nosebleeds

[luca]

Any ideas why my 13 year old TB gelding suffered a nosebleed? His nose started bleeding slightly (out of one nostril) in the field at about 11am, and continued to bleed for several hours. I bought him in to clean it up at about 4pm, and when he whinnied for his friend it started to come out of his eye on the same side.

I phoned the vet who advised me that this was not unusual as the nose and eyes are connected somehow, and she said that when he whinnied he must have forced the blood up into his eye. She said that there was no point in her coming out as there was nothing she could do about the bleeding, and as it wasn't gushing out of his nose it couldnt be anything serious. She also said that as he was grazing in the field, he may be continually dislodging the clot that was forming with him having his head down to eat the grass. I was advised to hold a cold dressing against his nose and eye. Upon doing this the bleeding from his eye stopped. However, the bleeding from his nose persisted until around 8pm. The vet said it would only need further investigation if he continued having nosebleeds on several more occasions (he hasnt had any problems since). However, the bleeding has still worried me, especially as it also came out of his eye.

I was just wondering if anyone else had any experience of nosebleeds, or any ideas about what causes them. My friend thinks that he may have popped a blood vessel when he whinnied at her taking his friend away that morning, as he was fine before she went for a ride, but bleeding when she returned to the field. However, the farmer at the yard thinks that it may have been caused by him getting pollen up his nose as the farmer was harvesting the hay field next to my horses field that morning. Any information would be appreciated.

[celtechfarms]

This is scary that there were no replys to this and I'm curious how this horse is now. Horses can get nose bleeds for many reasons and depending on the other symptoms and activities can give a feel for what it was. In race horses a nose bleed can be the beginning of the end, our standard died one week after his nose started to bleed and he went lathargic and sick very fast, I mean like less then twentyfour hours. A week we fed him antibiotics and he came back really well. On the vets word we took him off and he was dead the next day, nurilogical, unconfirmed westnile.

Sometimes, if heavy activity before hand, it can be a sign of bleeding in the lungs, which requires some drugs to help heal the lung linning and time laid off to recover. This too is very common in race horses, in fact anytime you hear in a race that a horse is running with lazex, that is a sure fire sign that horse bleeds during or after their races.

Truma to the nose, a bump on a fence, a kick to the face, anything like that. Yes pollen or any irritable inhaled substance can cause it. Burst blood vessel, but that should be looked at. Personally, I would change my vet. When our boy got his our vet was already on an emergency call, she stopped her truck and turned around rushing to our home. She was there for over three hours with a vet collage, I was in the hospital with my new born baby less then a few hours old. We were charged for an hour visit and milage and the drug, a good vet is not only willing to come out but willing to consider everything.

Please, please, in vestigate your vet like you would you accountant or family doctor or contractor, its very important, in this area we have one horse vet that has cost two lives I know of personally and misdiagnosed another that almost cost another horses life. Ask for names, refrences, other farms that use them. Talk to your vet, if they look at you like your an idiot, change vets, they should be willing to take into consideration of everything, including your thoughts.

Anyway, I'll stop now, but drop us a line and let us know how your horse is, I hope everything cleared up alright.

[luca]

Thanks for that reply. Several days after his nosebleed he developed a small lump on his face, and I spoke to another vet about this. He believes that my horse must have suffered a blow to the face - perhaps a kick, because he is always playing around with the other horses in the field. However, as he has suffered no further nosebleeds, he believes that this must not have been serious, and has advised me to keep an eye on him. If he has another bleed then they will investigate it further, but as it has been a while now the vet believes that there it is unlikely that it will recur.

[celtechfarms]

Glad to hear it, hope it continues to go well and I hope the hematoma goes down if the bump is still there. At least you found out a little more and very good of you to find a diffrent vet. If you ever question your vet don't hesitate to change, remember they hold your horse's life in their hands, they need to know that you know your horse better then they do and trust your judgement.

[petsalive]

There was NOTHING unethical about her post - she was not practicing veterinary medicine, in fact was advising the poster to call another vet in.

What on earth were you thinking? This forum is for good 'general' advice and that is what was offered.

[kerryclair]

Post was deleted and sail102 banned. He is not really replying - he has a spam engine set up to spam BB's - the basics is to get his poker website URL listed in his "signature".

He has been banned from the forum.

[champ]

Nose bleeds are common if the horse is on 'bute' for any length of time.

Vitamin C is good for strengthening of blood vessels. Horses produce their own vit. C, as do most animals besides humans, but giving supplimentary C to a 'bleeder' helps.