Good day everyone! Newbie here to the forum not new to owning Huskies.

Was wondering if this issue has happened to any other husky owners? So about a year ago I woke up to the sounds of my husky gasping for air as if he was being choked out. Immediately rushed him to my vet and after lots of test and xrays come to find out he had a collapsed lung, medical term spontaneous Pneumothorax. Apparently its common/not super common in Huskies. There was no trauma to him. Just poof, hole in the lung cause by bulbes. These are little "blisters" that grow on the lung. When they burst it leaves a hole, like the end of a balloon.

In order to deflate the lung cavity they have to insert a needle and withdraw the air. Very slow process. This has happened twice now. About 6 months apart. So far it hasn't happened again and we are now going on 7 months from the last one. So again was wondering if this has happened to anyone else?

Ever seen a 40yr old man cry like baby?? Yeah that was me. Thought I was going to loose him. I got Koda when I got back from Afghanistan. Hes been saving my life ever since and I thought I failed him by not saving him. But so far hes been doing great. Hes not allowed to run anymore, which is killing him..haha..so we walk now.

poor pup, and poor you! I am glad to hear he has been doing better!

Appreciate the kind words for him!

Sorry never heard of this! I hope he’s doing well now, bless him!!

I have not had this but am aware of a few that have. Had your vet talked about surgery to remove blebs and bullae?

So sorry you have to go through this, I can only imagine how frightening this is.

We talked at great length about having surgery but have not done it. It's not a guarantee that it will fix the issue.. Study have show it to not be the cure all so we havent done it....

Yes, as I understand it, reduced, but does not eliminate, the episodes. Good luck.

Well I guess I spoke to soon..had to take him into the ER on Saturday. Thank the Great Lord it turned out his lungs and chest cavity looked great. Turns out he pulled out a neck muscle and was in pain from that. The pain made his breathing mimic a collapsed lung..UGH! poor guy cant catch a break. Dont know how he did it but he found a way..

Oh and dog bites at full hurt like a mofo..while under really heavy sedation he came out of it for a minute right when me and the vet were moving him for xrays, freaked out and attacked me. Got me right through the center of my hand and as I was prying his teeth out of my hand he got my other one...lol... and yes he was muzzled and managed to get out of it.. that's the muzzle he bit through

I haven't known what to say about your adventure. You show one picture with him in a blue cloth muzzle that I thought looked really nice - a lot easier to handle than the stiff leather cuffs my vet uses.

I can relate since I have (had?) a food possessive biter - over time she's gotten me like five different times (yeh, I'm a slow learner) so the vets have a note to muzzle her when she comes in. Over the several years I've had her the possessiveness has become less of a problem but when I set her food down, it belongs to her (a slow learner but not entirely dense!)

He managed to bite through / break out of that plastic muzzle? I'd be saying that you're lucky that he didn't take more than a good nibble on your hand. It's funny but after they react they do seem to realize who it is they have 'hold of - at least mine does - so the damage isn't as bad as it could be.

Now, I have to ask ... from the hair and his size relative to you and the table, is he a malamute? I'm not prejudiced, I like the northern breeds, just curious.

Like you I have the vets muzzle him when hes there. He does not like anyone but me to touch him. Usually the nice soft muzzle work fine for him and I prefer them for his comfort and safety. But with how aggressive he was being under sedation this go around we chose the hard muzzle. As you can see even it didnt survive.. I've NEVER seen him like this under sedation..which made us, the vet and I, think he was just in that much pain. Once I got the muzzle off him that's when he got into my hand.. I had to pry his mouth off my left hand and when I did that he went after my right. That's when he saw or made out who he was attacking and had that look like oh shat! I just bit my buddy.. (hate using master)..

People always ask if hes Mal. Hes definitely Siberian. Both his parents were and were huge dogs. I agree, bigger and more fur then usually..but when I was living in Los Angels I was part of an urban mushing group and few Siberians were just as big and furry...

Poor boy I hope he get better soon!

Make sure to get that hand looked at - bites to the hand are MOST likely to get infected. Within 48 hours, usually.

Sorry for you and sorry for puppy. Hope things look up soon.

I appreciate the reminder..I had my team corpsman take a look and give me antibiotics just encase..

I appreciate the well wishes...so far so good...

ndfan6464 wrote:

I appreciate the reminder..I had my team corpsman take a look and give me antibiotics just encase..

I appreciate the well wishes...so far so good...

Happy to hear that. I've had a couple bites to the hand go bad. The worst one was just a tiny nick of one tooth. Ended up with cellulitis/lymphangitis up the arm. Another accidental bite that was a tooth scrape almost 2 inches long and gaping enough to put a small egg in there...nada. No swelling, no heat. Nothing, healed beautifully. Go figure Luck of the draw, I guess.

Hope yours is a nothing!