A couple of weeks ago, I heard Decker snorting at night, right before her bedtime :)
Then I noticed some blood in her nose, and then some bloody/pus-bloody mucus from the same nostril (left). I asked the vet on what she thought it could be. The possibilities are endless, and the vet gave me a swab/slide kit.
Everytime there was a great bloody snot or she shook her head and there was blood, I wasn’t able to get a sample because I didn’t have the slides handy. Finally I got an itty bitty sample and brought it in for analysis. The vet said there was a lot of bacteria, and a lot of rods. Since I took plant bio in college, I’m not familiar with rods, but I know they have something to do with bacteria and blood cells (I think). She told me again the possibilities for what is wrong are endless. That it could be nasal cancer, which is difficult to detect. It could be a foreign body or foxtail (which is very possible because we have tons of foxtail). It could be an infection, or even mites.
She told me to put her on Cephalexin (I already started a couple of days ago), and try Ivermectin for mites.
Decker’s bloody noses are getting worse. I’m hoping the antibiotics and Ivermectin help, but I’m a little worried.
Piper’s nasty chest abscess-stuff was full of rods too. Clindamycin was the antibiotic of choice. Was told that the type of bacteria was generally soil-based and likely from a foxtail. Also is particularly stubborn bacteria so antibiotics would be long-term: 6 months to a year, but sometimes the rest of their life. Almost at 6 months now and hasn’t seemed to return…hope this helps. Give me a shout if you want other info.