Rummpy is a 5 year old male Akita and has
been happy and healthy until recently his owner came home to find with labored
breathing. The owner scheduled an
appointment the very next morning with Dr. Stanton. Upon physical examination the doctor found
Rummpy to be breathing fast with increased effort. He also had pale gums, poor pulses, and his
heartbeat was difficult to hear. These
were all signs that Rummpy was in a state of shock
Dr. Stanton quickly diagnosed Rummpy with collapsed lungs (pneumothorax)
after taking X-rays of his chest. Dr.
Stanton needed to tap some of the air from Rummpy’s chest to stabilize him and
allow him to breathe more efficiently, however, as quickly as the air was
removed, it came back.
But why did Rummpy suddenly have collapsed lungs? Despite the cause, Rummpy needed to have
emergency surgery to fix the problem.
Dr. Stanton quickly consulted surgeon, Dr. Dan Guastella, and Rummpy’s
owners were also consulted and updated.
The decision was made to take Rummpy to
surgery. A median sternotomy (chest
exploration through the sternum) was required to be able to examine all of
Rummpy’s lungs to identify the problem.
During surgery, Dr. Guastella found Rummpy to have a “leaky” lung,
therefore, that part of his lung needed to be removed to “plug” the leak. Once that was found, Rummpy’s condition
stabilized and he recovered from surgery. Rummpy had a chest tube in place after surgery,
but it was removed the following day and Rummpy was back home in just a few
days.
The biopsy report from Rummpy’s
lung revealed that he had emphysema in that small section of his lung. This is a rare problem in dogs, but it does
occur. While this condition could
certainly be caused by second hand cigarette smoke as in people, it is not
typical in dogs, and was also not the case with Rummpy.
We are happy to report that two weeks later,
he is back to his normal self, although his sternum still needs time to heal.
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