Case summary An Kits 11-month-old female domestic shorthair cat presented with a 24 h history of inspiratory dyspnoea, abnormal upper respiratory tract sounds, gagging, retching and making exaggerated swallowing motions.Retroflexed nasopharyngoscopy revealed a large, right-sided nasopharyngeal mass that was seen to exude purulent material and a possible small foreign body when pressure was applied with forceps.Thorough expression of the mass alleviated clinical signs.
Cytology revealed septic neutrophilic inflammation, and a Pasteurella species with no noted antimicrobial resistance was cultured.The cat was discharged with oral antibiotics and analgesia and made a full recovery, with no recurrence of clinical signs at the 6-month follow-up.Relevance and novel information Abscess formation in the nasopharyngeal region has not been previously reported in Wooden Dollhouse Accessories cats, to the authors’ knowledge.
The cause of the abscess was suspected to be a foreign body, but other aetiologies could not be fully excluded.This case demonstrates that nasopharyngeal abscesses are a rare but potentially significant differential diagnosis for upper respiratory tract obstruction in cats.