Hi, my 3.5 year old toy poodle was assumed to have IVDD. We went the conservative route because the estimate they gave us for the MRI + surgery and everything was way too much and couldn't afford it. We are coming to the 2 week period of strict crate rest and the medication (Gabapentin & Prednisone). I recently went to the vet for a follow up visit for them to see how my baby was doing. They said that everything seems to be doing good and is showing good signs of the recovery. He does stand from time to time during his crate rest and can use the bathroom while I support his hind legs in the backyard.

I was wondering what would be the next step following the crate rest and the rest of his medication.

What are everyone experience with physical therapy/acupuncture during the IVDD recovery process ? I have also bought LumaPet Red Light Therapy because I've read a lot of good reviews on it.

Also, what do people usually give to help entertain their baby during the strict crate rest period? I don't want my baby to develop separation anxiety from this constant crate rest (even though I know it's what's best for him).

Any helpful advice is much appreciated it! This is my first time being a dog owner and everything seems to still be new to me, so sorry if I'm asking basic questions!

My 6 year old beagle mix had his first episode in May. We went the conservative route with crate rest/meds. He seemed to be back to his normal self, so this weekend we decided to let him into the yard off-leash. Well, he ended up chasing 3 rabbits and wound up re-injuring. (Not quite as bad this time, and might just be a muscle unrelated to his IVDD)

Anyway, my anxiety has been so bad about this whole ordeal. I feel like he's lost all his freedom now (like we'll have to take him out on leash forever).

I also feel trapped about our freedom. My dog used to love doggy daycare and boarding, but I don't dare board him again for risk of injury. My husband and I love to travel and I feel like I have to give a lot of that up now. Anyone else dealing with severe anxiety over this? How do you cope?

This insane bs. My lab was diagnosed with IVDD after randomly losing function in one back leg, the 2nd was questionable, hopping sideways and knuckling badly.(I had to carry him everywhere) The vet put him on steroids, muscle relaxers and pain relievers. Said follow up in 2 weeks. Followed up and got stuck with a different vet, who said it was absolutely not ivdd and a crucible tear instead. Wanted him off the steroids and everything else and basically on carprofen. I tried fighting this but he wouldn't budge. (Dont get me started on this vet bc I have a lot to say)

Mind you he was starting to walk on the steroids and do a bunch better.

2 days off it (I wasnt even given enough to wean him off just told to stop it) he stops walking again. Wouldn't even get up to pee now.

Went to get a 2nd opinion at a different clinic and they literally said it was both.

Called 1st vet office back and they were like okay we can do a few more weeks of the steroid but thats it. Got enough for 3 weeks. 3 doses in and hes walking again a little.

I'm beyond annoyed. And have also ordered my own prednisolone to get him as far as I need for him to properly heal and titrate off it when he's done.

Anyone else with a diagnosis of IVDD and a CCL tear and what was your treatment plan? I have access to most meds to deal with this myself since my vets suck.

**surgery isnt an option so an MRI isnt worth it but we did get an xray and his knees and hips looked fine but there was a lot of arthritis on around his lowrr vertebrae-

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping to hear from people who have been through something similar and maybe get some hope from your experiences.

My 9-year-old dachshund, Sid, had spinal surgery for IVDD three weeks ago. He was completely paralyzed in his hind legs and had no deep pain sensation after surgery.

We are now three weeks post-op.

The situation at the moment:

• He still has no confirmed deep pain sensation in his hind legs.

• His hind leg, tail and hind-end reflexes have become much stronger.

• At his latest neurological exam, the vet noticed that a reaction could be elicited further down his back than immediately after surgery.

• He is happy, alert and behaves very much like himself.

• He eats, drinks and sleeps normally.

• He sometimes seems a little frustrated, which I actually take as a good sign because he clearly wants to do more than his body currently allows.

• He is doing rehabilitation, including underwater treadmill, laser therapy, electrical stimulation and prescribed exercises at home.

• We have also noticed some interesting changes in his bladder function and occasional spontaneous movements in his hind end, although we don’t know what neurological significance they have yet.

The hardest part is obviously the lack of deep pain sensation. I know reflexes are not the same thing as conscious sensation, and our vet has been very clear about that.

I’m not looking for false reassurance, but I’d really love to hear from anyone whose dog was in a similar situation - especially dogs who had no deep pain sensation at 3 weeks but later recovered some neurological function.

Did you see gradual changes over the following weeks or months? Did deep pain sensation return later? Did bladder function or other signs improve before deep pain sensation?

Any personal experiences, especially with dachshunds/IVDD, would mean a lot to us.

We are trying to stay hopeful and give Sid as much time as he needs. ❤️

3 week appt with specialist recently

The good: we caught it early. An MRI wasn't even on their radar let alone surgery.

The bad: stricter crate rest. As in keep him in a crate. No more letting him have his potty time to sniff the yard like a dog. Always on a leash.

The vet sympathized with us. She gave us higher doses of trazadone and gabapentin to give him to keep him knocked out. I know that if we can keep him calm and snoozy for 3 more weeks he'll get many more days to be a dog in the future.

I hate that he doesn't know why he has to stay in the crate or why he snoozles so much. I am greatful we caught this early, just feeling so terrible for how his life has to be in the short term.

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate some advice. My dog is a 3.5-year-old male French Bulldog.

He showed symptoms of IVDD two months ago. At the ER, his right paw had a slight delay on the knuckling/proprioception test, but he had no obvious spinal or neck pain and has never had trouble walking.

Last week he completed 6 weeks of strict crate rest. His regular vet examined him last Tuesday and his neurological exam was normal, including paw placement, so we were told to start very short walks.

After only a couple days of walking, I noticed:

- Difficulty settling/getting comfortable

- Very subtle twitching in a hind leg while resting

- One evening he seemed less interested in dinner than usual

We contacted the vet and restarted gabapentin and put him back on strict crate rest.

He’s currently walking completely normally, with no dragging, wobbling, weakness, or delayed paw placement. He is eating normally, acting happy, and has normal peeing/pooping and can squat normally.

Does this sound like a mild IVDD flare from restarting activity too quickly after crate rest, or could something else be causing the restlessness and twitching? Has anyone experienced something similar when transitioning their dog back to activity after crate rest? Feeling discouraged after this setback. Thank you.

My beloved 6-year-old long-haired dachshund (who is the bestest boy ever) had the same story so many people on here do - suddenly lost the use of his back legs. He went from being active, my hiking partner, and a complete maniac to being completely disabled. We live in Seattle, and the emergency vet told us that he needed an 8k MRI and a 15K surgery right away. This was beyond what we could afford, so we called around to some local emergency animal hospitals and found one that had a neurologist on staff that could see him right away for a second opinion. This animal hospital confirmed the diagnosis and offered the diagnostic CT scan, surgery and follow up laser treatments for 11K. This was difficult to afford but we could do it. I wanted to let people know that calling around can significantly impact prices. And the other animal hospital is very kind and competent, we have been pleased with their care.

I don't know what stage my little guy was in, but he was dragging both his legs, but still had deep pain sensation. He had the surgery, they removed much of the debris from two discs, and we have been doing near daily laser treatments since (we have just been upgraded to every other day). The one downside of the cheaper animal hospital is that it is 45 minutes away, so we have been sharing the responsibility of driving our little guy to the hospital between the several adults in our family (we have several young adult/college aged children living with us).

Progress? apparently pretty good. He's starting to bear weight on one of his legs, he's started to wag his tail, and he's feeling a lot better. The doctor said it would take probably 2 months before he's recovered.

I know we are still relatively new at this, but I wanted to share what I've learned so far. Here's a few things I wanted to share, in case others are looking on here for info:

My low point: Two of them, actually. One, when I found out the price of the surgery and had a panic attack. Second, the first night we had my doggie home after the surgery and he was in pain and seemed so fragile that I was worried we'd spent a ton of money and he was just in pain and suffering.

Best thing so far: The first tail wag; honestly, I felt like I was going to just burst with how happy I was.

Best thing we bought: the post-surgical cone was pretty uncomfortable, so I bought some onesies and pajamas to cover the surgical incision to prevent him picking at it. None of the onesies fit him right, even the ones that were designed for dachshunds. But, what worked best, was a silly tshirt I bought for him at Lowe's hardware. He can pee and poo and it and it covers his scar. We bought a sling to walk him with, but one I made from an old tshirt and some scrap fabric works better, to be honest.

This is a list I wish I had known before I had brought him home, I didn't know. Essential supplies post-surgery: pee pads, soft, orthopedic bed for crate, bigger crate than you probably already have, soft fleece blanket to cover the pee pads over the mattress, dog tshirts, wipes, method for helping him take pills (we found soft cheese a better method than peanut butter), etc. We also bought a large plastic box from Home Depot to make a second sleeping area in our bedroom for him that he couldn't get out of so he could sleep right by us with my hand in his box, as that was the hardest time for him to not be with us.

Biggest truth I've learned so far: this whole thing is emotionally exhausting. Besides worrying so much about your little doggie child, you also won't get good sleep as the dog doesn't, you have hours in your routine you didn't have before, and it's so hard to see the little creature you love so much in pain. I hope in a few months I will say it's worth it. I'm glad to be on a sub with you guys who are in it too.

edit to add: I have owned dachshunds my whole life. I've had ones that need prednisone and crate rest before. The only other one that had IVDD this bad was a 5 year old male one that suddenly became paralyzed and had it so bad that the doctor recommended that we put him down. He was in a great deal of pain, it was bad enough that surgery wasn't an option, and it was affecting his body working in basic ways. So this probably contributed to my panic when this first happened, thinking of my other little dog so long ago.

Long post, happy ending but with final Q!

First signs
My girl’s name is Lea, she’s a 10 year old Shih Tzu. In March I noticed she had back pain, she was walking in a hunched position and trembling a lot. We took her to a vet and she gave her some pain meds, since we thought it could be muscular pain (she’s a crazy dog!). We never saw her falling down hard or something, but she loves to jump around and run as if she was a young dog!
The day after the vet visit I woke up to her dragging her back legs, I was immediately scared. I knew of a neurology vet clinic close home that had ER, so we took her. They told us it was probably something in her spine and they needed to apply pain meds and some meds that might help her spine injury. If she progressed she could go home and start therapy.

At the vet
Two days later she got progressively worst, to the point she could no longer use her back legs anymore. They told me she had to have a scan to see exactly what was going on and if she could or needed to have a surgery.
I was still hopeful everything would be fine, she feels young, but she’s not! And she has some heart issues so putting her under for a scan and then a surgery was something that scared me to death.
Well, bad news, she had a ruptured disc and needed surgery asap! I was devastated.
But here is where there good news started!
That same day she had a surgery and it was successful. After three days she started to show improvements!! She could pee on her own and she could finally come home!

After surgery
I made a fenced area in my living room with only her bed and food/water bowls. They asked me to have them raised from the ground. That is the only place in my apartment that has a carpet, we didn’t care if it was ruined after this.
We bought a special harness that supported her back legs. It helped a lot! But she got it wet with pee all the time, so I think a belly band would have worked better.
A week later she started therapy. She was to have 15 sessions before being given the all-clear. By then she was already walking with little support! I thought maybe she would need less therapy, but then realized the more the better.
By session 10 she was almost back to normal and by session 15 it was clear she was fully recovered.

After the all-clear
So she was deemed recovered and all was fine. But nope, she feels SO well she’s back to her crazy self. And that’s a no go!
I adapted my home. At first she could only be in the living room area, then when she finished therapy I allowed her in the rest of the apartment. I put baby rails in the spare bed (which she used to sleep in, but is super high), so that is totally blocked forever.
I bought a ramp for my bed and put tatamis all around it, so in case she jumped, at least she would have adding and the fall wouldn’t be so hard. She learned to use the ramp quickly and now uses it 90% of the time.
I also blocked the sofa, she can’t jump on it anymore.

So… all better right? Nope. As soon as I arrive, she starts jumping like crazy, she slips and falls and it drives me crazy. I’m so scared this happens again!! Sometimes she goes down the ramp so fast and hard it has fallen down with her!! How has it been for you? Has something like this happened again to your dogs? What would you recommend?

Monday marked exactly 1 year since our dog had emergency spinal surgery after randomly rupturing 3 discs due to IVDD. She was just 2.5 at the time.

One thing that helped us SO much, especially in those early days, was this community and finding people on Reddit and TikTok who had dogs with IVDD. Seeing other dogs living happy lives after surgery and reading the practical things people had figured out made everything feel less scary.

So one year later, now that we're in a better place recovery-wise, I wanted to share the little systems, products and ways of thinking that have made our life easier and helped us process this big change.

Disclaimer: This is just our experience. Every dog and injury is different, and your vet/neurologist/rehab team should always be the authority on medical care. <3

Our story

Nothing happened. No fall or accident. One morning our girl was just walking weirdly, and then I realized she couldn't jump onto the couch. She had always been a super energetic, athletic Spaniel/Min Pin, and within hours her back legs just stopped working and we were dealing with emergency spinal surgery.

It was one of the hardest times in mine and my fiancé's life. She is our everything.

A few months after her surgery, we got an Embark notification that IVDD is actually her #1 genetic health risk, so this is something we'll always be managing.

A year later, she's still in PT once a week. She can walk independently around our limited carpeted area at home, but she wobbles and still needs help balancing/squatting to pee and poop. We're down to about 2-4 accidents in the house a week, so much less than where we started. Right after surgery she had 0% proprioception (spatial awareness of her legs and paws) in her back legs, so getting to where we are now is a HUGE feat and a testament to how resilient she is.

She's now 3.5 and still has lots of energy! We still take her to the park, she gets out and does things with us, and she is loving life. It just looks different than it used to.

We are very lucky - we're DINKS (dual-income household with no kids), I work from home, and we happened to have pet insurance before this happened. That has made a huge difference for us. Some things below were essential for us; others just made an already difficult situation a little easier. Do what works for your pup, your budget and your life.

Right after surgery: survival mode

The mental load after surgery is so overwhelming. There are medications and potty trips and laundry and appointments and figuring out how to safely pick your dog up and constantly wondering if you're doing everything right.

You're also grieving who your dog used to be while simultaneously being incredibly grateful they're still here. That grief is a part of this process. I still cry sometimes remembering how our girl used to sprint out of the bedroom in the morning, jump on me on the couch and attack me with kisses.

So for a while while you process, learn and grieve, lower your standards for everything outside of recovery.

Your house will be messy. You'll have pee pads and wipes everywhere. You'll need to cancel plans. Home projects will get put on the back burner. You may spend an absolutely absurd percentage of your waking hours thinking about laundry and whether your house smells like pee. It's okay. Some of the things that helped us most in the beginning:

• Paper plates. We don't have a dishwasher and removing dishes from the equation genuinely helped.
• Grocery/meal delivery. Take errands off your plate when you can.
• Recurring deliveries for the supplies you're burning through so you don't suddenly realize you're out of pee pads.
• Ask for help. Work, family, friends, neighbors, whoever your people are.
• Let things around the house simply not get done. Seriously. They can wait. Your pup needs you to be strong for them.
• Talk to your boss. Can you temporarily adjust your schedule? Work from home more? Come home during lunch for a potty break? This is a real caregiving responsibility and it is a family emergency.
• Put up a sign for deliveries: Our girl is a guard dog so every package that came through she always let us know about. At this stage, you just need them to rest. To limit the distraction/noise, we put up a sign for delivery drivers that said: Sensitive Dog, please do not ring bell or open gate/knock on door. Just leave in driveway.
• If there are two of you, have clearly defined shifts. Because I work from home, I'm with our girl most of the day which at the beginning was really hard. So when my fiancé got home from work, it was his turn to take over. I've worked my job and handled her needs all day; he handles her evening needs and hangs out with her while I can shower and take an actual break. In the mornings, it's the reverse. He can get ready for a long day at work at a calm/off-duty pace while I'm on the clock. You don't both have to do 50% of every task. Divide things in whatever way makes sense for your schedules. But knowing when you're ON means the other person can actually be OFF. And you can always adjust as you go.

Our must-haves / things we use daily

• Pee pads. So many pee pads. Costco became our go-to for these.
• Wet wipes + poop bags within arm's reach at all times.
• A good enzyme cleaner. Biokleen has been our MVP for accidents and laundry.
• 2 beds / backup bedding. If they have an accident, one can always be in use while the other is in the wash.
• A dedicated dog-laundry basket Right by the door/laundry room
• Help 'Em Up harness once it was appropriate for her stage of recovery.
• A packed go-bag by the door so PT/vet/park trips don't require gathering everything from scratch. Wet wipes, pads, treats, hand sani, poop bags, water bowl.
• Crocs/water shoes. Trust me, you'll get peed on. Helpful for easy cleaning.
• Plain Greek yogurt. We'd give our girl about 1–2 tbsp with her food every day and found it really helped with the strong urine smell. Check with your vet first to make sure dairy is okay for your pup.
• A playpen after crate rest, once cleared by her care team. Allows them to be a part of the house again but still contained.

Nice to have / made our lives easier

• Diaper Genie for containing the smell of used pee pads in the house.
• Pet carpet/upholstery cleaner. We love the Shark StainStriker Hair Pet Pro
• Extra water bowls around the house. Everywhere.
• Duplicate supplies in the car: pee pads, wipes, poop bags, towel, hand sani, etc.
• Stroller for longer outings once cleared for them.
• Recurring deliveries for the stuff you constantly run out of.

Other Suggestions

• Make medication as easy as you can. Especially at the beginning, when there can be multiple medications at different times, keep everything together and have some way of marking that a medication was actually given. Whiteboard, checklist, collaborative Notes app, whatever works.
• Put supplies where you actually need them. We started putting little baskets/stations around the house with pee pads, wet wipes, poop bags, enzyme cleaner and towels. Don't keep the wipes beautifully organized in the hall closet if you always need them in the living room. This is not an aesthetic time. Especially in the beginning, you may literally need one hand to hold your dog up. Store things where they're easy to grab.

Pee, poop & laundry

There will be SO. MUCH. PEE. And poop. Right after surgery, they may not have full control of their bladder/bowels. For us, stuff just came when it came for the first 4–5 months. It was hard. But keep in mind: your dog doesn't want to be doing it either. They've been trained their whole lives to go potty outside. They don't want to pee in their bed. They don't want to pee on themselves. So no shaming them. Just accept it, clean it up and move on.

Put the nice rugs away for now. Pee pads on and around the bed. Have backup bedding ready. Put dirty dog stuff straight into its own laundry basket.

In laundry, add some biokleen, vingegar and an additional enzyme detergent. We like dirty labs but any will do! That'll make sure the pee smell doesn't linger.

Behavior / emotional changes

This was something we weren't prepared for. Our girl was already spicy. Fearful/anxious, very guard-doggy (Min Pin girl), not great with strangers or kids, HATED being picked up. Add pain, medications, restricted movement, being handled constantly and losing a huge amount of independence? I'd be pissed too!

After surgery she could be really difficult emotionally. Biting/nipping, growling when we'd try to pick her up or help her, refusing medication, spitting pills out. You name it.

We had to get much better at listening to her signals and giving her autonomy wherever we safely could. It's very hard not to take it personally. It still happens every now and then, but I'm much better at shrugging it off. She's telling me "no, I don't want that" the only way she knows how.

For us, working on her anxiety eventually became part of her overall care alongside the physical rehab. Reconcile and Clonidine have been essential for her care and overall well being. Ask your vet if you're dealing with a lot of big emotions/sensitivites.

After crate rest: transition to a playpen

Once our pup was cleared to graduate from strict crate rest, a baby playpen was one of our best purchases. We lined the whole thing with pee pads, put her bed and blankets inside, and suddenly she had a safe little area where she could hang out with us without someone physically sitting next to her every second.

We still have ours set up a year later. She's mobile enough now that she would absolutely try to hobble-run around the house if given the opportunity, and we don't want to risk another injury.

No couch privileges for a long time. This was really hard for us because she spent a lot of time on the couch with us before. The playpen let her be part of normal household life again while still protecting her.

Make your house work for the dog you have NOW

After surgery and as they're recovering and learning to walk, for the time being, you have a dog with disabilities so make your house work for them. We have water bowls EVERYWHERE now. Coffee table, bedroom dresser, floor, wherever we tend to hang out with her. Harness and sling by the door. Pee pads where the pee happens. Supplies where we use them. Raised food and water bowls to ease pain on neck and back. Don't organize your house around what looks nicest right now.

STAY & RELEASE Commands

Once your dog starts being able to lift themselves and safely stand for short periods, STAY will become your best friend.

At first, you need two hands for EVERYTHING. You're supporting your dog while trying to unfold the stroller, move a pee pad, grab the leash, open the door. I constantly felt like I needed a third hand.

Eventually our girl got strong enough to stand safely for short periods, which was amazing, but it also meant she could decide to start moving before we were ready.

A reliable stay + release changed everything.

I can get her positioned, say "stay," take my hands off for a few seconds to unfold the stroller or grab something, then come back, grab the slip leash on her harness and "release" her.

Obviously, only once your vet/PT team says your dog is physically capable of safely holding that position.

Teach LEFT & RIGHT

This is another tiny thing that has been surprisingly helpful: start saying "left" and "right" every time you go in that direction together.

When you're helping support your dog's back end with a harness, you really do have to learn how to move as a team.

We started simply saying "left" or "right" as we turned. You don't need to make it a big training session, just narrate it every time.

Eventually, through repetition and muscle memory, our girl learned what both directions meant. Treat/reward as they start making the connection.

Now I can tell her where we're going before we turn and we move together instead of me steering her body.

On that note, talk to them way more in general

Name things. Talk to them. When so much of their independence has disappeared, giving them ways to understand and participate in what you're doing is really valuable and works their brains when they're probably going a little stir-crazy.

We're now at the point where our girl can be on the couch with us (after LOTS of built trust and STAY work). If she wants water but obviously can't jump down to get it, so she'll bark/huff at me.

I'll say, "Water?"

Eventually she learned that if she licks her lips/nods when I say "water," she gets it. Then I grab one of our approximately 900 strategically placed water bowls for her. We've learned how to communicate with each other in a completely different way. Dogs are so resilient and smart. I've learned so much patience from her and honestly just to SLOW the fuck down. When in doubt, SLOW THE FUCK DOWN.

Take videos to track progress

Film the normal walking. From behind. From the side. Getting up. Standing. Not just the exciting milestone videos. When you see your dog every day, tiny improvements are almost impossible to notice. Those videos are helpful for your PT/vet team, but they're also incredibly helpful for you.

Sometimes you think nothing has changed until you watch a video from three months ago.

Remember dogs fluctuate, too

Was that step better? Why is that foot doing that? She did this yesterday, why can't she do it today? Is she worse??? You can drive yourself absolutely insane. Dogs fluctuate just like people do. Our girl can have a super active day (nowadays that looks like going to the park or just a PT appt) and then need a lot of extra recovery/rest the next day. She's always stiffer in the morning. Sometimes she needs to stretch and take her time getting out of bed, so I let her while I get breakfast ready. Don't get discouraged because they need a slower day after a high energy one.

Train a backup caregiver BEFORE you desperately need one

If there's a friend, family member or sitter who may eventually care for your dog, teach them while you're there. Have them actually use the harness. Support your dog. Do a potty trip.

Make a simple cheat sheet with meds, potty routine, how to lift/support them, what's normal for your dog, what constitutes an emergency and vet information.

Especially if you have a tough/spicy dog like we do, you need someone who actually knows the routine.You deserve a break too.

Give them choices wherever you can (safely)

So much choice gets taken away from them. Where they can go. How they move. When they're picked up. When they're confined. What their body can physically do. So when something doesn't matter medically, let them choose.

Do you want love? Where do you want to sniff today? Want to go outside? Want to ride in the stroller?

And when you get frustrated, remember: they don't want this either

There have been plenty of moments where I JUST changed the bedding and she peed on it. Or I was exhausted. Or frustrated. Or overwhelmed by how much our lives had changed. Or there was pee all over me. Or she nipped at me when I was just trying to help.

These are the things we reminded ourselves when we needed to reset:

• She doesn't want this either. She doesn't want to pee in the house. She doesn't want to pee on herself. She doesn't want any of it, but it's how things are right now. We're in this together.
• She didn't choose for her body to work differently.
• She doesn't understand why she suddenly can't do things she used to do.
• This experience is incredibly hard on the caregiver, but she is the one actually going through it, feeling the pain and confusion of IVDD.
• Progress isn't linear. It's small steps every day. Sometimes one step forward, two steps back.
• Her life can look different and still be a really good life.

One year later, our girl's life looks completely different. But it is still very, very much her life. And we are all better for it. If you made it this far, I'm sorry it was so long! I hope something in here was helpful or comforting. You're doing great and your dog loves you no matter what <3333

Yesterday we brought our 6 year old dog to the emergency vet after experiencing some unusual behavior (hesitant to jump on/off furniture, use stairs, bowing head to reach food/water bowl, etc.). The vet informed us that they believe our dog has a ruptured disc and prescribed anti-inflammatory/pain meds, along with recommended crate rest. This is all coming a bit fast to us as our dog was acting normal up until a few days ago.

The one piece that I am most worried about is that we live on the second floor of an apartment that does not have an elevator. Our dog is also 60 pounds, and I worry that if I attempt to carry her down the stairs I could further injure her by not carrying her correctly.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I am happy to hear any and all recommendations to make the proper adjustment so that our dog is as comfortable as possible.

These posts are probably commonplace here so I apologize in advance. My dog, Macaroni, is a Pitbull bulldog mix. We don’t know how old he is, unfortunately. The estimate is around 10, but he could be older.
5 months ago Mac had his first IVDD flare. I don’t know what stage he was at, but he was not immobile. We were able to recover him with gabapentin, prednisone, and rest.
About 2 weeks ago he had a very sudden decline. He is now paralyzed in his back legs and can not control when he pees or poops. Once again I am not sure what stage he is. We did not opt to do an MRI or get surgery because we just can’t afford to.
He is still alert, he still drinks water and has a very healthy appetite.
We currently have him on prednisone again but are not seeing any improvements in his leg movements or incontinence. Diapers are a terrible fit on him and we live on the 3rd floor of a building with no elevator so taking him outside in his current condition is a production. Our home is too small to accommodate any kind of dog wheelchair situation if he did improve to that level in the future. We also have another dog who is not getting half the attention she used to.

I have scheduled euthanasia in 4 days and I’m going through the entire spectrum of grief, especially the guilt. I can’t stop crying at home l, crying at work, just crying. I keep obsessing over reading stories about dogs who survived similar levels of this disease and questioning if I’m being a bad owner or throwing in the towel too soon. Is there a life where he’s just disabled, and what kind of life is that? Am I an asshole for not seeing what that life is?
He’s an old boy, he’s blind, has dental disease, and a lot of recent muscle wasting. He lost 3 lbs of muscle between his two flare ups. I look at him and I see he’s sick… but he looks back and is still completely there… and it’s killing me.

My dog Maggie has been dealing with suspected cervical IVDD for almost 8 weeks — has anyone else had a dog take this long to recover conservatively?

I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience with their dog, especially dogs with cervical IVDD/neurologic weakness who were treated conservatively and took a long time to improve.

Maggie is a 13-year-old Chihuahua, about 6 lbs. Everything started at the end of June. She suddenly became very wobbly and was having trouble with her left side, particularly her left front leg. She was slipping, knuckling, and generally seemed unsteady. We took her the vet on 6/29, and based on her neurological exam they suspected a cervical disc problem affecting primarily the left side.

She was prescribed steroids initially (prednisolone) and gabapentin, and we started strict conservative management. She has essentially been on crate/rest restrictions since this began — no running, jumping, stairs, playing, or normal free-roaming. She is only allowed out for bathroom trips and very controlled movement, with couch/lap time only when supervised.

The frustrating part is that her recovery has been very slow and inconsistent.
She initially had periods where she could barely use the left front leg. At one point she was dragging her nails and frequently knuckling. Over time there has been some improvement, but she is still significantly weaker and more wobbly on that side.

Currently, she is mostly happy, eating and drinking normally, going to the bathroom normally, and doesn’t seem painful.
But neurologically, she still isn’t back to normal.
Her biggest remaining issue is the left front leg. She will still knuckle that paw, particularly when she crouches down to urinate or defecate, and she can be very wobbly. Interestingly, when she is walking quickly on our concrete patio, she sometimes looks almost normal. Other times she is noticeably weak or awkward with that leg. She also seems to be weakest first thing in the morning after sleeping all night.

There have been a couple of times where she seemed worse temporarily (including increased knuckling), which obviously scares me, but then she improved again.
She’s not acting painful. She’s bright, happy, eating, drinking, peeing and pooping normally, and wants to do more than we’re currently allowing her to do.

We’re now approaching 8 weeks since the original onset, and I’m struggling with how long this recovery should realistically take.
I know that an MRI would be the definitive way to look for a disc problem or rule out other things, and we’ve discussed that possibility. I’m not completely opposed to it, but because she is an older dog, is otherwise doing well, isn’t painful, and has shown at least some gradual improvement, I’m hesitant to put her through anesthesia and the expense/stress of an MRI if she may simply be a very slow conservative recovery.

At the same time, I’m starting to worry that maybe this isn’t IVDD at all, or that something else could be contributing to the persistent weakness.

So I’m really hoping to hear from people who have actually been through something similar:

Did your dog take 8+ weeks to show significant improvement from IVDD with conservative treatment?

I know every dog is different, and I’m not looking for a diagnosis from Reddit. I would just really appreciate hearing other people’s experiences with dogs who had a similarly slow recovery, because it’s incredibly difficult to know whether Maggie just needs more time or whether I should be pushing for further diagnostics.

Thank you ❤️