It began with the loss of interest in food and unexplained facial swelling. Like Red, I thought Cosmo had a salivary mucocele, something we had experience with and was correctable. Even a tooth issue would have been an easy explanation for his symptoms. However, each possibility was ruled out by both his primary vet and a local veterinary hospital. With no definitive diagnosis, he was given medication, and the swelling resolved. We were told that the next step would be a CT scan if there was a recurrence of the swelling.

Unfortunately, swelling did recur along with finicky eating, this time followed by a chronic cough. The boys happened to have their annual veterinary checkup appointment as all this was going on, so we had them take a further look at Cosmo. X-rays revealed fluid around his lungs, and he was immediately sent to a veterinary ER out of state, but with which we were familiar as they had managed Moose’s cardiac issues.

Our vet had called ahead and Cosmo was immediately whisked away for evaluation and treatment when we entered. We knew he would need to be admitted, and the urgent phone call I received the following morning was far worse that I could have imagined.

Cosmo certainly did not suffer from anything close to a mucocele or a tooth issue, but rather lung lobe torsion, which means that one of his lung lobes twisted, likely due to the amount of fluid built up in his chest cavity (pleural effusion). This buildup caused the lung lobe to essentially float and twist, not unlike bloat in big dogs, I suppose. Emergency surgery was necessary to correct the problem and the twisted lobe was removed. We were assured that Como would live just fine without the troublesome lobe.

After this huge hurdle was cleared, the underlying issue remained. His chest cavity was still filling with fluid, but why? Cosmo underwent a battery of tests, multiple blood draws, and two CT scans. He spent several days in the hospital’s ICU, while trying to determine the cause of the fluid buildup. It wasn’t until the final test came back, which of course was the slowest of them all, the GI panel, that the source was discovered. To be continued next month.