Cat is sneezing blood from his nostral everyday and right eye bleeding. Vet did tests and said nothi

Bartholomew has sneezed and had sneezing fits since he was a kitten. The vet always said he was fine. Now he still sneezes a ton everyday at 5 years old and now its bloody everyday. Today his eye mucus just started to contain blood and I'm worried and he sneezed up thick dark grey matter, looked like chicken! The vet ran blood tests and examined him and found nothing wrong but something must be! Help!

ask about fungal infection. i think they have to scope inside the nasal passages. there may be a blood test too..been a long time since I read about it but a friend of mine her kitty got a fungal infection and had to take meds for 3 months or so?

Hi and welcome!  I'm sorry for the reason that brings you though.  It sure sounds like he's allergic to something.  

A few questions:  What does he eat?  What kind of litter do you use?  And when did the bleeding start? 

Did your vet suggest any tests to explore what's going on?  If not, I'd recommend you look for another vet.  You're absolutely right when you say something must be going on.  I don't know what it could be, but bloody sneezes and nostrils are not something to just shrug off. 

Thank you for your responses! He eats Purina Indoor Cat and uses Fresh Step Multi cat litter. The bleeding started roughly 2 months ago. I brought him to my lifelong vet and paid $400 for them to examine him and do every blood test. They were baffled. He shows no other symptoms but bloody sneezes and currently bloody eye discharge. The sent me away with some vitamins to help with clotting but it didn't help :/  I also hate to bring him in again before I know an idea of something else because even though he's a very mellow cat at home- all hell breaks loose at the vet and they need to sedate him to even touch him. Its very traumatic for him.  But when I came home to a bloody counter top and thick crazy discharge I knew I needed to do something!

I haven't heard of a fungal infection, I'll have to explore that - thank you!

Also I have tried switching his food, litter, etc to see if it was an allergy.... nothing. Also I bought an humidifier in case it was dry air, still nothing.

I would switch to grain-free wet food, slowly, if he's a carbo-holic like my kitties.  

Make sure meat is the first ingredient and that there is no corn or wheat or eggs or soy.  Those things are hyperallergenic.  I would just switch one thing at a time to see what helps.

 I have a sneezy boy too and he has one eye that drains at times.  It's been checked so many times before, but no answers.  I've switched to grain-free food and to plain unscented litter.  He sneezes a lot less than he did before, but he does still sneeze some, after all those changes.  

Heavily scented litters are not good for a sensitive and now raw nose.  I'd start slowly changing one thing at a time though and see how he does.  When you introduce a new food you must go slow.  Put a tiny bit by the side of his regular food, or mix a small bit with a small amount of the regular so he can sample it.  With the litter, same thing, put a small amount - roughly 1/4 the amount in the whole box at the bottom underneath the litter he is used to.  But don't do both switches at the same time.  Cats don't like change!  

Has he been on antibiotics ever?  Is he on any medication at all right now?  Like steroids?

Have they done an imaging test, like an ultrasound?  He really is a handsome fellow, by the way.  I love his expression - one of long-suffering patience at being photographed.  

Also, is he strictly indoor?  Or does he go out some during the day?  If he's only indoors, could there be something he's always been exposed to that he could be allergic to?  Since he's had this since he was a kitten, I'm wondering if it's the feline herpes virus.  I think that's what Nat has, although he's never been diagnosed with it.  
 

I'd still switch his food and litter regardless because that can only help him.  You might, if you can afford it, buy him Dr. Elsey's Respiratory Cat Litter.  It's very low dust, unscented and highly recommended for any cat with chronic respiratory issues.  

Back to the herpes virus.  There are some who say to treat flare-ups with L-lysine, but then I heard that it's not recommended also.  I don't recall the reason why it was not recommended though.  Can anyone else comment on this, please?

haha! He knows by now I'm gonna take a pic no matter what the cost so he just stares with those "just do it" eyes 

Those are all great suggestions, Ginny. I have never tried him on wet food (besides his celebratory fancy feast treat)  so I will give those changes a try and work it in slowly! Same with the litter, great suggestions! I'll try anything at this point. And no medications at all, never had antibiotics.

They have not done any imaging tests. They have only poked/ proded/ shined lights up his nose and mouth but saw nothing. I figured he might have some sort of blockage so it surprised me they saw nothing.

I also wanted to ask about diagnostic imaging - xray, ultrasound, mri. It seems to me something like that should be done.

Does he go outside?

Is Bartholomew displaying any kind of unusual behavioral or neurological symptoms (i.e, aggressiveness, unstable on his feet, swaying, missing his jumps, etc.).?

Worse case scenario, I'd be worried about something inside that is causing pressure and bleeding (i.e, tumor).

He is strictly indoors, I'm on a top floor apartment. We have moved twice and his sneezing is the same at both places but his bleeding happened to have started at my current apartment, but nothing is around that I can think of that would trigger him.

He isn't displaying any other symptoms which is why it's so tough to find out what's wrong. He's at a healthy weight, great eating habits and playful. Its very frustrating to see him bleeding.

My thoughts were a tumor as well but the vet didn't seem too concerned at all about that. We go to the best vet in the area, the others are smaller emergency vets. So it's tough when I feel like they are dismissing him :/

If they are dismissing him rather than trying to help you search for a cause, I'd definitely get a 2nd opinion.  But not just any opinion.  Do some research so you can feel good about where you take him.  Does your state have a Vet. School close by you (like in my state would be NCState or there's one in Charlotte)?  Or if there's an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist?  That means more diagnostic testing and it will be more expensive than just labs, but if you can afford it, that would be the next step to find out what's going on.  

I work in a veterinary specialty practice and would highly recommend getting an appointment with an internal medicine specialist. They will likely recommend a rhinoscopy to look for a polyp and do fungal culture and take tissue samples. If this has been going on for the kitty's entire life, I would do it asap so no further damage is done to sinus, turbinates, as what ever it is, is obviously becoming more invasive. I am no vet, but that is what I would do. Keep us posted on Bartholomew please and good luck!

pgalore said:

What ever happened to Bartholomew? Did you find a new vet? You need to. I hope you took my advise on a rhinoscopy. If there is something in sinus, it could do a lot of damage if not addressed, even if symptoms have temporarily subsided or antibiotics helped. I would not take a "lets keep an eye on it" approach. That could cost your beloved Bartholomew his life. Just saying, not trying to be debbie downer.(No offense Debbies)

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We did take Bartholomew to a new vet. They found that his nasal cavity was completely destroyed and he had a very aggressive form of cancer. They said he has probably had this since birth but it was just now presenting itself in such a grave manner and he had put a brave face on for so long. They recommended we put him to sleep since he was in a great deal of pain and was suffering. It was utterly heartbreaking as he was our boy. To this day, the vet that treated him has a sample of Bartholomew's tumor in a case on their desk and studies it. It was heartbreaking to them as well. I just thought I'd write a overdue update as to help anyone else to experiences a cat with these symptoms. Thank you for your help.

L lpyper33 thank you for letting us know.
The TCS team would like you to know that we are so very sorry for your loss. You did your very best for your boy.
Threads are locked after someone has suffered such a loss, as a sign of respect. We invite you to place a tribute at our Crossing the Bridge forum as an enduring testimony to your friend.

RIP beautiful Bartholomew


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