What to Do When Your Dog Has a Runny Nose with Blood, and What Causes It?
📝 Summary
A dog with a cold usually has clear nasal discharge, or thick pus if inflammation is severe. But a runny nose with blood is more than a simple cold. This article explains the common causes and solutions for bloody nasal discharge in dogs.
1 Overview
Causes of Bloody Nasal Discharge in Dogs
1. Rhinitis / sinusitis
When a dog has a stuffy nose, loud breathing, sneezing, and bloody discharge, first consider capillary damage from rhinitis or sinusitis, where the nasal mucosa is damaged and bleeds. This is mainly caused by bacterial or mycoplasma infection or allergic rhinitis in dogs.
2. Inflammation from ‘internal heat’
Inflammation from ‘internal heat’ can also cause bloody nasal discharge, mainly because the dog’s immunity is low; it may be accompanied by cold-like coughing and sneezing, and increased eye discharge.
3. Tumors and leukemia
Yes, dogs can get leukemia, and like in humans, it can cause nosebleeds that are often hard to stop. If your dog frequently has nosebleeds and loses a lot of blood each time, take it to a veterinary clinic for examination promptly.
4. Physical trauma
Bloody discharge can also result from external impact – similar to how a person’s nose bleeds when the nose or nostrils are torn by a blow. It can also happen when a dog sneezes very forcefully during a cold.
What to Do About Bloody Nasal Discharge
Don’t panic when you see bloody nasal discharge. First, observe the amount and color of the blood. If only a little blood appears once or twice, first consider ‘internal heat’ or nasal mucosa damage. If the dog has other ‘heat’ symptoms – such as bad breath, increased eye discharge, or constipation – give it a heat-clearing tablet and reduce meat and salty foods for now.
Next, if the blood is rust-colored or the bleeding is heavy, take the dog to a vet promptly to check for tumors, leukemia, or other illnesses.
Finally, a runny nose should not be ignored either; it is often caused by bacterial, mycoplasma, or chlamydia infections and needs prompt pet cold medicine and anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve it, or it may lead to secondary pneumonia. Use pet-specific cold medicine for dogs, such as a honeysuckle-Scutellaria tablet or doxycycline.
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