[Carol M]

Hi Tamara,

I lost my girl in April. She did have 5 years with chylothorax so I’m grateful for the extra time but it was and is devastating. Her surgery didn’t work and she did well with a port. Also rutin 1000mg a day and low fat diet.

If you’re on Facebook, there is a group called Afghan Hounds & Others with Chylothorax at https://www.facebook.com/groups/125192481255653/ Lots of others with the same thing and there may be some help for you there. It seems more prevalent in Afghan Hounds but there are other dogs too. I know one person posted about using a holistic approach and it’s working.

I think I would be raising hell with the vet; not sure how they could nick her lung, and $2000 seems more than a little high!

I wish you much luck with this!
Carol

[Carol M]

Melanie,
That is amazing!! So glad you’ve had success with a holistic approach. Just told Tamara that there is a group on Facebook called Afghan Hounds & Others with Chylothorax at https://www.facebook.com/groups/125192481255653/

I’m sure they would love to hear about your success! Much continued luck to you and Cooper!

Carol

[Melanie B]

Carol,

Thank you. We are so blessed. We did have the Plural Port surgery. His ports were no longer viable at about a year. However, we took him back to Purdue, and they confirmed Cooper was no longer producing chyle. 

When he went for his last vet check, our vet was astounded. His lungs, which had become diminished, were completely restored. You would never know he had been so sick.

I am still following the same food, rutin, and honey/cinnamon regimen.

And, prayers!!!!

Melanie

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

[Jessie H]

Melanie B,

Could you tell me how much fluid your dog, Cooper was leaking in the beginning of your experience? My parents have a bloodhound, Rori, who is 6 years old and she has been diagnosed with idiopathic chylothorax. It has been 2 weeks of emotional hell while she has been staying at a specialist vet an hour away with a fluid tap in. They are draining 2 liters of fluid out of her a day right now. She had the thoracic duct surgery and the pericardium, quit leaking the chyle fluid for 2 days only to start draining again. It is so discouraging and we are trying everything we can to save this otherwise perfectly healthy dog. She is finally at the point where she is maintaining her weight and not really losing weight anymore, and we are feeding her low fat food and protein to keep her levels up so she is not suffering. But time is running out as well as options. They are bringing her home tomorrow and taking her to be drained at our local vet daily this week. After that, if she has not let up on the amount of fluid or if she is beginning to suffer we are going to have to look at quality of life which is heartbreaking to even consider. She has a littermate sister who has been with her since day 1 who cries and howls wondering where she is. It is just awful. The only shred of hope we have had is that the vet told us yesterday morning and this morning that the amount of fluid drained was slightly less, and a bit thinner, and less fatty which is a good sign. So, I was just wondering with your case going so well for your Cooper, do you remember how much fluid was being drained from him when he first started? Just hoping for a little glimmer of hope if it was similar to Rori. Her doctor said the port was more trouble than its worth and often didnt do well enough to bother with it, which sounds odd after reading that so many others on here have had the port and many had success. Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[Jessie H]

Has anyone dealing with chylothorax tried raw fermented goats milk for your dog and seen improvement? Specifically Answers Brand. Have a 6 year old bloodhound, Rori who is not doing well at all, trying anything to stop the chyle flow and restore her health. Not wanting to eat much and losing weight.

[Sharon S]

Hi Everyone,

I’ve had a rough December and we’re still back and forth to the vet with my 2 1/2 yr old husky Kona. He started acting lethargic and not eating, after some tests we eventually found fluid in his chest cavity and a lung that looked suspect. They drained 1 1/2 cups of fluid and we were sent to a specialist for a surgery consult. After a CT scan and a lung lobe surgery, Kona spent over a week at the clinic as he had a chest tube in and he was producing too much fluid. We think he has idiopathic chylothorax and I’m in about $12k so far. Since coming home on prednisone twice daily and 2000mg of Rutin every 8 hrs, he seems ok but on our weekly check, the fluid in his chest is increasing. Now we either do another surgery for the pleural port or just drain him which would be a one time event. Any suggestions? Can Kona live a long and happy life with a port in? I also need to know if it’s difficult to drain on your own as the cost of all these things is more than I can afford but I’m doing everything I can to help our fur baby.

[Denise D]

Hi Sharon – So sorry to hear about your Kona. We recently (3 weeks ago) had a plural port put in our 6yr old GSD. It has been an emotional roller coaster. She has lost a significant amount of weight and is very picky about her food. We are at a loss. This forum has been great.
To answer your question…it is pretty easy, although unnerving, to drain the port yourself. In fact we did it last night. Drained 4 liters of chyle in about 90 mins. It’s a slow process, but very doable at home and much more cost effective than going to the vet.

[Debby P]

I’ve been reading with interest the posts from dog owners diagnosed with Chylothorax. My 4 yr old small sheltie boy Simba was diagnosed 2.5 weeks ago. He (and his litter mate brother) are very active-going backpacking, hiking beach walking regularly. (Their mother was a Blue Merle-dad a sable) and their other litter mate had the rare genetic disorder causing albino-deaf-blindness but I had both mine swabbed and tested at Wa State Univ came back negative.) We noticed 3 wks ago that he was dragging and puffing while walking, took him to our vet for last 4.5 yrs-and she said his heart/lungs sounded fine, though she was concerned that he had gained 2 lbs (from 15-17 lbs). 1.5 days later he was worse, so we took him to the emergency vet specialist hospital in Matthews, NC. They drained 500 mls of chyle from his chest. After 3 full days of tests (xrays, ultrasound, CT scans and analyses, consults w 3 specialists-they diagnosed Chylothorax, recommended low fat diet (on Hill’s) and 375mg Rutin 3x/day. I’ve lost confidence in that she hadn’t noticed that one of his testicles is twice the size of the other-my husband didn’t want him neutered)-and the vet specialists found that immediately-could be because of a tumor-and now I’m worried about that too) 2.5 wks later he feels better, though yesterday we were ready to take him back to emergency vet because he had trouble getting up-but didn’t when he pranced around trail once up. Today-no sign of that. I’ve read with interest all your forums. They give me handouts on all treatment options-said their policy regarding the draining of fluids is 3x and your out. He has had 1 draining. Then I believe they would refer us to NC State vet hospital in Raleigh for options. We also felt like this was a death sentence for Simba, we are heartbroken about this-but he is still with us-so every day is a blessing from God. So any updates from dog owners with chylothorax would be appreciated-also the testicle thing. We will be getting him neutered and that tested-but they’ve not recommended that until this condition is somewhat under control. Thank you! Debby

[Melanie M]

Hi everyone,
My dog has been diagnosed with this rare and frustrating disease this
Past month. I’ve read through a few posts and the last few from MelanIe B is somewhat giving me hope as my name is also MelanIe. So maybe that is a sign! Who knows but I’ll take anything! My baby girl an 8 year old papillon. We have discussed surgery and have decided with success rate being so low we do not want to put her through something so invasive. Mel B you mention the plural port,
I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind telling me how many times a month you would have to remove fluid and every time you did what was the price for doing so? Also was the milligrams of Rutin you were giving your baby prescribed by the vet? Was the honey and cinnamon you were giving prescribed to prevent inflammation or because his chest was becoming inflamed? I want to learn as much as I can I do as
Much as I possibly can to help my baby before making any decisions on letting her go. I hope to hear from you and or anyone else that could help! I greatly appreciate everything and anything! Thank you
Sincerely
Mel M.

[Melanie M]

Hi Denise D I was wondering if you could tell me a little about how the pleura port is drained? As I was told a catheter sits underneath the skinn and must be punctured with a syringe to drain. From what I’ve been reading and watching that doesn’t seem correct.
Sincerely
Mel M.

[Jessie H]

Melanie M, you might have already seen this posted here previously, but if you are on Facebook there is a group called “Afghan hounds and others with chylothorax” and I had much better luck with getting responses from people on there. I tried to ask questions on here a year ago about our family bloodhound and didn’t have much luck as far as getting a response. Once you have joined that Facebook group you can also search past posts with specific key words to see what other people have asked and talked about. Our dog did not have the pleural port put in, but I’ve read many success stories on that, and stories where the dogs at least went on to leave another several years. Ours had the surgery and it wasn’t successful. Thought she was going to pull through because the fluid lightened up but in the end she got so weak and lost so much weight we had to let her go. Always wonder now if we should have kept her hooked up on IV fluids and maybe she could have stayed stronger to fight it off. Good luck with your dog, this is such an evil disease! I hope your dog makes it

[Jessie H]

Melanie M, That should have said stories where dogs went on to *live another several years, in my above post. And reading back now I see that I actually got no response when I posted my questions over a year ago which is a shame, so I highly recommend joining that Facebook group to ask questions and get answers and information.

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