By Dr. Michael Bassett, Medical Director
I recently saw a 14-year old domestic short hair cat named Noel who was having a difficult time with a worsening cough/gag that occasionally caused her to vomit. Her nasal passages seemed to be clogged. I had a suspicion that it may be an oral-nasal polyp. This is a well-documented occasional condition that arises from a polyp originating in the tympanic bull located beneath the ear canal. Dr. Augustine and I were able to visualize a soft tissue mass protruding from the eardrum.
The next day Dr. Augustine performed a surgery called a bulla osteotomy to remove the polyp through an opening that she made in the bony structure under and to the inside of the ear canal . The elongated mass extended into the ear canal and up the eustacean tube into the oronasal pharynx. After a successful recovery from the surgery, Noel went home a happy kitty with no more gagging or vomiting. This was likely a painful condition and in less than an hour it was resolved. It’s cases like Noel’s that make our work so rewarding!