Meet Andy, our Pismo Beach Vet “Pet of the Week.”
Andy is a 7 year old neutered male, indoor/outdoor kitty who is normal in every other way except that he has been sneezing off and on for about a month. The sneezing suddenly progressed to violent sneezing and nose bleed the night before he was brought in to see us. He has a history of playing in the grass and Andy’s owners felt that a nasal foreign body was likely.
One sided nasal discharge and sneezing in cats can be caused by a number of things including bacterial, fungal, or viral infection, foreign body (especially foxtails), dental disease, cancer, and auto immune/allergic disease.
We admitted Andy and sedated him so that we could look up his nose using a small otoscope. We immediately located a large strand of grass and were able to easily remove it. We then flushed his nose to help clear out his nasal passages. This is probably one of the most dramatic nasal foreign bodies that we have seen at Pismo Beach Vet and underscores the importance of performing nasal exams in sneezing pets.
Andy is now doing great and is sneeze-free!
