Sick Nose bleed

[sallyvh]

My one sow Margaret had a bloody nose this morning. I'm just wondering if anyone knows what could cause this, or if it warrants a vet visit.

She's around 4.5-5 years old. We were just at the vets on Friday, she has a history with bladder stones/sludge and I heard her pain squeak on Thursday night so got her in right away. She has two tiny little stones so our vet agreed with us to up fluids as much as possible and she is also on a months worth of Metacam and sulfatrim. The hope is that she can pass them as she has passed a much larger stone in the past.

I don't see how these two incidents could be related though.

She's acting normal and as far as I know the bleeding only lasted a minute or so. I woke up and fed them veggies like normal and topped up hay. Around 10 am it was time for her meds so I pulled her out and that's when I realized she was making a snorting sound and had blood coming out her left nostril.

I gave her the medication quickly and then blotted her nose with a kleenex. The bleeding didn't last long at all but it was a fair amount. It seemed to stop though so I placed her back in her cage and she went right back to eating hay. It's been almost an hour now and I haven't seen any signs of blood.

I don't think she got in a scuffle with her cage mate. They get along very well and I've been in the room all morning and heard nothing. There doesn't appear to be any injury and she doesn't have any URI symptoms. I'm hoping this may be a one time fluke and maybe she got some hay up her nose or the air is dry or something.

 

[bpatters]

If you're sure she didn't corner another pig and get bitten on the nose for her efforts, I'd suspect a hay poke.

 

[sallyvh]

Ok thanks.

I'm positive there isn't an injury to the outside of her nose. It was definitely coming from inside. Her and her cage mate were both laying down eating hay when I saw it. I'll keep an eye on her.

 

[pinky]

I'd be concerned about any discharge from the nose. Bloody discharge would make me worried that it's either an injury or infection so I'd do a vet visit.

 

[sallyvh]

I'm thinking she may have just poked herself up the nose with some hay as she was rooting around in the hay pile.

It's been a few hours since it happened and there has been no additional blood and her behavior is normal.

I'm not sure what the vet would be able to do at this point. She's already on Metacam and Sulfatrim for her current bladder issues. She has no signs of URI and the vet was just listening to her lungs and heart on Friday and everything was normal. I can't see them prescribing an additional antibiotic.

For now I'm just going to keep a close eye on her, if she has any additional bleeding or anything seems off I will definitely bring her in.