[Lyndzy L]

Carol, thank you SO much posting this information it has been really helpful to me. My Great Pyrenees Mix dog ( barely 3 years old ) is battling with Chylothorax.

6 months ago he had surgery for a lung lobe torsion, they have no idea why it happened and it’s uncommon just like Chylo, but the prognosis was great so we went ahead and did it spending almost 10K after everything. I had two vets suggest we put him down before we were even able to determine that it was a lung lobe torsion and not only that, they had to open him up again when he got his chest tube stuck on their kennel ( a day after his first surgery ) and ripped it out and more air got into his chest…. it was a total disaster with one set back after another but he made it through it and we were so happy and relieved and he was acting great, my miracle dog I thought…. and now here we are 6 months later with him out of breath at the vet.

I just knew in my heart it was related to his lung lobe problem but they told me that chylo is unrelated, it’s a different kind of fluid. They tapped his chest… 2 liters I think? and told us about the surgery which I do not want to put him through. They had difficulty tapping his chest due to scar tissue from the past surgery and not only that just being at the vet stressed him SO much he went potty on himself and began panting and breathing hard way worse than before I brought him there…. this is the most laid-back, let you do anything to him dog I’ve ever met ( not to mention he is a therapy dog ) so to see him react like that broke my heart and I never want to take him into another vet’s office again.

After doing some research I found that the lung lobe torsion IS indeed related to Chylo but doctors are unable to tell what causes which but I do believe it was his torsion that created the Chylo. The vet that told me it was unrelated is a “specialist” but they don’t know jack about it, leaving me very disappointed and upset. I will NOT be taking him back to them.

I’ve been searching desperately for a vet that knows anything about this condition and the treatments but so far have had no luck ( I’m in Memphis, TN ). After seeing your post about the pleural port, which no dr. yet has mentioned to me, I believe that is the route we want to go… if we can find someone who can do it without complications and if so I’m praying that we can somehow afford it. We are already in so much debt from his torsion surgery I’m not sure what we are going to do. Right now he is acting OK with an occasional deep breath or two, it’s been a week and half since he was tapped. I have started him on Rutin.

I am concerned about how this works long term and how expensive it is to upkeep… how is your dog doing?? Are you still draining fluid twice a week? If you wouldn’t mind filling me in on how she’s doing I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by Lyndzy L.