oops, forgot to answer a question: Reagan is a Golden Retriever
Great questions/feedback, thanks in advance for your time. Reagan will be 12 Nove 25th. She has been with us since she was 10 wks old and has never been sick or had any health problems.
About 6 months ago, we began noticing excessive panting and water drinking. We had xrays & "echo" done by cardiologist, heart/lungs fine. What next? Thought of testing for Cushings b/c holistic vet suggested this. Rather than do the test,we had an abdominal ultrasound done to 1, see the adrenals for Cushings but also see the spleen wondering if it was enlarged causing the panting.
What we found was a nodule in her spleen and 1 in her bladder, 1 cm. They did a fine needle aspirate of the one in her spleen but couldn't do that for the bladder one b/c of risk of seeding. Decide to have surgery. This was on Aug 30th. The 1 in the bladder was removed entirely and was TCC- Transitional Cell Carcinoma. Unfortunately, the vet didn't remove the entire spleen, only did biopsy which again, was likely "plasma cells" BUT pathology also said 50% chance of Multiple Myeloma. Wish the spleen had been removed:(
Decision was to treat the TCC which was definate, for microscopic cells. We started Reagan on Piroxicam Wednesday, 2nd pill Thursday NOSE BLEED (1 nostril) Thursday pm 10:30. We had planned to do 1st chemo today- which of course we cancelled after the trauma she and WE have been through!
My first thought is Piroxicam is an NSAID- could that cause this nosebleed. ER VET at GVS said NO WAY. Its not a side effect. But my thought is how can she say with 100% certainty its not? We still aren't continuing it! I can't risk that.
I know this is complex but from the responses here, I wanted to give the entire detail. Thank you!
Vwd is a good thought as well, Margot.
Ghilly
What breed is your dog and how old is it?
There is a disease called Vwd (Von Willebrands). Was blood work done to check RBC, WBC, etc?
Was the nosebleed from one nostril or both? If it was from one nostril, there could have been something stuck in the nostril that could cause it (foxtail or other foreign object). If it was from both, there are a few possible causes. Did they do a culture to see if there was anything living in the nose that shouldn't be there? By living in the nose, I am referring to nasal mites or to a possible fungal infection? Dogs can develop a fungal infection in their nose called aspergillosis that can cause bilateral nosebleeds.
You said that your dog has Cushings. Cushings disease can cause high blood pressure and subsequently be the cause of nosebleeds, so it's not too surprising that she had a nosebleed being a Cushingoid dog.
Ghilly