Unexplained nose bleeds

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NatalieS

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I went over to see my little horse 'honey' in the field tonight and her left nostril was covered in blood, i cleaned it up but there are no scratches or anything. She did have a bleed a few weeks ago aswell.

Should i get the vet or am i panicking to much?

Any advice appreciated :)
 
This happened to my old horse, there was no sign of trauma and the nosebleeds were very mysterious. I spoke to my vet & they explained that although it was unlikely, it might be an indication of him having an infection in his guttural pouch

http://www.equidblog.com/tags/guttural-pouch-mycosis/

This would be very serious, so they said it would be a good idea to do an endoscope of his guttural pouches to check. This would also show if there were any tumours or other issues with his airways causing the nosebleeds. They scoped him and couldn't see anything wrong. I got to watch the footage from the scope and it was fascinating! So I never did find out what caused those nosebleeds, but it set my mind at rest that there was nothing sinister going on :)
 
It's sometime hard to tell if a horse in a field has had a nosebleed - but you need to keep a very close eye on her in case it is a recurring thing. My mare kept bleeding first from one nostril then the other, this rather worried my vet so we had her 'scoped in case of guttural pouch mycosis and found nothing. We manage it by never feeding her dry food, and always feeding from the floor (this helps her colic and choking problems too - yes my horse has issues :p )

We never found out what caused it but at least we know it isn't anything to do with her guttural pouches or her lungs - probably just weak blood vessels in her airways.

My point is, if it keeps happening then it'd be an idea to get the vet involved and get her 'scoped, just in case.
 
NatalieS said:
I went over to see my little horse 'honey' in the field tonight and her left nostril was covered in blood, i cleaned it up but there are no scratches or anything. She did have a bleed a few weeks ago aswell.

Should i get the vet or am i panicking to much?

Any advice appreciated :)
Click to expand...

Hi,

I am interested to read the responses to your OP.

Guttural pouch mycosis (fungal infection) is rare in this country. Empyema (pus) in the guttural pouches is more common, but you would be more likely to see a discharge from the nose first to be honest.
One thing that no-one has mentioned is an ethmoid haematoma. These are more common and are also diagnosed by endoscopy.

There are also a whole bunch of other things which may be causing the problem.

I would recommend you ring your vet and discuss the situation with them, and IMO a scope would be the way to go. If nothing abnormal is detected, then at least it will put your mind at rest :)

Hope that helps,
Imogen
 
I would get the vet asap, just in case it is GP mycosis, which is where a fungal plaque grows on the carotid artery - a horse with this will normally have 2 or 3 nose bleeds before it has a fatal bleed, so I really wouldn't be taking a chance. Was it a bad nose bleed the first time, and was it bright red blood or just blood staining a nasal discharge? I have seen GP mycosis, so am probably more aware of it, but I would not be riding the horse until the vet could scope, and if it had had a bad bleed I would probably consider box rest - anything that causes blood pressure to rise could cause the carotid to rupture. As I say though, I am probably over-cautious because I have seen rupture in a horse that had 2 bleeds first - thankfully, it ruptured on the operating table and so was repaired surgically. I am not trying to worry you, as it could well be one of several other things such as ethmoid haematoma and EIPH, but I would get it checked out to be on the safe side.
 
Thank you for you all your kind replies, I really do appreciate it.

I called the vet yesterday and he came out - he listened to her lungs and said they were fine and looked at her teeth etc which needed doing so that has now been done, he said because it has only happened twice its to early days to say whether its just one of those things or something more serious, so he has asked me to monitor her for the next 10 days to see if she has anymore bleeds and if she does he will then do a scope. I'm just praying it doesn't happen again because he was suggesting Guttural pouch mycosis which I know can be fatal. I am keeping everything crossed for the next 10 days I couldn't bear to lose my little girl :(
 
One of ours has had unexplained single nostril bleeds about six times over the last two years. He has had endless scopes and even Xrays to no avail. We have had to ignore it, but when he has one we take him home and rest him for a couple of days. Sometimes the vets really can find no reason for it - sorry, not very helpful, but I would have him scoped - there may be polyps or some non-sinister explanation.
 
I had a mare who used to get nosebleeds down one side of her nostril she was endoscoped and found nothing wrong. She went up to a equine hospital and had two holes drilled in either side of her nose and a camera inserted to see if there was any reason they found a small cyst but nothing else .. They put it down to something that happens when she had a season to release the pressure. Since then she has been sold and she had a wolf tooth out which was causing her pain which I didnt know about so it may be worth having her teeth checked again. I would get the vet to check but that was my experience.

Hope it all works out for u

:)
 
My horse had a nosebleed and it turned out he had fractured one of his molars. As the others have said call the vet out in case it is related to the gutteral pouch.
 
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