Fluid in my dogs chest cavity

[sun_sh1ne]

Hi there - not sure if anyone has had this happened to their animal...but my 9 year old Shepard Cross recently went from healthy dog to all of a sudden on the verge of dieing.

Tuesday last week.. he started moaning when he sat down.. and because with the warm weather.. we have walked him way more.. and thought maybe his joints were hurting.  

It wasn't till Friday that my hubby and I noticed him breathing heavy on his side and would start groaning when he sat down.  Finally on Sunday we decided to take Siefer to our vet nearby to see if he has an upset tummy or not.  He started having stinky farts.. which isn't abnormal for him..

So on Monday, we took him out and it went from good news 'oh nothing seems to be bugging him at all'.. and we're like 'oh thank gosh.. maybe he just has tummy problems again.. ate something wrong'.  Then she went to listen to his heart.. and could barely.  He had no fever but it was on the high end of the temperature scale.  She then insisted we do xrays... which after $400 we were hoping it was nothing.  Nope.. they could barely see his heart.. saying all the the fluid around his heart is making the xray almost seem ghostly.. his lungs have shriveled up making it the reason why he is having trouble breathing.

They done rushed us to emergency and he had to get an ultrasound done as well as withdrawing fluid to ease the pain and to test it.. with some bloodwork.  We get the results tomorrow but I'm just hoping that I go the right direction.  Everything online seems unsupported in regards to surgery due to the closeness of the heart.. and with his older age... but I just don't want to get tossed around.  It's not about money but after $1400.. i know with additonal info.. it will cost more and more... but I want him to be better not worse.  

Today he is lethargic... and I feel so bad.  My little dog.. she's 5.. knows something is up and she is worried for him.  He has had loose stool and bad gas.. I assume due to stress... and I hope.. and he's eating well...

I am so sad.. and my hubby finally broke down last night as its his dog.. they are really bonded.  We just lost my 15 year old husky last year so this seems way too close and way too fast....

Any suggestions?  Any knowledge to know if this is a few day, few weeks or few months to live?

I am just trying to be prepared.. although we never can be I guess.

Thank you in advance!

[climbasky]

I have a 12 year old soft coated wheaten terrier.  Difficulty breathing, no appetite.  Fluid in chest.  Did xrays and ultra sounds.  Tested his blood, urine, and the fluid which the vet drained from his chest.  Vet took out 3 1/2 cups fluid Thursday, and another 2 cups yesterday.  Tests indicate heart, kidneys, liver, intestines, are ok.  Awaiting results of culture.  Next step appears to be CT scan.  Vet thinks maybe a tumor, possibly cancer, in/around lungs...
I am still hoping it is a treatable condition..

[DLH9276]

After reading all of your post today I find that you a great people when it comes to loving your animals. I would first like to say that i am so sorry about the death of you family pets. I am writing this comment to ask your opinion of what you think of what i am about to say.My sister has a 3 year old chihuahua. I took her to my vet yesterday because for two weeks she has not ate or drank in almost 2 weeks and has a very hugh swollen stomach and its very hard. All she does is lay around, She use to be a very active dog. The vet gave her a heartworm test which was negative and checked her heart which he is now saying was a little weak. He said she is probably pregnant; however before he said that he said it was way to soon for her to become pregnant several times. He just sent us home. Well when my sister woke up this morning sissy was laying on the bedroom floor dead. Another dog which is also a chihuahua and is 6 years old was brought to the same vet at the same time. Her name is FeFe and she also had a very huge stomach where her vains are popping out and her chest is really swollen, she is painting very heavily. The vet said she had uti. Now how is he to know that if he never ran any test. He sent her home with antibiotics and there is no change at all. I just wanted to get ya'll opinion as to what i can do, because i know longer trust this vet. Thank You all so much for listening.

[ccubby45]

My dog Ives just had the surgery for cylothorax.  He is still on the Hills R/D food and Rutin.  His 2 week visit post surgery showed a small amount of fluid in the chest.  Follow up visit in a month.  I am not certain yet if this has worked, but he is 4 and i thought i needed to try.  After countless tapping of fluid, 2-3 days a part for 2 weeks, 3 ultrasounds , 2 blood test, and a CT scan to rule out cancer, I was told surgery would be his only best shot though the success rate is only 80-90%.  So I took a chance, yes, I have spent $10k.  How rapidly the vet bills grew going from my local vet to a specialist, since my local vet had never seen a case.  It is best to see a vet who has succsessfully treated cylothorax.  

So now after reading all the posts, I am not sure if this will work.  Guess it is really up to God and Ives.  I have done all I can.  And though he seems to have returned to his old self, how long this will last, remains to be seen.  

I did know if the cause was cancer, I would have put him down.  And I know if it comes back, I will need to do that too.  

I will keep you posted on his progress.

[mapleridgewalkers]

Thank you for giving information about your pets, sorry for your losses.  We are dealing with something in our 6 year old lab.  Likely the chylothorax if I am reading right in the early posts and remembering what the vet stated.

Our Banjo was getting extremely skinny and our son asked me to bring him to the vet.  The vet saw his heavy breathing and could not hear his lungs from the lower chest.  Xray's revealed fluid in the chest cavity.  Vet asked about injury where maybe he would have bleeding from a hernia.  We knew of none.  He drew a fluid sample and found no blood or infection but talked about the abnormal number of protons vs. neutrons etc and suspects lympho.... cancer.

He had us give the dog Predna and wants to try diaretics when the weather cools.  The Predna has brought Banjo back to life, per se.  He looks healthy, even chases a chipmunk or two.  We try to get him inside and cool him down asap as to not stress him out.  He still breathes heavy, but his weight gain has been almost immediate.  We are 12 days since diagnosis and have been feeding him anything and everything.  Mostly a mix of canned food with his dry food.  He eats all the time now, when at first he barely ate a couple tablespoons at a time.

Any thoughts for us and especially any thoughts on the diaretics?  I assume that will be an attempt to dry his fluids up.

[luvsmusic36]

I am going thru the same thing with my 8 year old Golden Retriever right now.  It just amazes me that they can do a 6 grand surgery to possibly repair it or alleviate it, but they can't come up with a $20 med.  
The rutin isnt working on my end and Montana will more then likely last a week if we are lucky.  They wanted to test for cancer too, but I wouldnt allow it.  What for?  If they can't fix this problem, what good does knowing he has cancer or not do us?  Nothing.  Very heartbroken.

[Doggy_Mama39]

Earlier this evening, we too had a family pet, (me & my 15 yr old son's Eniglish Bulldog "aka" Walter ) who was having difficulty breathing.You see Walter, my 8 and a half year old English Bulldog had just returned home the evening before this, having been at the Vet's since Wednesday evening for observation and prognosis of what appeared to be a very serious health emergency. His belly was so distended that the doctor told me, after she drained it (Saturday evening via the telephone) that she had drained 3 liters of fluid from his belly! He felt so much better aftewards. She was supposed to send him home with my sister with a bottle of heart pills because he'd had some arrythmia abnormalities, but for some strange reason she hadn't. I wonder if this is was inevitably led to his demise?  I got on here to read up on some of your stories to see if I could possibly find a solution for Walter's apparent discomfort. Would you believe that he actually died sometime between me calling up our family vet (who had left to bring us a 2 week supply of breathing medication) and searching up this site when Walter suddenly had a heart attack and died? When my vet got to the door, I said,"he's dead. Walter is dead." He said, " Now, as in just this very minute?" as I said sadly," yes, I believe he died just a few minutes ago since we last spoke." God are we sad...sigh* Walts been with our family now for 8 and a half years. My son is taking his death particularly hard being that Walter is one of our oldest dogs and well, he's made alot of history with him. I wanted to share the most amazing thing. Well, when my dog began to gasp for air, he panicked and walked to my son's bedroom door where he was tied with his harness and leash inside. My son heard him struggling for air and then he asked me to call the vet. In the interim my son gently carressed Walter's head and face, talking sweetly to him as he claims, "Walter layed down and seemed ok." I wen't in his room to check on Walt and when I stepped out and entered my bedroom my son and I both heard this huge "THUMP, BUMP, THUD." I said," Was that you?" as my son returns," No, your kidding, that must have been you." But we soon realized it was niether of us as we both quickly sprang into action with our cans of pepper spray in which to defeat an intruder. Now comes the "funny thing",  and believe me, this is not at all an easy thing to write. Perhaps it's half comforting for me to get on screen, but moreso the joy it brought me in the bitterest sence and comfort is the message I desired to share. It seems that my son had not yet noticed Walter's passing. He appeared to be sleeping at this point...as we returned downstairs realizing it must have been a false alarm, we returned to finishing my boy's homework atop my bed. Realizing that the vet would soon be arriving with Walt's breathing medication, my son decided to get up quick and check on Walter, a few seconds passed before my son began to scream, "Mom, mom! Come check Walter for me...I don't think he's breathing!" As I sprang into action, only to reach the very place we had last seen him resting a few short moments before we heard this bang sound that thundered through the walls. So after the vet arrived, within that same minute...I walked him downstairs to see if he could confirm what I'd already feared as true. He asked for a plastic bag to take his body in. Walt weighed about 45 lbs and his name was Walt after Walt Disney due to this natural marking in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head and ears on his right side in brundle. One big blue eye would stair at you in the most human of ways, while the other more craftily operating eye roved around for whatever mischievnous that it could spy. Just before the vet left I said," wait, let me see if my son wants to say goodbye to his dog." and well, that was not a success. He was in my room, door shut with a pillow stuffed into his face with tears soaking it. Next, I decided to get the two of my other dogs to say goodbye. Particularly "Mr. Bean" who was respectfully Walter's very best friend on this earth! That's when I saw it! What you may ask? Ok, I opened the bathroom door where Mr. Bean was asleep on his little green rug in the bathrrom. Mr. Bean is not an English Bulldog, but rather a 7 year old chinese pug. But, as I opened up the door I could see very clearly before me an entire drawer (weighing an easy 25 lbs filled with toiletries and nick knacks...just sitting off it's hinges on the floor. As shocking a sight that it truly was, I had not yet gotten the full, entirety of it's being there until a little after the vet left with Walter's body. I came downstairs and as I re-entered the bathroom, having forgotten what I'd see a little while earlier, Now I had the chills running up and down my bed and neck...as I said," honey (to my son) did you pull this drawer right out of it's track and onto the bathroom floor?" At this, no response was heard. So again, stating that the drawer was completely pulled out and off it's hingests and track and appeared to have been dropped  by some very strong force. We both realized this must have been the loud sound we'd noticed much earlier, right about the time Walter must have passed. We are the only two people living in this house and I know how that drawer operates....It has never once come off it's tracks. Infact, it would have had to of been tugged, jerked and pulled to such an extent, only to be dropped with such force, the walls would have shook (which explained the mysterious ruckus we'd heard  before). Anyways, just thought I'd share, I'm gonna go back to crying now with my kid. Thanks and God bless!      R.I.P. Walter Thornton, you were the greatest dog! Life won't be the same without you EVER AGAIN! Mommy, Harry, Lazarus, Bean and the birds love you too!