Hello all,
Writing in with an agonizing and drawn out struggle with my cat Petra..

I rescued a feral kitten in 2022 who developed cryptococcosis the following year – confirmed through a biopsy.
She has the cutaneous and nasal form, and while we tried itraconazole for a few months, it did devastating damage to her nose.
Vet switched her to fluconazole 37.5 mg (at that time my cat was just over year old and weighed 3.5 kg) once a day… and the symptom relief was remarkable!
Within a month, her nose was much less inflamed and starting to look “relatively normal” again, and best part was she was no longer having difficulty breathing, no stertor or mouth open.
Her many crusty skin lesions and nodules under the skin cleared up miraculously!

But, the success was short-lived, because a couple of months later she developed a big bulge on her abdomen/side under the skin – which eventually erupted. She had had several of these nodules and lumps, that ulcerated last year but the fluconazole seemed to clear them all up. Until now. I was so disheartened, to say the least.
The crater-like ulcer got infected and our vet (RCVS licensed in UK) decided surgery was the best option.
We did this, and the vet found more ulcers which needed to be removed to patch up the skin. It was a horrific looking surgery aftermath when she came home.

Petra required to wear a cone for 3 weeks after her surgery so she couldn’t touch her healing wound. It got infected anyway, and this increased her “cone suffering” duration.
The impact of many vet visits, surgery, and follow ups while the vet checked if the wound was healing and if the stitches could be removed, was quite an ordeal for Petra.
She gets very stressed and is difficult to put in a carrier. I feel that the stress of cone duration + all the vet trips triggered an inflammatory response in her and her nose started showing signs of the fungus again. Inflammation, distortion and worst of all the stertor was back.

The vet increased her fluconazole dose to 75 mg a day (37.5 mg morning, 37.5 mg evening). This had no noticeable effect and her nose got more inflamed as each day went by. 2 months later and her nose is worse than ever and the tip is so inflamed. With the loss of scent and ability to breathe sufficiently, she’s become reluctant to eat more than half a tin of food a day. Sometimes all she will eat is half a tablespoon and then runs off, upset.

Petra’s vet wants to put her on a maximum dose of 150 mg of fluconazole, daily, before assessing her quality of life and potential euthanasia.
I decided to try homeopathic remedies first, while continuing 75 mg a day of fluconazole) but it doesn’t appear to be helping 3 weeks in.

I’m concerned about continuing vet interventions, because Petra is so stressed by them, and at 150 mg a day she will need to see the vet frequently and likely need blood tests. At 150 mg a day, it’s also a non sustainable chunk of my monthly expenses (taken from diminishing savings), and she is not my only cat or responsibility… this could go on for years..

If she has no positive response (symptoms relief) at 150 mg, the vet is out of ideas other than euthanasia. I live in Bahrain and the options for treating this fungus are very limited.
They have not seen it in over 40 years of vet practice, so this is a first time.

I love Petra and it’s been hell witnessing her struggle to breathe for over a year. That’s what makes me panicky and consider quality of life, if she cannot be cured or brought to a level of management where the fungus doesn’t impede her breathing.

I need advice from a community of animal lovers, vets, who can also understand and take into consideration her temperament and adverse reaction (inflammation) to vet visits.

I was really hoping the homeopathic medicine would help and the practitioner I found has many years of successes working with animals. It’s either the wrong remedy, or just going to take a long time. In the meantime, in my opinion, my cat is suffering and struggling. She takes gasps of air every so often and her mouth is slightly open while she makes a snoring sound as she tries to breathe through her blocked airway. She has lost weight as she eats much less now. She was 4.7 kg in April before her surgery. At the beginning of June she was 4.5 kg and now she is closer to 4 kg.
Also within the last 2 months, her eyes have gotten affected by the nodules. One above her right eye, under the skin and affecting the bone. The other is in her left lower eyelid.
During this whole ordeal, her right lymph node under her jaw has been the size of a golf ball.. and the left one also swelled up a few months later. But that side seems to have gone down.

Any help or advice on what to do.. would be very much appreciated.

Pics from most recent (today June 3rd 2024) to last year before fluconazole and way before, late 2022, when she was a kitten.

Hi Dr. Magnifico,

Our adopted cat (former stray cat, now 100% indoor) has always shown all of the signs of a nasopharyngeal polyp (about 4 years now). I didn’t know what it was until I saw videos of cats with similar breathing noises and eventually saw your YouTube polypectomy videos.

Three short videos of his breathing sounds (turn up your volume) follow:

Called our vet for a surgeon referral, but they’ll only refer for a CT scan ($2000) before they’ll refer to a surgeon. Surgeon’s websites all indicate that they will only accept appointments by referral from a general Vet, so I can’t just make an appointment for examination by a surgeon (which I’m happy to pay for).

Bottom line, looking for a second-opinion / consult (happy to pay!) on whether it’s really necessary to do a $2000 CT scan *before* being referred to a surgeon for (a probably $2000) surgery. I’d rather just have a surgeon put the cat under anesthesia, go in, look for the polyp, and remove it if they see one. Happy to pay $2000 for just that surgery, even if it turns out there’s no polyp.

Thank you in advance for any response.

Seeking Diagnosis/Treatment for Possible Nasopharyngeal Polyp in Cat

Our 5#, 18 mo old cat has been having breathing difficulty for about 6 months. We’ve been to two “regular” vets and one specialty vet. The “regular” vets have done chest x-rays and bloodwork trying to diagnose. We’ve been on multiple rounds of antibiotics, several steroid shots, and a few breathing treatments. The first vet suspected asthma, but none of the meds worked. The second vet suspected lung infection, but again, none of the meds caused any improvement. The cat is acting fine, eating and eliminating normally. No nasal discharge. Sounds like she’s snoring all the time.

We saw a specialist today. She determined that the cat isn’t able to breathe thru her nose much, if at all. We are waiting on lab results for a fungal infection. The next step she suggested would be for CT scan and rhinoscopy to check for foreign body, polyp, or other physical abnormality. I’m ok with sedated imaging, but their estimated cost for that is $4,000. I called MS State University Vet Clinic, and their estimate was also in that range. We’ve already spent hundreds trying to diagnose and treat this. I’m ok with spending more but not $4,000.

Can anyone suggest a vet in the Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi region that we can try?

Please help my rescue kitty with a polyp in his pharynx!

I recently took in a rescue kitty. He was treated for upper respiratory infection. However, it keeps returning and he always sounds like he is snoring. The vet he was seeing suspects a polyp. However, he isn’t able to remove it. I can’t afford to take him to specialist. Please help! I will travel to you to have him seen.

We have a very sassy beautiful 12 year old orange female tabby named Nala. She has been perfectly healthy until about a year ago when she started to sneeze a lot (that rapid-fire sneezing that cats do) and she started to make a snoring sound when she breathes. We initially thought it was just allergies but it didn’t get any better after several months. We took her to the vet and he diagnosed her with herpes and prescribed Chlorpheniramine 4mg crushed in her food. I’ve been giving her this for at least 6 months now and she has not improved. The sneezing has decreased, but the “snoring” has not improved at all. Searching online, we found a video of Dr. Magnifico performing surgery on a cat that had a nasal polyp and we are wondering if this may be what she has. The symptoms all seem to be the same as what she has been dealing with. So we’ve been searching for a vet in our area that performs this type of exam and surgery, and we have found this to be very expensive ($2000-$5000). She is otherwise a very healthy girl, she eats, drinks, uses litterbox and plays and snuggles all like normal. She has lost weight, but now seems to be putting it back on slowly. Dr. Magnifico’s office is only about an hour away and we would absolutely drive down to be able to have her exam Nala and if it is a reasonable price, have her remove the polyp if this was the diagnosis.

I have an 11-year old female domestic shorthair cat (Nala) who has been very healthy until around springtime last year when she started to develop a snorty sound when breathing and rapid sneezing fits. We figured it was maybe allergies at the time, as ours were really bad too. But it kept lingering and we finally asked our vet and he was reluctant to do a full exam on her because of the expense, and he also diagnosed her as having herpes, and prescribed Chlorpheniramine 4mg and Duralactin paste 2.5ml for her. I give her a 1/4 of the pill crushed in her canned food once a day, but the paste makes her sick. I have been giving her the pill for about 3 months now with zero improvement. I have been doing a lot of research, and the closest thing I could find that matches what she is dealing with is a video I found of Dr. Magnifico performing surgery on a cat for a nasal polyp. The description she gave completely matches what Nala sounds like with the snoring sounds when breathing and the constant sounds of trying to clear her throat. She has lost a lot of weight because I think it’s difficult for her to eat a lot but otherwise she acts like nothing is wrong, she is very playful, and also eats (best she can) and drinks normally, and litterbox habits are still great. My question is if this diagnosis sound like it could be correct, and if so, is this something that could possibly be fixed without breaking budget?

Hello everyone,

I have a 3-year-old cat with a polyp. I’m not sure where the polyp is located since the x-rays/MRI scan cost 1k. I’ve joined groups on Facebook to find any clinics to remove the polyp. VCA quoted me 4-7k which doesn’t include any kind of scans and most local veterinarians only remove polyp if they can physically see it.

I really need any help trying to find any clinic in the US. I’m willing to travel but for a reasonable price. I’m a college student living on my own with many expenses and it’s truly upsetting seeing my little guy go through this. I can hear him snoring and couching. I believe the polyp is located in his throat and nose.

Please please help me out!!!

Hi,
For about 3 months now, our 9 year old cat, Wheezy, has been making strange noises when she breathes that are similar to snoring or sounding just really congested. We took her to the vet and determined that her lungs are fine and she doesn’t have an upper respiratory infection. We believed it was possible for it to be a polyp.

I found the video about Stripes, by Dr. Kristina Magnifico, and I would be willing to bet that Wheezy also has a polyp on her throat. However, like Stripes’ owners, our usual vet gave us an estimate of close to $1200 for all the procedures to check for a polyp and remove it (some of them seemed unnecessary for this process). We cannot afford a cost like this and if there is a simpler way to go about this like in Dr. Magnifico’s video then we need to go that route.

I also wanted to ask about another symptom Wheezy appears to have where there’s a lot of fluid building up in her right eye. Not sure if this is any more evidence of a polyp or not. I’ll attach a picture.

Everything seems to have slowly gotten worse and she has a lost a VERY unhealthy amount of weight because she won’t eat, and I would guess she’s dehydrated as well. She has lost all her energy. Prior to this starting she was a very healthy indoor/outdoor cat.

If there is anybody in the area of Eastern Massachusetts that could recommend any where they’ve taken their animals that would be so helpful.

Thank you!

My cat bandit has trouble breathing and is wheezing and making snoring sounds when he is awake. He wont groom himself and sheds terribly. When we took him to the vet after their tests they concluded its probably polyps in his nose or throat and suggested a specialist who wants over a thousand dollars for a ”special” surgery but when i did some research online i watched a video of Dr. Krista Magnifico removing a polyp from a cat which took 3 mins and was 130$ total cost. I live in the Atlanta Ga, area and was hoping y’all had suggestions of somewhere close to me that can do the same wonderful, skillful job Dr. Magnifico performed for around the same price range. I know this problem is bothering my poor bandit and i just want him to be healthy and happy and i know getting this removed is the key.

My rescue cat is estimated to be about 3 years old. Pembroke has had breathing issues since I adopted him. It started with a URI which was treated successfully. But then the snoring started. He also shakes his head frequently and itches his ears. I had a full body x-ray as well as blood work done on him. I can visibly see a blockage in his left nostril but no vet in my area has been willing to figure it out without me going to a specialist for an endoscopy. However, this could just be nasal inflammation (according to 1/3 different vets I’ve gone to) because I was told based on the x-rays there is no growth. Am I crazy for wanting to try and get more answers before spending $2000 on an endoscopy? Ive already spent thousands on this little one and I’ve only had him for a few months. I’m in the Greater New Orleans area. I will attach his x-ray photos. He also has an abnormally large kidney but all of his blood and urine levels were fine. They recommend an abdominal ultrasound but I am trying to prioritize his breathing issues as this is hard to watch when he’s sleeping. He acts completely normal but when he is asleep it is apparent his breathing is difficult. I can also hear him do big swallow that sound like he has post nasal drip. He sneezes often but he never has any discharge/snot.