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My dog has lymphangiectasia. What's her prognosis for a happy life?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Beagle | Female | spayed | 3 years old | 35 lbs

Lila has just had an exploratory lap; immediately evident this is lymphangiectasia. They removed almost 2L of fluid! I am reading everything I can about it and understand this is a syndrome...what I can't find is any studies or information on a prognosis. If her protein levels trend up can she have quality of life? We want our happy beagle back but don't want her to suffer as she has been.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Lindsey Edwards MVB, BSc, IVCA

Veterinarian

Published on January 24th, 2018

This is a very poorly understood condition with each case being very variable. Specialist diets, medium chain fatty acid supplements and medications can help in many cases but outcome and prognosis is very individual and hard to predict. Generally 4-6weeks are allowed for recovery prior to assessing any responses

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    Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. The key to treating lymphangiectasia is restoring the protein as you know. In some cases, this can be difficult. I have one case that is still alive that was diagnosed with this condition over a year ago. It is a 13 year old chihuahua that had such a large amount of fluid build up in the chest cavity that I thought the dog would never make it. After seeing a specialist and going on drugs such as Prednisone and Azathioprine to suppress the immune system and a diet such as Royal Canin Ultamino, the dog is still alive and doing fantastic with the current treatment. Prognosis is variable in every case as every dog responds differently so you will probably not find much on an accurate prognosis for Lila. I will say that once you are able to get the levels stabilized on her protein, she has a much better chance at overcoming this and living a happy life. It might be wise to consider seeing an internal medicine specialist for more information on management and treatment of this condition. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

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