Kaza's dry nose

[Tina Kinsley]

The vet wanted to do the same thing to my cat and I declined as well.
They want the biopsy to determine what type of inflammation is going on up there as well as to make sure there are no tumors etc. A good nasal culture is hard to get on a cat; they have very convoluted passages in their sinuses and if the cat is awake it's difficult to get a swab up there far enough.

I wonder if they could just culture what the cat sneezes out... As in, let you take a culturette home and swab it from the nasal discharge after she sneezes?

 

[KazNik]

Hi Tina,
Is your savannah well now? Did they find what caused the problems in the first place?
I don't really understand how her nose gets blocked because I don't hear her sneeze very often. But when she does it's 5 sneezes in a row and then nothing for the rest of the day. When I clean her nose, we always get some dry dark discharge from her nose so maybe they will be fine with that. Thank you.

 

[Tina Kinsley]

It's actually my Cornish Rex that has the issue.
He's had the problem for ten years now so if
The litter and raw diet don't change things, he will continue
to be a snotter. He's totally healthy. Good luck w your girl.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Wanting to do that procedure is pretty standard if cultures and basic antibiotics have not helped. I still think doing the PCR respiratory panel would be better before going there, it only requires a nasal swab.

But they may be right and need to put a camera up into the passages, and do that biopsy. It's only a tiny bit of flesh but can be useful information with a difficult case like this.

Often what comes out of the nose reflects more what is near the nasal opening than what is right up inside the nasal passages... if you then culture, the overgrowth will be the normal inhabitants near the nasal opening and you may miss the real culprit. It is the downside of cultures. Add to that, microbiologically speaking, we will only see the bacteria that easily grow... mostly the aerobic bacteria...the anaerobic ones will die on exposure to air and so will be missed. When they swab at the vet office during that procedure, they will be able to get the sample right up in the nasal passages and into culture media with a better chance at keeping those anaerobes alive.