Two bleeding noses, now nasal/snout problems. Advice, please!

Hello friends, this is actually my first post to this forum. My wife and I are looking for some advice and opinions.

We have a Scottish Terrier, his name is Fergus, and he is 6 years old. We have had in since a puppy.

Two months ago, while on a road trip, we noticed Fergus was having a bleeding nose. It was odd, so we stopped at the next gas station, wiped him up, held tissue to his nose, and it eventually stopped. We just chalked it up to dry air, and didn't think anything of it.

About 3 weeks ago, my wife and I were kept awake all night by Fergus being restless, sneezing/snorting, and licking. During the night we didn't think much of it, thinking it was maybe a cold bug or allergies maybe. In the morning when we were getting out of bed, and the light were on, we saw blood all over his dog bed, and splatters of blood on the wall from the sneezing and snorting. His nose was still bleeding. I immediately made a vet appointment for that morning at 11am. By then, his nose was just lightly bleeding.

After some poking and prodding by the vet, she was a little puzzled, but suspected it to likely be snout cancer. She said she could do an X-ray, but it will likely show nothing, so she referred Fergus to a specialist as a CT scan would need to be done.

After this first vet appointment, the bleeding nose had stopped. But now his breathing has become heavy, he's constantly snorting, snoring, and sneezing all day, keeping himself awake. Obviously uncomfortable.

The specialist appointment came. This vet also suspected cancer of the snout, or a fungal infection. But the only way to know exactly what is going on inside the snout is to do a CT scan.

Two weeks have passed since the specialist appointment. His snorting, sneezing, snoring and breathing is still bad and heart breaking.

The CT scan would cost $3300. If it is snout cancer, treatment would be 10-20k. A fungal infection treatment would be 2-5k.

We have decided that we are going to do the CT scan as decided we would feel awful not ever figuring out what is wrong with him if we decided to put him down. We know we can't afford the treatment if it is a Tumor.

So, after all this, I guess I am seeking and advice or opinions of things that could have been overlooked?

Other than the sneezing, snorting, and snoring, he's still playful, and gets excited. Some days are so bad, that we feel like putting him down is what needs to happen, but then after that, he's a bit better.

Sigh.

It might be a foreign object stuck up his nose the ct scan would show this but if it shows no foreign object up there then it sounds like your vets diagnosis is unfortunately right.

I hope it is a simple removal of a foreign object after the scan is done.
I think its a good idea to have the scan done so you know if it is something that can be managed or better still cured and if not you know you could of done of done no more Fergus.

Wishing Fergus and you all the best and for a happy outcome.

I am sorry to say that this sounds like aspergilliosis. My collie had it and sadly there isn't a cure for it but they could try a fungicidal wash. To be perfectly honest I did lose her after many treatments. I miss her terribly but to give her peace I let her go. She was only 4 years old. Ask your vet if this could be the problem. So so sorry your poor dog is having this problem.

Unfortunately I have had experience of a nasal tumour. Is Fergus having trouble eating? That was the first sign anything was wrong for us before the bleeding started.

Will keep everything crossed it is not a tumour and can be treated.

That was the name I was trying to think of brenda. It was suspected my Ollie had it. Testing and treatment is not pleasant and with vet advice we decided not to test as there were so many other problems anyway.

Thank you for the responses everyone.

To answer the questions about eating and drinking, his eat and drinking routine seems to be normal. His energy doesn't seem to be off either.

In April, I lost my 14 year old lurcher due to nasal cancer. She was also still full of life when outdoors, but indoors, the snorting and thick nasal discharge was causing her real problems, which not helped by pre-existing heart/lung disease. I had the xray and scan done, but when the vet phoned to say there was a mass which was almost certainIy malignant, I decided to let her go without regaining consciousness.

I hope this might help you to decide what to do, and wish Fergus a happier outcome than Tweed's case.

My boy had cancer in his snout too. He would kinda wheeze when breathing and his nose wasn't moist like it was supposed to be. Upon realizing what at was, which was a squamous mast cell carcinoma or something fancy like that (this was years ago and I can barely remember what the vet said) at over 15 years of age... he was sadly put down the same day. I hope it's not a tumor.