Oh Poop!

AP here:
I am very happy to report that there have been no nosebleeds for the past 3 days. I am not so happy to report that the other end of the Tonka has been emptying it's contents profusely. He started with diarrhea yesterday and it continued on into today. he got me up at 1:30 then again at 3:30 to go out and then one last time at 4:00. The 4:00 woke me up and I basically just stayed up because I was not sure which end of him a large clump of hair actually came out of. It was centered in a puddle of rust colored liquid. Rust colored or dark brown vomit is not a good sign and usually indicates blood from an ulcer. Prednisone and NSAIDs can cause this and since he is on a steroid drop for his eye and nose I was concerned. Not being 100% sure of where it came from I bagged it and stayed up with him and monitored him for any signs of distress until the vet opened. His breathing and heart rate where normal and his gums and capillary reflex were fine so I didn't want to drag him out to the emergency vet unless he either showed signs of stress or we had another episode. Now his vet is only open on Sundays for emergencies and I respect that and he was not in any obvious distress. Of course in my mind suspected vomiting of blood with a huge hairball that could be part of a larger obstruction is an emergency. So I was at their doorstep with the sample bag when they opened this morning but they were really busy. Their phone was ringing off the hook and we did not have an appointment so... off we went.
Since my first concern was for Tonka I went up the road to the emergency clinic which I should have just done at 4:00 in the morning. We saw Dr. Coles at Anne Arundel Veterinary Emergency Clinic http://www.aavec.com/ and she was great. I had to give her the whole history and she took the sample and came back to tell me it was not vomit which was a great relief. She told me that the amount of steroid he is on for his nose and eyes would not be enough to cause stomach bleeding. The hairball is most likely from him licking his paws to clean off the blood for the 3 days last week. I showed her his youtube video of him romping at the beach last weekend and she also told me that sand can cause stomach upset and diarrhea. We started Metronidazole today so the hind end of him should be fine within 24 hours and now I need to go take a nap