Originally Posted by Medusa
I'm no expert but I can tell you this about polyps, at least if it's an ear polyp that has grown down into the throat: my Yodie Yodie had one and it grew in both directions, out her ear and down into her throat and it was strangling her. My vet lasered it and out of pure instinct, gave it a little tug. Later he read in one of his vet medical journals that that's what they're telling them to do now. And it's been over two years and the polyp has never grown back, which is unusual because they usually start to grow back immediately. As he expressed it "You have to get the head, not just the tail" meaning, of course, not that it's alive but that it will continue to grow unless you get the entire polyp out. If left untreated, a polyp can grow into the brain or behind the eye, down into the throat, wherever. Sometimes a bulaosteotomy is called for, where the vet opens the jaw and scrapes out the polyp. And still there's no guarantee that it won't grow back. (I told my vet 'no' to that one because Yodie was so thin and weak and the recovery is worse than the surgery.) I look at it this way: Yodie has had two good years and she's still going strong. If the polyp does grow back, I'll have it lasered again since it will have taken so long to show itself again. She lost so much weight that you could see all of her bones even in her face. By the time I rescued her, I was afraid it was a lost cause. But now she's actually chubby. And she can meow; she couldn't do that before. She loves the sound of her own voice and she meows when walking down the stairs. It's hilarious! I'm not trying to scare you, just hoping to prepare you for what you might face. It sounds scary but a polyp can be handled if done early on.
