Rabbit Nosebleeds: Causes & Urgent Veterinary Care

Nosebleeds (epistaxis) in rabbits are never normal and signal potentially serious underlying conditions. Seek veterinary care immediately.

Possible Causes

• Trauma: Fight injuries (rabbits are territorial), falls, blunt force to face, cage wire injuries.
• Foreign Body: Hay seed heads, bedding fragments, grass awns lodged in nasal passage.
• Respiratory Infection: Pasteurellosis ("snuffles"), Bordetella, pneumonia—inflammation erodes nasal mucosa/vessels.
• Dental Disease: Overgrown tooth roots (especially maxillary incisors/premolars) penetrate nasal cavity/sinuses → bleeding, infection.
• Neoplasia: Nasal adenocarcinoma, lymphoma—rare but serious, typically older rabbits.
• Coagulopathy: Rodenticide poisoning (anticoagulants), liver failure, genetic clotting disorders.
• Environmental: Dry air, irritant fumes (ammonia from urine, cleaning chemicals).

Treatment

Veterinarian will: stabilize (oxygen, warmth), control bleeding (topical epinephrine, cautery, packing), diagnose (rhinoscopy, CT, skull X-rays, dental exam, blood work), treat underlying cause (antibiotics, dental surgery, foreign body removal, oncology referral).

Untreated, many causes are fatal. Rabbits are obligate nasal breathers—nasal compromise is an emergency.