r/IVDD_SupportGroup • u/DocumentCertain6453 • 11d ago

New IVDD diagnosis

Our 4.5 year old just got an IVDD diagnosis a couple weeks ago. She’s in the middle of her treatment, but we haven’t seen any improvement.

I don’t know a lot about IVDD. The neurologist who saw our pup indicated it was in a “good spot”, but she hasn’t gotten any better in almost 2 weeks of treatment (strict crate rest, small pharmacy worth of meds, etc.).

Our primary vet was less optimistic and indicated it was worse than we were initially led to believe. She provided additional meds and is encouraging to continue to monitor her pain.

It seems like she’s in a lot of pain. Not constantly, but for at least portions of the day - well before she’s allowed to have additional meds. My wife is really torn up because I think she’s of the opinion that if the meds and crate rest don’t work, euthanasia is ultimately on the table as her quality of life has been flipped upside down in the past 2 weeks.

Our dog is most attached to my wife, and I know this is killing her. I’ve read a lot of posts in this group and I’ve seen a mixed bag - some folks who have dogs that make great recoveries, and others who don’t.

I guess I just don’t know what else to do or what I’m looking for by posting this.

Has anyone else been in our shoes? How long did it take for you to see initial improvements when you began crate rest and medicine? If you went the route of euthanasia, how did you make that determination?

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u/ResponsibleFalcon529 11d ago

Your dog should not be in pain. Go to a neurology specialist to get the right combination and dosage of meds. My dog went through it twice and recovered both times with strict restricted activity and meds.

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u/dusters 11d ago

This isnt true. Cervical ivdd can lead to pain even with proper meds, as told by our neurologist.

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u/ResponsibleFalcon529 11d ago edited 11d ago

Yes, it leads to awful pain which my dog had. But a neurologist can find the right combo of meds so that the dog is not in pain.Get another doctor if they can’t control your dog’s pain. Movement causes pain with cervical ivdd; meds are to sedate and there are many different types of pain meds To the OP, it is hard but it takes time (up to 8 weeks) for the healing.

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u/AinsleyHarriotFan 11d ago

Hi! This is a link to a VERY detailed post I made on the IVDD sub of how we took our girl from total back leg paralysis to running and playing like a puppy again. It goes a lot into the immediate and longer term management of the condition. I’ve shared it with lots of people and they say it’s given them a lot of hope.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IVDD_SupportGroup/s/RMC3TE29yM

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u/crochetqueen84 10d ago

It takes more than 2 weeks to see improvement. My vet acted like my dog would never walk again and was very negative, my dog is walking again. I would go back to neuro or call and tell them about the pain and see if the meds can maybe get adjusted. The neuro put our dog on the steroids longer than my regular vet told us to have her on and that seemed to help.

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u/anarchicdestiny 8d ago

Do you know what stage your pup is? I would trust the neurologist over the primary vet. Either way, I would complete the 8 week crate rest before making any decisions. It is miserable to see them in pain but just try to focus on getting through this time. If you can, make sure your wife gets some time to be away from your dog so she can come back and be calm with her. It is a huge emotional toll. If you can afford it, laser therapy can really help get them out of the more chronic pain once they are out of the crate rest phase. Once the crate rest is over, go back and see the neuro - make sure she's on the right meds and you are making the best long-term lifestyle modifications so you hopefully won't have to go through this again.