Nosebleed, won't eat.

Dr. Marie replied:

Sorry to hear that Cabo is not doing well.

The symptoms you have described have me worried. When a lab doesn't want to eat then there is usually something serious going on.

Has Cabo had any blood work done recently? This may help us to determine if there is a serious problem and if so, what it is.

It sounds like the vet was concerned about a cancer affecting the nose. If this is what is going on it is possible that there is cancer affecting other parts of her body as well. Cancer can cause significant weight loss.

Another possible reason for bleeding from the nose is a problem with platelets. However, if we see platelet issues in an older dog this is often because of either cancer in the bone marrow or cancer in the spleen.

It is also possible that the bleeding in the nose was due to a tooth root infection. This would obviously be a better scenario than cancer. If there was a tooth root infection then we would see some temporary relief with antibiotics but the problem usually comes back again unless the tooth is removed. A tooth root infection could cause her to not eat and to lose weight as well.

It may be hard to decide what to do from here if you have limited funds to spend. Ideally it would be great to do some bloodwork and possibly some xrays to see if the vet can determine what is going on.

If these tests are not in your budget, then the vet can help you with deciding whether it is time to make the difficult decision for euthanasia.

I'm sorry for the bad news.

Dr. Marie.

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