Could a sinus infection or allergies be causing my dog’s eye irritation and blood to come out of her nose after she sneezes?

Original Question: My 14 year old Labrador Retriever Kali seems to have environmental allergies. When we go outside her eyes weep a bit, then she sneezes a few times. Blood comes out of her nose sometimes. Do dogs get sinus infections or irritation ? Thank you. - Karen

Mar 1, 2018

TRANSCRIPT:

I’m Dr. Clayton Greenway with healthcareforpets.com and we’re answering questions this morning. Here’s one and it says, “My 14-year-old Labrador Retriever Kali seems to have environmental allergies. When we go outside her eyes weep a bit, then she sneezes a few times, blood comes out of her nose sometimes, do dogs get sinus infections or irritation?”

This is a pretty interesting question to me. Dogs definitely get allergies and I’ve even seen dogs get allergies in their eyes where people have used goggles and that sort of stuff to keep the pollens out of their eyes. I even notice that if I’m bike riding in certain seasons and I go through a certain neighborhood, my eyes can start to get irritated so that can certainly happen. You can use things like antihistamines, you can have eye drops on hand, even stuff that just clears out the eyes that can help them, but they definitely get things like sinus infections as well. The most disturbing thing about this question is the fact that there’s blood that comes out of the nose and this is a 14-year-old dog, so I get really concerned that something else could be going on here. I’ve never seen allergies get bad enough that there’s actually bleeding from the sinuses or the linings in there. Even infections, it’s pretty hard to get significant bleeding.

When you do have more serious issues going on in there like tumors, you can have nosebleeds and things like that, so I really recommend that Kali go see a veterinarian and make sure that some blood work is done, maybe some X-rays of the area just to make sure that there’s no problems going on. You can even end up scoping up there and taking samples if these nosebleeds are coming more often, but in the meantime, what you can do is if it comes down to allergies and I’d work with your veterinarian to make sure that’s the case, then you can look at using antihistamines, you can end up using things like steroids, that’s a very serious drug. You really want to stay off of it as much as possible. You could look at walking your dog very early in the morning, very late at night, maybe not in the middle of the day where lots of pollens might be out and in the air. You could also change the location of where you walk, so instead of that park, you could do more pavement walking and stay within your neighborhood. Maybe you’ll stay away from some of the pollens that way. So those are some things to consider, we also have some great videos about allergies that you can look at but I really appreciate the question and good luck with this case. Thanks for taking a look at our website, healthcareforpets.com where we’re dedicated to your pet’s health and keep those questions coming.