CHYLOTHORAX

CHYLOTHORAX……..

I wonder just how many of you have heard of the condition called chylothorax ? Well apparently afghan hounds are one of the breeds that are known to be predisposed to developing this condition!

Just recently one of my own dogs Wookie was diagnosed with chylothorax I will now try to give you some insight to what this condition is

Chylothorax is a so called rare condition, but the information I have gathered since my boy’s diagnosis, proves to me that this is not as rare as we think, now this is NOT a hereditary problem so I don’t understand why people refuse to bring this out into the open!!

Chylothorax can affect most deep chested breeds.

This is potentially a life threatening condition; there is no guarantee of a cure!

Chylothorax can be caused by a tumour or a heart condition, and in some cases can be caused by an impact trauma, such as a car accident, but seemingly in afghan hounds it can also just spontaneously occur without any of these underlying problems being present, which is just what happened to my boy, also in afghan hounds 50% of dogs can resolve this problem after a few weeks. If after 6/8 weeks of treatment there is no improvement then unfortunately the prognosis is then very poor indeed.

What happens is the dog develops a leak in the thoracic duct, which is part of the lymphatic system that carries this fluid around the body, and it usually disperses naturally through it’s little hoard of valves and blood vessels etc, but when a leak develops this causes the fluid (chyle ) to leak into the chest cavity, which then builds up and puts pressure on the lungs making it difficult for the dog to breath, if it is not diagnosed in time it is thought that lung lobe torsion can occur!

The chyle is a milky looking fluid that contains fat which is taken from the food that the dog eats, so part of the treatment is a low fat diet, the dog also needs to have x-ray’s and a scan to check for any abnormalities also blood test to check for cancerous cells, once it has been determined weather or not the dog has any of the underlying problems i.e. tumour / cancer, then treatment can start,

So assuming that no other problems are present, the only treatment is a low fat diet, weekly drainage of the chest cavity, in some cases drainage is needed to be done much more frequently than this but fortunately in Wookie’s case it was only needed to be done weekly, anti biotics are given to reduce the risk of infection, and water tablets are given to help the body to disperse of as much fluid as possible, it is also thought that the herbal product rutin may help as it has been proven to keep the lymphatic system in good health!

It is possible in some cases to operate to try and seal this leak but the operation does not appear to have a very good chance of success I think it is approx 35/40% and in some cases even less.

The unfortunate thing is that this chyle build up causes fibrosis of the lungs so the less fluid the dog produces the better his / her chances of recovery.

This is an explanation of how I realised that all was not quite right with Wookie : One morning I was watching the dogs playing outside I was standing in an upstairs window and Wookie decided to go and stand by the gate and look down the driveway, as I watched him I noticed he seemed to be taking long deep slow breaths I thought to myself I’m sure he doesn’t always breath like that so I continued to observe him he didn’t seem to be distressed or in any way bothered, so I went out and checked all the other dogs and they certainly weren’t breathing like Wookie I can’t really explain why but I just felt all was not quite right and rang the vet to make an appointment, she examined him and agreed with me that although he didn’t appear to be in any way ill she would like to do an x ray to see if any thing showed up so I agreed and he had it done there and then, it was then discovered that Wookies chest cavity was full of fluid so it was decided to tap his chest and drain the fluid off to see what it was ! As soon as Lucy my vet saw it she said she thought it was Chyle but the fluid was to be sent off for analysis to be sure she then explained the details of the condition to me. At the time I did not realise how serious it was, it was only when I did some research on the internet that I grasped the seriousness of Chylothorax, follows is a brief account of what happened next ………

In Wookie’s case the 1^st time his chest was drained at the initial consultation, the vet removed over 1 and ½ litres of chyle, which is a huge amount, Over the next six or so weeks Wookie had his chest drained every Monday, and was on antibiotics / bedrofluzide, and was given Rutin, he was on a diet of Wafcol light and chicken breast fillet, on each chest drain the fluid that was removed was getting less, on his last visit the fluid measured only 25ml which was a great reduction and all his signs were looking positive! Apart from taking long deep breaths Wookie looked extremely well, he had a great appetite and was happy his colour was good his coat simply shone, he showed no outward signs of being ill, which I have to say I found very strange!

Especially with what happened next!

Unfortunately and very unexpectantly, Wookie took a very sudden turn for the worse late one evening, I had to rush him to the surgery, with severe repertory problems, My vet suspected lung torsion, I had to make the dreadful decision to have him put to sleep to save him from suffering. It was possibly the hardest decision I have ever had to make he was just 5 yrs of age!!!!!!! This is a dreadful condition and until my boy was diagnosed I must admit I had never heard of it.

I hope this has given you some insight into the devastating effect that this condition can have.

There are a number of excellent articles that have been written on this condition I will list a link and I strongly advise you to take the time to read this article, it is no good our burying our heads in the sand when it comes to the health and well being of our lovely breed, it can only help to improve their well-being if we are made AWARE of these conditions.

Here is a link to a website that offers a good deal of information on this subject,

www.vetmed.wisc.edu/dss/ChyloThoraxTrial/index.php

I would like to thank all my friends for all their help and support during Wookies illness and afterwards, Especially Sylvia Evans for all her help and advice for which I shall remain eternally grateful.