[Carol M]

You’re very welcome, Nancy! And thank you for your kind words! I wouldn’t wish this on anyone but it is good to know we’re not alone in this.

The nutritionist said that Royal Canin is “the best food available” – it’s prescription only too. I’m pretty sure there are no by-products in Royal Canin so that’s a big plus. It looks more like regular dog food too; I don’t like the look or consistency of the I/D – I put her rutin pills in the food & make a meatball and the I/D is too stiff & crumbly to do it (and frankly, it just grosses me out; I know it’s rice mixed in but it looks nasty).

She had the chest surgery done at a specialist vet in NC; they see about 7 cases in a year but that’s filtered in from all over the area. They see more cases in cats & she said the outlook was much worse in cats. The surgeon had never put in a pleural port before so it was a learning experience for her too. There was another option of a peritoneal-pleural pump – a pump under the ribs that is supposed to move the fluid from the chest to the abdomen, where hopefully it would be absorbed into the body. But she felt it was uncomfortable for the dog (you’d have to press on the ribs several times a day) and there’d be no way to tell if it was working or not without xrays or ultrasound. It’s possible that the fluid would just accumulate in the abdomen.

The port she used is made by Norfolk Vet Products and they are wonderful to deal with – when you call, you actually speak with a human, not a machine (a rare thing). The link is: http://www.norfolkvetproducts.com/pleuralport.html – has all the info on the surgery and how to use the port on the site. You have to use a special needle – a Huber non-coring needle so it doesn’t damage the silicone covering of the port – and you can order them through Norfolk. I was a nervous wreck at first (and I’m more than a little squeamish so if I can do it, anyone can) but we’ve got it down to a routine now and my dog is very tolerant – lots of times her tail keeps wagging the whole time. It probably only takes about 15 minutes or so to drain the fluid, usually 1000cc or so each time (twice a week – yikes!). She is only 30 lbs so it’s an enormous amount of fluid for her size, and it probably weighs at least a couple lbs each time, no wonder the breathing is so affected.

The protein loss isn’t too bad at this point; her levels are low but not critically so. The other thing they check for is loss of electrolytes and that’s been fine so far.

There is a page on Facebook called “Chylothorax Cats” but I haven’t seen anything like it for dogs. They have a webpage too & info on herbal & holistic treatments, but again, it’s for cats: http://chylothoraxcats.webs.com/

Good luck! And please update when you can! Carol