleeding tumor.

First-line diagnostics include a full CBC/Chemistry/Thyroid profile, clotting function tests, and often nasal CT or rhinoscopy +/- biopsy. All of which are expensive, time-consuming, and the list of differentials is ugly.

All this from a “simple” nosebleed.

Obviously, if your dog has a nosebleed, see your veterinarian immediately.

Related articles:
Should I Worry About Dog Nosebleeds? Does a Dog Nosebleed Easily?

Further reading:
Nosebleeds (Epistaxis) in Dogs

Categories: Nose bleeds • Nosebleeds • Symptoms

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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