Nosebleeds in german shephers - Page 1

I have a 4 year old German Shepherd, who has been treated for the last 3 years with heavy doses of prednisone for an allergic skin dermatitus.  She also gets recurring ear infections, which are now being managed with otomax every 5 days.

She started getting nosebleeds yesterday - one during the day, and then one late last night for no apparent reason.  She had a 3rd, lighter nosebleed at around 6am this morning.  I have contacted the vet (the usual vet is on annual leave, so i had to speak to the locum) - I have been advised just to monitor the situation.

My question is, can the cause be something as simple as exceptionally warm weather, or, knowing my dog's history, is it indicative of something more serious (like cancer or tumour)?

I would get a CBC/Chem panel done,an x-ray of her head and maybe even sedate her and look up her nose and see if anything is up there.  We have had dogs come in the clinic before that had grass blades stuck up their nose, that cause bleeding,drainage and sneezing.  Is she sneezing?
Have you done and allergy test on her to see what she is allergic to? you can give antigen shots to help deal with the allergies.
Just a thought, Good luck with her.
Robin

Prednisone is infamous for a long, long list of rather nasty side effects. However, I don't think nosebleeds is one of them. Get the vet to check her out. Hopefully, it's something simple, like a grass stem stuck in her nose.

If you can find a way to get her off the pred, DO IT!  A friend of mine was on a low dose of it long-term as an anti-rejection drug, and it thinned her bones so badly that she broke her foot just stepping off the curb! It also thins the skin and makes you more vulnerable to infections.

Lisa,i agree with Sunsilver.get her checked out by your vet.i dont want to alarm yu but one of my bitches had some nosebleds  and it turned out to be cancer.i left it too late(albeit cassie was 9yrs.old)and she had a lump come on her nose just under one eye.on taking her to the vet he admitted her for an op and it turned out that her nose cavity had been eaten away by cancer and she died on the operating table.if yu have reason to think there,s something not quite right with your girl,always take her to the vets.BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.hope its nothing to worry about.good luck.

 Agreed...nosebleed is not something associated with prednisone and dog needs to be looked at asap. Many dogs who have nosebleeds have it for an obvious reason, like some minor trauma. In others where it is spontaneous, there are a host of possiblities, including fungal or other infection. Best to check it out with a vet.

Good luck.

You can also get nosebleeds (epistaxis)  from Ehrlichiosis (transmitted through ticks) and Leishmaniasis (transmitted through sandflies) .  The three way SNAP test will show the Ehrliciosis but will give you a false positive on Erhlcihiosis when it is the Leishmaniasis -

More info at http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/vth/ticklab.html  

http://www.leishmaniasis.info/   Leishmaniasis is in this country, while not epidemic and common, with all our imports and it creeping up from South America - it is becoming more common - also there was a kennel of foxhounds back east that had it here in the US, they never did figure out how the dogs contracted it. 

With both you can have skin problems.  Most vets here in the US are very disbeleiving - I lost two dogs from Italy that had it because my vet dragged his feet being arrogant.  The dogs both were verified through PCR tests at NCSU and were recorded with the CDC. 

Be careful with your prednisone in high doses or long term, it can cause autoimmune and petrify your dogs adrenal gland -

What country are you in?

Hi I had a dog many many years ago who was on prednisone for a very long time and he had nosebleeds the vet did not know what caused it and the dog after 3 yeard on the prednisone  had to be pts I blame the prednisone my dog was ok before he took them I do hope your dog gets better good luck
ROSEY

Hi Lisa:

My first German Shepherd Reno, suffered from severe ear infections for the first 8 years of her life.  After years of flushes, ointments, etc, the vet discovered a psuedomones infection and treated with the correct antibiotic for 30 days.  Finally her ear infections were gone, but a few months later, she started having nose bleeds.  At first while she was eating, and then when running, etc. Anytime she exerted herself she would bring on one.  I took her to the vet and then had her scoped.  They indicated a mass in her sinus cavety - 98% confident malignant.  They had not biopsed at the time and when they told me the news, I just wanted to take her home.  The scope was done at a specialist who gave her 3 to 6 months to live.   They told me the only thing I could do for her was radiation treatments, which would only extend her life by 6 months.  I decided not to put her through radiation.  I discovered that running a vaporizer were she slept helped and fed her elevated.  Funny thing is that the tumor never spread, and she lived to a few months shy of her 14th birthday.  I still kick myself for not having the tumor biopsed, but she had a good life anyway.  My Vet still refers to Reno as my miracle dog, so hang in there, but have your dog's nose scoped if the nose bleeds continue.  The severity and occurances of Reno's nosebleeds did slow down, but in the beginning they were horrible.  One time I came home and would have sworn that she was cut somewhere.  There was blood from one end of my kitchen to the other.  On the walls, floor, cabinets.  I hope no one ever needs to use luminaw (not sure how you spell) my house, because I am sure my house would light up!l

Please let me know how you make out.  I am hoping it all works out for you.

Cheryl

Infection is a good bet. Be it with pseudomonas or something else. Just hope it is not an aspergillus infection. This is why this must be pursued with a competent and thorough exam.

U need to check it from a vet asap....i had a german shepherd who would h\get nose bleeds....we treated him for spleenomia!! however turned out to be lukemia in the end. Please get the dog to a good vet as soon as you can and get the required tests done asap. Just as a precautionary measure.