Cat is getting nosebleeds.

I am looking for some support and guidance in our kitty's situation.

Moe is around 18 years old. I've had her since I was a teenager.

Last Sunday, I noticed that her nose was bleeding. I thought it might have been because her nose was dry and because we live in a dry climate - but it's her actual nose that is bleeding. Blood is coming out of the left nostril.

Ever since then, she's had a nose bleed off and on. Little blood droplets were/are scattered around the house. I took her to the vet and they prescribed antibiotics for a possible URI. They also took a blood and urine sample. I heard back from the vet. Her red blood count is low but the vet says that makes sense because she's losing blood from the nosebleeds, it's not a level she's concerned about. Her kidney enzyme was high but she says that's probably from her ingesting blood. Her urine was normal and her thyroid was normal. The vet says to continue the antibiotics over the weekend to see if that helps. If it doesn't, the next step would be to put her under anesthesia to take look inside her nose to see if there's a mass somewhere. I'm concerned about putting her under anesthesia because she's an old girl.

I've been giving her the antibiotics but the nose bleeds are continuing. My heart is breaking because I've had her for so long. She's continuing to eat and drink as normal and I haven't noticed a change in her behavior. I just feel like it's unfair for her to be going through something like this.

Has anyone gone through something similar? At what point do I say enough is enough? This is so tough.

MalibuPineapple said:

Has anyone gone through something similar? At what point do I say enough is enough? This is so tough.

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Hi, they can do bloodwork to help make sure she will be ok with anesthesia but you could also talk to them about doing either a very light anesthesia or just a sedative.  Hopefully none of it will be needed.

I went through something similar just last year around this time.  I'm not saying our situation is identical or if it is even the same problem.  But my kitty Gracie sounded like she was getting a kitty cold last April.  It was an odd sounding cough which sounded more like there was phlegm in the back of her throat rather than in her nose.  She had suprasternal retractions and a very snorty sounding respirations.  After many rounds of dexamethasone, asthma meds,  and antibiotics without one single culture done (despite that I asked for it over and over)  the vets kept saying they wanted to do an MRI and a lumbar puncture, but they said if they found the cause it probably would not be treatable (i.e.: cancer or chronic viral sinusitis).  I elected not to do either.  She started bleeding from her nose occasionally about a week or 2 after the antibiotics started, but she didn't bleed all the time.  None of what they gave her made her any better except for the Azithromycin, but only then for 2 days was she seemingly symptom free.  Then the difficulty breathing came right back. 

I had her put to sleep in July last year because she kept getting worse, despite trip after trip to vets and one specialist.  They couldn't help her.  I'm not convinced they were even trying.  I'm sorry.  I hope this isn't true for your kitty as there may be many differences in her situation.  Gracie was 14 years old, estimated.  

StephenQ said:

 
Hi, they can do bloodwork to help make sure she will be ok with anesthesia but you could also talk to them about doing either a very light anesthesia or just a sedative.  Hopefully none of it will be needed.

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I will definitely ask the vet about that. To just know what's causing this would give us piece of mind.

I think my husband and I have decided that when she stops eating and drinking we'll "know" - it's just so hard because they can't tell us what's wrong and if they're in pain...the last thing I'd ever want to see is her suffer.

Ginny said:

 
I had her put to sleep in July last year because she kept getting worse, despite trip after trip to vets and one specialist.  They couldn't help her.  I'm not convinced they were even trying.  I'm sorry.  I hope this isn't true for your kitty as there may be many differences in her situation.  Gracie was 14 years old, estimated.  

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I think you made the right decision when things started to get worse for Gracie. I'm sorry you had to go through that with your kitty. They have given her amoxicillin for the possible infection she has. The nose bleeds have slowed, but haven't stopped completely.