Nose thing - anyone seen this before?

[RaineysMom]

our 10 YO Zeke had a dental this past Monday (5/6) and had 4 teeth removed, 3 little ones on the bottom right and 1 little one on the bottom left.  He had pinkish nasal discharge after he got home and on Tuesday (which is normal) but started this excessive/constant licking starting Tuesday night at 10pm.  He's not too bad during the day but at night, licks and licks and licks.  I'll wake up, get him to stop, then wake back up a little later with him licking again.  I have not slept in 4 nights.

Starting Wednesday, the discharge became thicker and darker red/brown colored and was only coming from the right nostril.  Talked to our vet and she thought it was normal.  After another sleepless night I emailed her again this morning and she agreed the discharge didn't sound right so I brought him in.  We looked in his nose and there was some? kind of trauma or something to the nose, right on the inside, the part that extends down from the nose top (hard to explain) - from what I saw, it was like a pink vertical slash right in the middle .  She took swabs and did a cytology and didn't see any cancerous looking cells.  She put him on antibiotics, which we started when we got home (12:30pm, gets 2 x day) and said if it's not better and still has the bloody discharge by Monday we would need to see a specialist to get it scoped  

he's been rubbing his nose for several months, but 99% on the LEFT side and this is on the RIGHT side.

I just took these pictures and now there is a red blister-like thing on that same area that looked to have been injured (or?).  

has anyone ever seen anything like this?

Edited May 10, 2019 by RaineysMom

[macoduck]

Any chance that he sniffed in some kind of pointy plant seed?

[tbhounds]

Is he moving air through that nostril?  Hold a mirror (glass) close to each nostril and see if the glass fogs as he exhales.

[Hubcitypam]

No.    But I have to tell you that picture has put me off my feed all day.
 Hope the antibiotics work.  In some weird way is he rubbing the side that isn't oozing hoping it'll go to that side?

[Rickiesmom]

My non-vet instinct is this is not a simple infection.   I'd be asking for a specialist appointment and hope to get him in as early in the week as possible.  Meanwhile, hope the abx give him some relief. 

Edited May 11, 2019 by Rickiesmom

[greysmom]

It could be a lot of things, so I would be asking for an appointment now so you can get in as soon as possible. You can always cancel if you don't need it, but I bet you'll need it.

One thing to mention because I had never heard of it before -  If your dog eats a lot of dirt - like most of them do - consider getting him checked for a parasite/nematode called "capillaria."    Dogs get it from ingesting earthworms, and it lives in the nasal passages.   It's a fecal test, but they have to look for a specific kind of egg cell.

[RaineysMom]

17 hours ago, macoduck said:

Any chance that he sniffed in some kind of pointy plant seed?

it's possible, we  walk in the park next door every day (although not much this week since it's been raining and he was wonked from the dental).

17 hours ago, tbhounds said:

Is he moving air through that nostril?  Hold a mirror (glass) close to each nostril and see if the glass fogs as he exhales.

I'll see if I can find a small mirror and try it.  I  *think* so since I can see the mucus moving around sometimes when he breathes so guessing he's getting air in/out.

6 hours ago, Hubcitypam said:

No.    But I have to tell you that picture has put me off my feed all day.
 Hope the antibiotics work.  In some weird way is he rubbing the side that isn't oozing hoping it'll go to that side?

sorry

1 hour ago, Rickiesmom said:

My non-vet instinct is this is not a simple infection.   I'd be asking for a specialist appointment and hope to get him in as early in the week as possible.  Meanwhile, hope the abx give him some relief. 

 

45 minutes ago, greysmom said:

It could be a lot of things, so I would be asking for an appointment now so you can get in as soon as possible. You can always cancel if you don't need it, but I bet you'll need it.

One thing to mention because I had never heard of it before -  If your dog eats a lot of dirt - like most of them do - consider getting him checked for a parasite/nematode called "capillaria."    Dogs get it from ingesting earthworms, and it lives in the nasal passages.   It's a fecal test, but they have to look for a specific kind of egg cell.

I looked this morning (my flashlight is good but it's hard to see in there) and I do not see the bloody blister thing.  I will keep a close eye on it.  Here's a picture of what it looks like today, I don't think the greyish looking stuff is normal though   I emailed our regular vet (that saw him and it yesterday) about seeing a specialist, I don't know if she needs to refer us or even what kind of specialist he would need to see?  Sorry if pics are gross.  Thanks....

[Rickiesmom]

That looks so miserable.  Hope he can be seen soon.  Almost for sure needs a referral, but if you know who your vet in sending you to, you can probably call, make an appointment by telling the person you are speaking with that the referral is in progress, coming from <vet name, clinic name>, and that you are calling in the meantime as the site looks awful and your hound is very uncomfortable so you would like to secure the earliest available appointment.

Please keep us posted, thinking about your boy and his worried mama.

ETA:  you might want to call and leave a message for your vet to call you back because you are concerned.  Not sure about yours, but my vet often doesn't get a chance to see e-mails until after business hours, a phone so a call moves things forward faster.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Rickiesmom

[cleptogrey]

if he was human i would say sinus infection. no response to antibiotics? if not then something maybe up there....yulk...your vet can't flush it out with saline?

[JohnF]

When they took the teeth out, could an infection in one of the bad ones have have worked its way up thru into the nasal cavity and perhaps left a tiny 'hole'?   This will take a while to heal and may need antibiotics to help clear it up.

[cleptogrey]

9 hours ago, JohnF said:

When they took the teeth out, could an infection in one of the bad ones have have worked its way up thru into the nasal cavity and perhaps left a tiny 'hole'?   This will take a while to heal and may need antibiotics to help clear it up.

Sounds very logical to me.

[RaineysMom]

Update on Monday 5/13 -- on day 5 of antibiotics and I'm happy to report the nostril is looking a LOT better and he is not licking continuously -- thank God!  Hopefully it was just irritated from what probably is a sinus infection.

now if we can only get him to start eating well again!

thanks!