r/IVDD_SupportGroup

I posted a few days ago asking for tips on the first week. Now after a week was her checkup to get the months medication for the ivdd. The vet is saying since she hasn’t walked or attempted to sit up it is not looking good and to think about putting her down today. She hasn’t peed or pooped in the last two days but earlier in the week a little..but the vet says her body is shutting down. How have your experiences been? Any better for a chance or is this death coming..?

Don’t mind the haircut we were making sure he didn’t have ticks, is it normal for him to wobble a little bit? He’s still able to use the bathroom. He’s just a little wobbly, but he’s able to stand still holding his weight up.

Our 3 year old frenchie had ivdd surgery in March after paralysis and was making great progress. He experienced a compressed disc a few weeks ago and somehow aspirated during a dose of meds and now has aspiration pneumonia (they think given his symptoms but after two rounds of X-rays his lungs were clear). He has been to the ER twice this week, is down to 27 pounds (regular 34), won’t eat and giving him water through a syringe. he’s on antibiotics but still running a slight fever (103.4) as of this morning. I don’t know what else to do, I’m feeding him baby food to try to get calories but he does not want to eat. I am starting to lose hope and don’t know else to do. His breathing is stable and he seems comfortable but it’s hard not seeing improvements day after day and I don’t know how long he can sustain this. I know he is losing energy day after day.

i have a 15 pound Chihuahua Mix that has been super athletic since he was a puppy. He is now 7 years old. In December I became super sick. Turns out my condo had mold/water damage. He was shaking/not wanting food. So I took him to an emergency vet. They thought he had IVDD. I thought mold exposure was the cause.

i lost my mind and took him to his vet. They don’t agree he has IVDD. I don’t know what to do next. I included a video of how he walks which looks normal to me. These are the symptoms:

- Slower to rise from laying down

- Minor shifts in bed to find a comfortable position.

- More hesitation before jumping.

- Not wanting to play ball as much.

-Shifts position in my lap or jumps off my lap where before he was comfortable.

- Just does not seem himself. Much more laying down.

- Licks his lips more and more bowel movement.

What could be going on and what steps can I take next?

I just know something is bothering him.

Thank you in advance!

HELP

a year ago, baby boy Kylo here (shihpoo, age 6) had a back pain episode where the vet told us he had to take pain meds and have 1 week strict crate rest. He was then fine. Recently on a trip he walked A LOT and jumped off a high bed and then had back pain again. Went to the vet, gave him pain meds and rest. That was two weeks ago and I mostly kept him at rest but was more lax in the last week. This morning while he was jumping up and down barking at the mailman , all of a sudden he lost use of both his back legs and was dragging them around. I immediately rushed him to the vet but by the time we got there 20 minutes later… he could walk again. Vet sent us home with 1 week strict crate rest and some pain meds.

Now at home, it’s obvious his back legs are weak but he still can walk. He is doing strict crate rest.

My question is, is this IVDD???? None of the three vets have called it that. They did X-rays today because i asked and said it looked fine. I’m trying to get an appointment with a neurologist for him ASAP to hopefully do an MRI. I’m so lost and confused because even the doctor thought it was weird that he lost use of his back legs and then regained it so quickly.

I’m at a loss of what to do and how to keep this from happening again. And it’s 4am here and I haven’t slept and my anxiety is sky high reading through so many posts and reddit threads.

💙 BRUTUS UPDATE 💙

Today we took Brutus back to Northwest Referrals for his latest check-up.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the news we were hoping for.

The good news is that he has now been given the go-ahead to start physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and acupuncture, and we’ll be throwing absolutely everything at his recovery.

The difficult part is that, because of where we are now in his recovery, the chances of Brutus regaining full mobility have reduced. The specialists are now hoping he may develop what’s known as hip walking, which would still give him a good level of independence, but it’s unlikely he’ll ever get back to exactly how he was before.

There is still a small chance that his deep pain sensation (DPS) could return over time, but we’re told that, if it does, it can take many months and the odds are low.

It’s heartbreaking to hear, but we’re refusing to give up.

Brutus has already amazed us once, and if there’s one thing he’s taught us, it’s that he never stops fighting. So neither will we.

From here on, it’s about making the very best of a terrible situation, giving him the happiest life possible, and celebrating every little milestone along the way.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us, donated, shared our journey and kept believing in our boy. Your messages mean more than you’ll ever know.

Here’s to the next chapter… let’s see if Brutus has one more miracle left in him. 💙🐾

#BrutusStrong #NeverGiveUp #IVDDRecovery #DogRecoveryJourney #Hope #MiracleDog

It's the first week, first time injured and the vet said she has ivdd and the accident caused it to start in effect.

She can not walk or move on her own. She still has movement as I see her stretching sometimes (laying down). I'm unsure how to let her use the restroom so she recovers well. Am I supposed to support her to stand and take her out? Or is movement like that bad and I lay her down instead (which direction)? Or just leave her and eventually at her pace it'll happen? Because so far she pees sometimes while laying but the poop didn't happen (vet had to do a procedure).

Same with eating. At first I fed her laying down (licks but doesn’t chew) and I see her breathing heavy so yesterday we lifted her to eat but I’m not sure if that’s bad for recovery.

💙 BRUTUS UPDATE 💙

Well, here it is… Brutus has taken his first steps in 6 weeks, and I still can’t quite believe it.

He absolutely loved it and soon settled after about 10 minutes of getting used to his wheels. Seeing him playing ball again with my son brought a tear to my eye. It’s something I honestly wasn’t sure when we’d see again.

What’s even more amazing is watching him from behind. His legs are moving as though he’s walking in slow motion, which gives us so much hope.

Hopefully, with his wheelchair, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, and all the treatment ahead, we can help our boy get back to his former glory.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us, donated, shared our posts, and kept believing in Brutus. Every bit of support has helped us get to this moment.

We’ve still got a long road ahead, but today feels like a huge step in the right direction. 💙🐾

As stated, I’m concerned that my puppy started laying down during tug-of-war. I’m concerned about IVDD especially. I don’t know if I’m just overthinking.

He can sneeze funny and I get worried lol

I feel like I know the answer here but could just use some support/reassurance from others who have gone through this...

My sweet boy Coquito had a neurological episode in Sept 2025 (genuinely not sure what happened, I came home from work and he was wobbling, by the time I got into a neurologist 2 days later he had almost no use of his back legs - still had some motor function and deep pain sensation, I think we said Stage 2). Neurologist clinically diagnosed IVDD and since he was already 14 at the time of course no MRI or surgery was done, opting for conservative management.

I tried crate rest and prednisone, the steroids gave him horrible GI distress which created constant clean up and stress for me (and he was obviously not happy to be sick/pooping everywhere). He had a lot of muscle wasting from the lack of movement - zero progress with his 12 weeks on rest and in fact his mobility got worse. From there I started him in an intensive PT program, 2x a week cold laser, red light, acupuncture and ice/massage plus manual exercises to stimulate his feet and rebuild his muscle tone, etc. eventually graduating to hydrotherapy on the water treadmill, so on and so forth.

I did his at home exercises religiously (and still do), and spent thousands of dollars on his rehab. He he has gained sensation and some motoring back and he can stand up for short bouts on his own, and we can do short walks with like 20-30% support in his help-em-up harness. He hasn't made any further progress since like February, this is pretty much what we've got to work with.

This might all sound promising, but I live in a 2nd story walk up apartment (no elevator, I have to carry him up/down several times a day), I don't have a yard, and it is really really hard to manage his mobility. Plus, I travel for work about 50% of the year and at this point he needs to be medically boarded every time I leave as he needs more care than a sitter can provide. That alone is costing me a fortune.

His birthday was in April and at this point he's 15, he now cannot fully evacuate his bladder and often can't poop on his own without assistance/stimulation, he's had 2 UTIs in the last 3 months due to the weak bladder issues, and we just had another bout of severe GI distress with no known cause where there was blood and loose stool leaking all over for days. Most recently he's started having pee accidents inside as well which is just totally unlike him. His weird little Boston body shape doesn't accommodate a diaper well so I kind of have to just put him on pee pads and constantly clean up. At his last boarding intake the vet told me he has lost 0.9kg within the last 3 weeks - kind of the most recent really bad sign in my opinion.

He's been on 3x a day gabapentin since September and lately he will just whine/whimper constantly if his meds wear off. He's restless and whining until the meds hit and then he pretty much spends the whole day sleeping on the couch next to me. He eats and drinks just fine and he will still do some playtime with me, and he LOVES getting outside to sniff on his walks, but he's definitely not his old self.

I feel so guilty for not spending more money, more time, or putting in more effort to try and help him. I feel like if he had an owner that had a yard, or didn't have stairs, or didn't travel maybe he would have a better outcome or a longer life. But at this point it's been almost 10 months battling this with him and I feel like I need to let him go peacefully.

Idk - guess I am just hoping for some reassurance that I did what I could and it is time to say goodbye. I wouldn't wish this type of slow decline on anyone, it is actually torture to make a call to euthanize an animal like this...any support helps.

Edit: 7/1/26: he woke up with a runny nose and wet sounding cough, but they ruled out Tuesday at the emergency vet he didn’t have pneumonia I have an appointment tomorrow with his regular vet but anyone had doggy cold or kennel cough or anything like that before? this is his first signs of illness outside of his symptoms from back issues.

Our 3 yr old frenchie is about 3 mos post IVDD surgery and was making a great recovery. about a week and a half ago he let out a yelp in pain when rolling over after a nap and has been on the downhill since. he is walking and still has function over bladder control and bowel movement but has lost all personality and energy. he barely moves once k get him up for the day, refuses to eat and drink even his favorite treats and is seemingly depressed. we took him to the emergency vet twice now and they think he has another compressed disc, but aren’t sure what else and cannot find anything with X-rays. he has a runny nose and eyes and seems to have a slight fever but no energy and just seems so sad and depressed. has anyone else experienced this and is there anything you did that helped? we aren’t sure what else to do but he’s starting to lose weight and seems very sad. it’s hard seeing him like this