Fluid

Hi there. My 10 year old cocker Spaniel suddenly stopped eating. Took him to vet next day and she said it was his teeth and ear infection. Gave me zodon antibiotics. As the week went on he got worse and was breathing right and no energy. Took him.back they done an ultrasound and said he has fluid in lungs and chest wall cavity and the were strands? What do stands mean and his white cells high and anemia.. I asked for antibiotics incase it was pneumonia but they said they could dona drain and it would fill back up in 24 hours they told me best thing was euthanasia. Couod u please tell me what strands would mean on a ultrasound.

Hello. I don't really know whether 'strands' has a technical meaning in the context of ultrasonography, but I reckon that I can picture it.  As a child I disliked finding strands in food eg the texture of semi-cooked rhubarb or raw celery.  On an ultrasound, what I picture are white, linear soft tissue fibres - perhaps formed from inflamation or scar tissue within an organ or cavity.  I can imagine someone writing 'there are strands of scar / inflammatory tissue' meaning, 'where we'd like to have found either a clear fluid-filled space or healthy looking lung tissue.'  However, it is important to get back to your vet or ultrasonographer and ask them directly what THEY meant, so that you fully understand what happened to your dog.  Its okay if you have to ask several times - it's distressing news to take in - and perhaps you could take notes or ask the vet to talk to a tape recorder.  It's worth doing be cause an understanding of the disease process tends to help people to process decisions and to greive for their pets' health.  Good questions for your vet might include, 'What caused the strands you could see?' 'What would have caused the anaemia / inflammation?' and 'What would / would have happened next, if we declined euthanasia?'    Its common to feel wretched when asked for permission to euthanase a pet and its important that you are trying to wrap your brain around the situation.  The Blue Cross - and also some of our own links - can help to point you towards pet bereavement support. I hope that something here proves useful.