 Home | Table of Contents Volume 3 Issue 6 
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The lungs are organs of respiration: they intake oxygen-laden air and exchange the oxygen for the metabolic waste product carbon dioxide which is then exhaled from the body. Since the lungs are important and essential to maintaining life, they and the heart, which they surround, are encased within the boney rib cage for protection. When the lungs are compromised by disease, allergies, trauma, parasites, and/or tumors, either benign or malignant, depending upon the severity of the compromise, the animal patient will exhibit one, some or all of these signs and symptoms: pus discharge from the nostrils, coughing, wheezingg, rapid breathing, difficult breathing, mouth breathing, cyanosis (purple gums), moist lung sounds, exercise intolerance, chronic wasting, and possibly collapse and death. Traumatic lung disorders may be due to a variety and combination of traumatic episodes: blunt (being kicked or hit by inhalation), electrical (electrocution), wet inhalation (drowning), and penetration/perforation (being shot). The lungs are susceptable to infectious diseases caused by a variety of organisms: bacterial (tuberculosis), viral (canine distemper), fungal (aspergillosis), and parasites (lungworms, hookorms, heartworms) which may produce pneumonia, abcesses, and masses. Some non-infectious diseases are: allergies (asthma), cardiopulmonary disease (congestive heart failure), intraluminal mass or obstruction (foreign body inhalation), pulmonary compression (pneumothorax), and altered ventilatory pattern (acidosis, anemia, toxicity). Tumors may be found within the breathing tubes, in the lung tissue, in the vasculature and lymphatics supplying the lung tissue, and outside of the lungs themselves. These tumors may be benign or malignant. The malignant tumor may be of primary (arise from the lung tissue itself) or be of secondary (metastasized from other organs and tissues as mammary or breast cancer) origin. |
Once your veterinarian has diagnosed that a pulmonary disorder exists and also determines the cause, then the appropriate treatment may be instituted. It depends upon the cause(s) as to what degree of resolution may be attained by medical and/or surgical therapy. Feel free to discuss with your veterinarian the following important issues: the diagnosis (what is wrong with your pet), the prognosis (what are the chances for a favorable utcome), the treatment (surgical, medical or a combination of both), recovery time and procedures (how long and just what will be required of you to do), the contagiousness of the disorder (are you, your family, and other pets in jepoardy), your options (to treat, not to treat, how to treat), and finally what will be your financial investment? Dr. John Case, Jr. is the owner of the Clinic for Animals, 5201 N. State Road, Tamarac, FL (954) 739-4500. Dr. Case has a small animal practice. | |
