Expert: English Bulldogs ( Marie ) e-mail me at mpmaltese@gmail.com - 8/16/2008

Question
At 2AM last night while my husband watched TV and I slept, our 5 yr old English bulldog Paola started having a sneezing attack while on her bed. It stopped, but then 5 minutes later it occurred again. This time she was sitting by the couch. She started making gurgling noises, and when my husband looked down at the floor, there was a large pool of very bright red blood! It looked very thick and almost full of mucous. She kept trying to clear her nose, but more and more blood kept coming out of it. We tried to calm her down and wipe the blood, and while she stayed calm for a few minutes, it eventually started up again. She was in good spirits though, wagging her tail at us, and able to walk, get up, etc. We took her to a 24 hour vet hospital right away.They ran preliminary bloodwork and tests, and she didn't have any blood clotting or high blood pressure or signs of anemia. The bleeding still didn't stop. She spent the night there under observation and they were finally able to get the bleeding to mostly stop earlier this afternoon (over 12 hours later!). She's on fluids now and has been sedated, because the bleeding seemed to get worse as she got more excited.
They are still running more bloodwork on her and are waiting to get the lab results back. They also did a chest x-ray which came back clear, so that lung cancer has been ruled out.
The vet explained to us that the possible reasons for the nosebleed can be:
- foreign object lodged in the nose, but not likely since bulldogs have very small slits
- rat poison ingestion, which is also not likely because she's an apartment dog, we've never bought rat poison, and I am the only one to walk her
- fungal infection which has caused a growth
- Tick-borne disease
- cancer

In order to see if it is a fungal infection or cancer, they are going to do a CT Scan and a Rhinoscopy tomorrow. They will put her under general anesthesia and obtain biopsies/samples.  
In the meantime I am a complete wreck and extremely worried about my dog. Have any of you heard of this happening to any dog you know? Please let me know if you have and what the outcome was. I am trying to get as much information as I can and would greatly appreciate any insight.

Jenny

Answer
Jenny - I wonder if it could have been cauterized?  This can happen when some dust or a small foreign object, like sand can enter the nostril and cause the excessive sneezing.  In turn, the blood vessel pop and bleeds and bleeds until the area is cauterized.... Burned closed.  Bleeding in the nose is always profuse.

I am wondering if they could tell exactly where the bleeding was coming from once they sedated your baby.  I am also wondering if they are Jumping the gun on all the tests...
I think the CT scan is a little much.
I bet it was an allergic reaction to something that hit her nasal area.  ( even a spray could have upset her system and caused this)

Sorry, I am just surprised because all the test results look very good.  Sounds like you are going to spend a bunch more money if you allow test after test.  Just be careful they are not taking advantage of you.

Let me know what happens.  I would be glad to guide you on supplements, vitamins and holistic measures for her in the future.

I will say a prayer for your girl!!

Marie Peppers
mtnmom@gci.net