So it's been just over 4 months that Finley had his TPLO surgery for his knee and all went really well and we were back on our regular schedule and walking around 3.5 miles a day. For about 3 weeks we had been everything normal and back at it like nothing happened so it seems the knee if fine.

Well I began to notice an occasional cough, not very often but maybe 3-4 times a day and then no coughing for maybe a week. I noticed it more after he drank his water. So one night before our bedtime we noticed his breathing was pretty hard and his chest was going in and out at a good rate and his nostrils were pretty flared. So my wife thought it was way past being normal and suggested I bring him into the ER Vet which is a good 50 minutes from me. Same people who did the TPLO surgery. So I did and we get there close to midnight and they took him back to the vet and he examined him and then called me in to talk to me about it. He said he seemed like a very healthy dog and he felt his breathing was fine. He thought it was a bit odd that the coughing would vanish for a week and then come back and he told me he would not feel good though unless he took a chest Xray. I said fine and he explained to me that it would take a good hour for the prodedure so I went out into the waiting room. So he came back and he called me into the room to talk to me about the results of the Xray. He said he found something that he was not really looking for and that was air in Finleys chest cavity. He said that indicates a condition called pneumothorax and it can be caused by trauma or it can just happen and there are different versions of it. His suggestion was to take Finley home and monitor his breathing rate and have a new Xray in a week. I should have told him that we lived 50 minutes away but I did not think of it. So we brought him home and on Friday morning his breathing was odd again so we called and talked to the daytime people there and his surgery vet said because of the distance that we should bring him in for a CT scan of his lungs so we did. First CT scan was not readable due to the volume of air in his chest so she did a procedure to release the air. The second CT scan showed nothing but she said sometimes that happens. She suggested surgery within a few hours so we did. While in there they fill the chest with water to find the air leak and she found it. She was surprised at how small the hole was and how much air was leaking out of the lungs. Being the hole was tiny she did not need to remove the whole lobe but just a small piece of it. He came home in two days and it's been six days now and all is going pretty well. I think once we get past the two week check up the recovery will be easier as this is not a weight bearing issue like the leg was. The cut on his chest is very very long. Poor guy. So hopefully when we get past thing thing all will be fine again for us. He seems to be recovering nicely and getting back into eating. Poor guy can't seem to catch a break.

When I looked up pneumothorax a picture of a husky pops up and I read that huskies are more prone to it because of large deep chests. I think that probably means big lungs but I'm not sure if that is true. It seems to be something that can just happen in dogs or even cats.

So anyway I though I would share as here we go on recovery period number two.

So sorry to hear this. Get better soon, Finley

Sounds scary... Hopefully things heal up quickly.

Finley is so lucky to have you guys, you take such great care of him. Hoping Finley's healing goes smoothly and quickly!