Having a pet dog comes with a myriad of joys and responsibilities. For those of us who take our roles as pet owners seriously, it’s important to understand the nuances of our dog’s health and overall wellbeing. One of the most common questions pet owners ask themselves is “Is it normal for dogs to have boogers?”.
It’s normal for pet owners to feel concerned if they notice their beloved pup has boogers or other mucous-like discharge from their eyes, nose, or other areas. After all, when our pets display any sign of illness, it’s natural to be concerned and to jump into action to make sure our furry friends are receiving the best care. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of boogers in dogs, what causes them, and how to best care for your pup if they’re displaying signs of having them.
How to Stop a Dogâs Nosebleed
Numerous factors, including allergies, infections, foreign objects in the nose, polyps, and bleeding disorders, can cause nosebleeds in dogs when they sneeze. In the short term, you’ll want to try and stop the bleeding even though ultimately you’ll need to figure out what’s causing your dog’s nosebleed. To do that:
Common Causes and Treatments of Nose Discharge in Dogs
In general, you shouldn’t be concerned about clear nasal discharge in dogs unless it persists or other symptoms are present. But cloudy, yellow, green, or odorous discharge is always cause for concern. When in doubt, talk to your vet.
Here are some common causes of nose discharge in dogs:
Allergies. If theres a clear nasal discharge from your dogs nose, chances are good its caused by allergies, by far the most common reason for abnormal nasal secretions in dogs.
Just like people, dogs can be allergic to pollens, foods, drugs, mites, spores, and chemicals. They can even be allergic to human dander (our shed skin). A dogs allergy symptoms dont stop at a runny nose; they can also include sneezing, coughing, itchiness, nosebleeds, eye discharge, and breathing problems.
Avoiding the allergy trigger is the best way to treat allergies, but that can be hard to do, especially if you dont know whats behind your dogs symptoms. Talk to your vet, who may suggest an allergy test and/or treatment with drugs that include antihistamines, immunosuppressants, steroids, and biologicals.
A blockage. A single discharge from your dog’s nostril, such as a seed or blade of grass, is frequently an indication that something is lodged there. Other signs include sneezing, pawing at the nose, and nosebleeds.
Use tweezers to carefully remove anything in your dog’s nose if you can see it clearly. Call your veterinarian if you’re uncomfortable because minor trauma can cause the nose to bleed profusely. Your veterinarian may need to sedate your pet in order to remove the obstruction before prescribing antibiotics to prevent infection.
Infection. A nose discharge of mucus or pus could indicate your dog has a bacterial, fungal, or viral infection. Additional signs of an infection might include a bad odor, a nosebleed, and coughing or choking resulting from post-nasal drip.
Treatment depends on the cause. For a bacterial infection your vet may prescribe several weeks of antibiotics. Fungal infections usually require special treatments using antifungal drugs. Surgery may be necessary if your dog has chronic infections.
Polyps and tumors.Blood, pus, or mucus can be a sign that your dog has nasal polyps (overgrown mucus-producing glands) or nasal tumors. Other signs include noisy breathing or a bulge on one side of the nose. Your petâs appetite may decrease, as well.
Treatment for polyps usually involves surgery. Because polyps tend to reappear, additional treatment might be necessary. Treatment options for nasal tumors are variable. Benign tumors may be removed with surgery. Cancerous ones are usually managed with radiation since surgical removal is rarely successful. Sadly, the prognosis for cancerous nasal tumors is generally poor.
Nostril problems. Some breeds of dogs, such as those with flat faces and those with soft, floppy nose cartilage, are simply more prone to nasal discharge than others. Another symptom of problems with the nostrils like these is noisy breathing.
Dogs with small nostrils and those with cartilage issues may occasionally require surgery. Surgery is often delayed until the dog is an adult.
Distemper. In addition to the sticky, yellow discharge from the nose that can be caused by distemper in dogs, other symptoms that can occur include fever, pneumonia, twitching, and convulsions.
Treatment for distemper depends on the symptoms, and can include anticonvulsants, antibiotics, sedatives, and painkillers. You can prevent distemper by getting puppies vaccinated three times between the ages of 8 to 16 weeks — and vaccinating breeding females several weeks before mating.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Nosebleeds can be one sign of this bacterial disease, which is transmitted by infected ticks. Other signs include high fever, lethargy, coughing, inflammation of the eyes, and pain.
Treatment may include several weeks of antibiotics. To avoid contracting this dangerous illness, use anti-tick products and minimize tick exposure.
Cleft palate or fistula. If your dog has nose discharge after it eats, it could be the sign of a cleft palate (when the two sides of your dogs palate dont fuse) or an oral-nasal fistula (a hole between the nose and mouth, sometimes caused by tooth decay, injury, infection, or surgery).
The most common form of treatment for oral-nasal fistulas and cleft palates is surgery.
Find food that fits your pet’s needs
If you Googled “My dogs eye is goopy” after noticing gunk in your dog’s eye, you are not alone. Dog eye discharge is a common issue that affects our canine friends, particularly small dog breeds. From minor, transient conditions like allergies to serious conditions like glaucoma that can result in blindness, there are many different causes of a dog’s goopy eye. Here are some tips for cleaning eye sludge and when to be concerned. A vet visit may be a crucial next step if your dog has significant eye discharge because dogs with short faces and bulging eyes are more susceptible to eye diseases and/or trauma.
Tears keep eyes healthy because they clean the surface of the eyes and nourish, hydrate, and oxygenate the outer layers of the eyes. Tears are produced by tear glands in a healthy eye, wash over the eye to hydrate it and clean it, and then drain out of tear ducts at the inner corner of the eye.
Sometimes, debris known as eye gunk, goop, boogers, or crusts will gather in the corner of the eye. It’s common to see a small amount of light brown crusts in the morning, shortly after a dog awakens. Your dog’s eyes should be clear, open, and discharge-free for the remainder of the day even though they have roughly the same amount of this eye crust each day. Call your veterinarian if you notice a change in your dog’s eye discharge, swollen, red eyes, or squinting.