Swollen, bloody snout in my dog

[deblshort]

Two days ago my 8 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback mix came in from playing outside.  I noticed a small red spot on her nose that I thought might be a small piece of red lint.  When I went to remove it I realized instead that it was a small dot of blood.  Her nose looked fine and I thought she may have scraped it coming under our pole fence in the yard.  Twenty minutes or so later she came and sat down next to me and to my dismay I saw that her nose and snout were quite swollen with raised bumps full of blood, with blood seeping from the bumps.  Over the next few hours the swelling increased in her snout and in the amount of blood filling the bumps.  The photo attached is from this evening, two days after the onset.  It's winter in Maryland, and I don't know what kind of vegitation she could have gotten into that would have caused a reaction, nor do I know of any animals about that could have done this.  I thought maybe a snake, but they should all be hibernatingl.  We live on a large farm with cornfields, horse pastures and woods.  We moved here from South Carolina in October and I don't know much about the region in relation to what may have happened to my dog.  Her snout is still very swollen and she appears to feel rather bad.  I've been giving her ibuprofen and just gave her benadryl after doing some online research.  I know everyone is going to tell me to take her to the vet, and I feel terrible that I can't, but we just wrote a $1,400 check for work on the truck and have to write another check for $350 for my niece's car on Wed and just can't afford a vet bill.  Can anyone help with advice for my poor dog?
Thanks to all that reply.
Deborah

[Red931]

Actually ,Ginger was aware of the Nasal Solar Dermatitis. She is outside with her dog quite often and is on top of these types of conditions.

I am glad to hear that your dog is doing better.

[tfugate]

I've looked into that Nasal Solar Dermatitis and it does sound like it could be a severe case of this.  The only thing that doesn't make sense is, she's fine during the summer when the suns the greatest.  It's only in the Spring that my dog breaks out in this stuff.   I'll have to look into the Nasal Solar Dermatitis a little further.  I did keep her inside over the weekend and continued with the antibiotic, benedril and fungal ointment and she seems to be doing much better.  It finally seems to have dried out, scabbed over and now there's some fresh pink skin underneath.  Thank you again for the heads up about the NSD.

[Red931]

We are probably never going to find out how this dog progressed as the poster never posted back and only posted here that one time.

[ginger899]

Could Nasal Solar Dermatitis come up as quickly as this? Suddenly, in a matter of 2 hours? From 'just a scratch' (no apparent history) to full-blown inflammation like this? I wondered also if it would be a condition set off by exposure to sunlight, and more likely to present in Summer?
I'm not saying it isn't, but although this looks very much like Solar dermatitis from the picture, this seemed to come up so suddenly, after the dog had got scratched in the garden....

[tfugate]

My dog has the same thing.  She has had this 3 years in a row now and I'm sick of it.  I've noticed that benedril helps her a little and we have a cone on her head so she can't itch it, but it's such a pain.  I've been trying to think of things that I introduced around 3-4 years ago and I keep coming back to this rose bush I bought.  Not sure if that's what's causing this, but I'm considering cutting it down just to see.  Maybe we can discuss things we might have in our yard and come up with some possible causes.

[Ghilly]

It certainly does look like a severe reaction to something.  However, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, along with several other breeds, can also be affected by something called Nasal Solar Dermatitis.  It very much resembles what your dog has and is caused by an autoimmune problem that is most likely genetic.  It's an autoimmune disease related to lupus.  

It can come and go, they can go into remission, but (and I'm not trying to scare you, but you need to be aware) it CAN get bad to the point where it doesn't go into remission and at that point the dog is so obviously in discomfort that many owners opt to euthanize their pet rather than see them suffer any longer.

I know that your finances are none of my business, but rather than spend the money on your niece's car on Wednesday, I would find a way to get her around town until next payday and take that money and get your dog to the vet.  This is NOT a happy dog at this point and she needs to be seen by a vet.  My best guess, in the absence of leaves (poison oak, poison sumac, poison ivy) at this time of year that can cause such a reaction, is that she's got Nasal Solar Dermatitis, and would probably benefit from a steroid injection at this point before it becomes too advanced.  Please keep us posted as to how she is doing.

Ghilly