We’re still struggling with the heartbreaking loss of Mr. Pink, but on a more upbeat note, there’s Charlie. Recently, finder/rescue friend Laura Garcia connected with us looking for guidance with Charlie, a handsome ginger with chronic sinus issues. Charlie sounded like he was snoring 24/7 and treatment with antibiotics and steroids yielded no results.
Mama Garcia was undeterred and after another vet quoted her $2,000+ for a CT scan and $5,000+ for follow-up surgery, she did what any crazy cat mom would do and probed deep into YouTube for answers. After a few hours of cat videos, Laura stumbled upon a two-minute clip by a vet in Maryland on nasopharyngeal polyp removal in cats. She forwarded me the link, “What do you think?”
I’ll invest two minutes in pretty much anything, and after watching the video, I presented the link to our fave vets and asked, “What do you make of this?” If I had 40+ years of veterinary experience, I’d brush me off, but our vets are more tolerant of my amateurish folly and thought the video had merit. I told Mama Laura to box Charlie up and bring him in.
Two days ago, we dropped Charlie off for treatment and held our breath for the result. A few hours later, I received a text photo of the polyp and the understated exchange:
“Polyp”
“Did it come out like in the video?”
“Yes. Exactly”
“Wow!”
“What a video…”
I forwarded the amazing news to Laura—“Oh my god!”—who headed over to pick Charlie up before closing. While they might not show it, both vets were giddy with the result and had already contacted another client with a cat struggling with a similar issue. $5,000+ of surgery with limited upside avoided and vets with 85 years of experience high-fiving themselves because Laura Garcia is awesome at YouTube and sucks at quitting. Charlie.
