Jackson is a beautiful vibrant 2 year old Greyhound Boy who landed into our care here at Greyhound Gap just 3 weeks ago. On arrival something was obviously slightly a miss as he threw up his first meal of the day everyday but otherwise seemed fine. Concerned that something could be *slightly* wrong we arranged for full investigations. Nothing absolutely nothing could have prepared us for the outcome of those tests.

Jackson has a rare condition called Chylothorax. That means that Chyle a bi product of his meals leaks back through his thoracic gland into his chest meaning his lungs fill with a thick dangerous milky substance. This is turn means he is at risk of as good as drowning in his own body products. Usually Chylothorax is idiopathic and no known cause if found. The only way to attempt to cure it is to remove the pericardium and then seal the thoracic duct to ensure seepage can not re occur. Due to the cause not usually been known this isn't a surgery guaranteed to work but the only other option then is euthanasia.

A CT Scan was performed and just when we felt the news could not be anymore heartbreaking we found out it absolutely could. The cause of Jacksons Chylothorax was found. Jackson was born with a perfectly functioning spleen only that spleen was not placed in the abdomen but instead in the Thorax, the Pericardium to be precise. So Jacksons spleen is actually inside his heart sack itself. 

THERE IS ONLY ONE DOCUMENTED CASE IT SEEMS IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF VETERINARY SCIENCE OF A SECONDARY CHYLOTHORAX DUE TO A SPLEEN BEING PLACED INSIDE THE HEART SACK NOT THE GUT.

Jackson needs multi complex surgery. To put it into context our specialist surgeon said its the equivalent in time and skill to performing 3 cruciate repairs and the surgery is a 3 sectioned operation. Jackson has to have the pericardium sack removed, a decision has to be made whether to replace the spleen or take it out,  other areas of tissue need to be rebuilt with gauze and then the thoracic duct pumped with dye to see where the leak is situation and clamped off to fix. If the surgery fails we will have no choice but to let him go but if we put him to sleep without doing the surgery we will be killing him never knowing if he could have lived. Our very ethos is we don't euthanise due to cost and time constraints and certainly with what ifs hanging over our head.

Jacksons costs so far for hospitalisation and CT Scan are £2300. The level of time and skill for the operation to be performed should be well over £10,000 plus aftercare but as our surgical team support our decision to always give every dog a chance to live if that chance is there they have agreed to do the surgery and after care for £6000. We can not thank them enough.

This is probably the hardest decision as a team we have had to face. A surgery that has literally as it seems only ever been performed once before but it really is do or die

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