9 Dec 2021
Staff at Linnaeus-owned My Vet in Lucan, County Dublin, found issue stemmed from an aggressive infection of nasal passages, sinuses and lymph nodes.
Joshua Silverwood
Job Title
Simba pictured following his treatment.
A young Rottweiler-cross that suffered from “the worst example” of nosebleeds a vet had ever seen has been treated by staff at a County Dublin practice.
Two-year-old Simba was brought into My Vet in Lucan, suffering from extreme nosebleeds stemming from an aggressive infection of his nasal passages, sinuses and lymph nodes.
Staff at the Linnaeus-owned practice used a CT scan to reveal that Simba’s condition was caused by the Aspergillus fungus.
Imaging vet Rosie Ellis said: “Simba came to My Vet after repeated episodes of epistaxis (nosebleeds) over the previous six months.
“In that time, he had undergone three rhinoscopies followed with nasal flushes, which had always improved the situation temporarily, but the epistaxis had ultimately returned.
“When I first saw Simba, his epistaxis was severe and partially bilateral on presentation. He was tachycardic, hyperthermic and reasonably pale.”
She added: “His blood count also showed he was suffering from mild anaemia and there were obvious signs of infection, mostly likely a bacterial infection.”
Simba underwent trephination, where small holes were drilled into the sinuses and a flush was performed to clear out the nasal passages.
An antifungal medication was then instilled into the sinuses through the same holes to counter the bacterial infection.
Dr Ellis said: “Aspergillus is an infection that destroys the intricate, bony nasal turbinates and can cause sclerosis of the bones that make up the walls of the nasal cavity.
“It was the worst case I have ever seen and I have encountered many cases of aspergillosis in dogs, but never with such a substantially bad epistaxis.“
