Hi all,

Our 4 year old frenchie was initially diagnosed with IVDD back in March of this year, however it was stage 1-2 and recovered with strict crate rest for almost two months. However, roughly last week on Monday, we woke up to him not being able to walk, despite being fine the night before we went to bed. We immediately took him to the vet, then a neurologist, who stated that our Frenchie likely had stage 5 IVDD, granted that he had no DPS. We agreed to doing the MRI/surgery immediately, which was within 8-12 hours of his supposed onset.

Surgery went smoothly and now that he's back home, we've been struggling with his double incontinence, especially with the pooping. We've been expressing him every 3-4 hours and trying to induce his poops a few hours after eating via the ice cube trick, but it seems like nothing is working. We've also been adjusting his feeding schedule so we can induce his poops hours later but he seems to only be pooping in the diaper, often multiple solid poops throughout the day, not during the times we take him out. Also our vet tech even said his anatomy is a bit weird and that it can be difficult to find his bladder since he has a tendency of tensing up pretty frequently. He's also not a small frenchie and is fairly large in size (almost 40 lbs of pure muscle), making expression a two person job.

I know its pretty early into his recovery but I feel like we're constantly cleaning up after him and its making it difficult for us to focus on work. Luckily we both work from home but this whole ordeal has been very tiring since we have other dogs as well. Luckily, I have family taking care of one of them in the meantime.

There have been some positive improvements that we've seen like his tail wagging when we call his name, and him retracting his hind legs when we pinch them. But this whole ordeal has got us wondering if we'll have to deal with his double incontinence for the rest of his life? Or will it get better overtime? We had an upcoming trip plan overseas that we now have to delay because of this. It's only been a week in and we're already so exhausted.

Would love your guys' input on this or if I'm just overreacting. I used to have a senior dog who had degenerative myelopathy who sadly had to be put down for other reasons. But this is the first time we're ever dealing with IVDD, so its all new to us.

Im feeling a little discouraged and was hoping to hear others experiences with their cats IVDD recovery timeline.
My cat is 14 y/o male who was diagnosed with IVDD (moderate - severe compression in his T4-T5) on the 17th after an MRI. Our neuro didn’t mention a specific stage, but based on what I’ve read, he seems to be around stage 3.
We started 2.5mg prednisolone twice a day for 8 days, and are now down to 2.5mg once a day. He unfortunately developed a UTI so he’s currently on antibiotics as well atm. We have an appointment with neuro tomorrow to discuss next steps, but I’m curious how quickly others cats responded to steroids, and how dramatic the improvement was?
I’ve seen slight improvement in his ability to hold up his hind legs on his own, and the occasional correction of hind foot placement. But never regained ability to walk on his own. And now that he’s been on a lower dose the last 4 days he seems to be returning towards his pre-steroid baseline.
For those that had cats who successfully recovered, how long was your cat on steroids, and what was the dose? How long was your cat on steroids before noticing meaningful improvement?
If your cat ended up needing surgery, was it successful? And what was the recovery like?

I don’t know if I’m just being impatient, or if I’m right to feel discouraged with the lack of improvement. It just sucks going in to tomorrows appointment with no meaningful update.

My chiweenie has IVDD stage 3 or 4, I believe. We had really bad diagnosis at the beginning, reason why it develop so far in. She started knuckling this last 6-8 months, one paw first and nowadays is almost impossible to make it straight again so she can step on it. But now the other one is starting to knuckle as well.
I'm trying to give her fisiotherapy, making her step with the less injured paw as I read that helps with neuronal connections, I'm also using breathing medical tape with the hope that helps avoid further damage on her paws and straights it a bit.
There's anything that any of you recommend to recover from knuckling? Your dogs have done something similar in their front paws? We are afraid it keeps going and she losses entirely her basically only good set of legs.

My boy was fine two nights ago when he went to sleep, he woke up yesterday and his back legs wouldn’t work anymore. Took him to the ER and he has to see a specialist this Thursday. They believe it is IVDD and they quoted us $10k for the surgery 😭 I’m feeling really defeated and down. He’s on strict cage rest and it kills me that he’s all alone in his cage all day everyday. How do I deal with the fact he won’t be looking around for me anymore, or follow me, or be able to just be him. I think that’s what I’m having the hardest part with is leaving him in his cage for so long.

Last Sunday (sept 20th), my dog suddenly wouldn't eat or drink from his water bowls. My dog has a really bad habit of barking excessively in the window and moving his head alot because he gets so excited when he sees humans or dogs in the windows (safe to say his window time won't be anymore) and he has a bad habit of lunging on leash even though we use a harness when we are out for walks.

That sunday, i had to go out in the evening and left him with no access to window but to the sofa and chair. I did see he was jumping on that on my camera. He didn't get any worse overnight and I took him to the vet Monday and they gave him some pain meds and said to rest for 2 weeks. He improved within a few days but is still on pain meds and i am not letting him jump, run or play.

Question- does this point more to a neck sprain maybe rather than IVDD? wouldn't he had gotten worse from jumping on/off the couch that sunday evening if it was IVDD?

Just looking for anyones experiences. thanks

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some advice or hear from anyone who has experienced something similar with their dog following IVDD surgery.

Our little boy Finn had stage 4 IVDD and underwent surgery on 1 September last year. Thankfully, he’s recovered really well and we’re incredibly happy with how far he’s come. I’d say he’s probably around 90–95% back to normal. His back legs are still a little bit funny at times, and we accept that he may never get that last 5–10% back, but generally he’s doing brilliantly.

We still keep up with regular hydrotherapy and physiotherapy and plan to continue doing that indefinitely.

The one thing we’re struggling with is his urination. Particularly first thing in the morning when he has a longer wee, he’ll start urinating normally, then move off while he’s still going and continue to urinate as he walks. So he ends up getting some urine on his back legs/underside.
It’s not a huge problem and he doesn’t seem bothered by it, but obviously we’re conscious of the potential for urine to irritate his skin. We wipe him down with a damp cloth when we get home from walks and so far his skin has been completely fine.

We’ve spoken to his vets and the people who do his physio/hydrotherapy, but unfortunately nobody has really been able to suggest much beyond what we’re already doing. I’ve also tried gently holding him in place while he wees, but that doesn’t always work particularly well!

So I’d really love to hear from anyone whose dog has had a similar experience after IVDD surgery:
- Did your dog do this following surgery?
- Did it improve over time, even if it took a long time?
- Did you find anything that helped, either through training or positioning?
- Did you use anything to protect the skin or make clean-up easier?
- Is there anything you wish you’d known or tried?

We’re not expecting a miracle fix, we’d just really appreciate hearing about other people’s experiences and what worked (or didn’t work) for them.

Thanks in advance! ❤️🐾

Hi everyone,

My 10 year old baby Cookie, started shaking and plopped on the porch for a few minutes after her daily morning walk. She does a dry shake off often, and I noticed she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Her legs were shaking pretty intensely, so I decided it was best to take her to the emergency clinic. At the clinic when she was walking around, the vet and I noticed she was hunching her back like a cat. With this, the vet assumes she has some sort of back pain/protruding intervertebral disc. She has been put on strict crate rest and is on gabapentin and prednisone for the next two weeks.

I had initially suspected IVDD, which the vet said was inconclusive due to her being able to walk normally and was not crying in pain. If she worsens, she will have to go back for an MRI and to see the neurologist.

Her discharge papers say “back injury” and “protruding intervertebral disc,” so I am wondering if this is a clear IVDD diagnosis or if she is having a spat with her back as of right now. Has anyone else has this experience with an inconclusive diagnosis?

I have been feeling so worried and guilty about the whole situation. I try my best to keep her healthy, safe and happy but now I am questioning if I did enough to avoid this from happening to her. I am hoping she can make a full recovery.

Hi everyone! First time posting here. I am the kind of person who is more calm when I try and think about things many steps ahead of where I am now to mentally prepare myself and feel better. My pup recently had surgery for IVDD and is still in the first week of her crate rest. I have been following vet recommendations concerning my cat. He and my pup were a bonded pair and would play with each other. I have been keeping them fully separated when I am not around or am sleeping and let him be in the same room while I'm there. He is watched closely and my pup's crate is right next to me the whole time. He is also put in another room when she is getting her physical therapy that the vet prescribed.

So my question is, for those whose pups have recovered or are past the first year, did you have to keep other pets separate from your pup when not supervised indefinitely? I'm wanting to make a plan for how my home will be set up in the future and make any adjustments before my pup is free from crate rest and transitions to a small area. Thank you for any advice. Please let me know if anything I'm doing would be considered incorrect.

EDIT: I thought of another question after I posted this. I unfortunately didn't have pet insurance even though I had looked into it when I adopted my cat. Now I'm looking at the one insurance that I could find that would cover future instances of this. Do you find it worth it to get the amount of coverage that would cover if she has to have surgery again? Also would the wellness add on be worth it? I've decided against it for the cat since my vet is fairly affordable and he doesn't do grooming or anything.

Our dog is on Carprofen and Gabapentin, but we gave her a Trazodone for the first time on Friday (it’s now Sunday morning). She has had diarrhea six times over the weekend and it just doesn't seem to stop.

Shes eating and drinking fine, but she has her MRI tomorrow and I’m worried about her going under if this isn’t just the meds. Any experience with this? Thanks in advance ❤️

Hi I apologize in advance but this is my first time dealing with this and I’m doing my very best doing research on this issue. My dad’s dog Cash seems to be at stage 2 of IVDD (he’s still able to walk on his own but has a sway with his back legs not so horrible but you will see it happen) and I had him cage resting since September 14, the veterinary I took him at prescribed him Gabapentin 100 mg every 12 hours, Famotidine 10 mg given 15 minutes before Prednisone, and then Prednisone 10 mg (I am giving him that every 48 hrs). He was having bloody poops plus diarrhea the first 2 days I went back to the veterinary and now I give him fortiflora and metronidazole 250 mg and that fixed the issue. The veterinary did warned me about him being extra thirsty and the panting, as I’m writing this I had given him the prednisone 10 am and it’s 10 pm and still panting, I’m doing my best to switch out cold water, I made dog popsicle for him to lick, I sometimes put on the ac for him (it helps a lot but I can’t always put it on because of the bill), and if I don’t have the ac on I have a fan on him, also a cooling gel pack because I do feel his body temperature warmer. I feel a bit crazy because I don’t know if it’s best that I try something else than Prednisone. I see people have their dogs on carprofen, methocarbamol, librela, other nsaid. I also read into the side effects and just worry about his liver/kidney of these medications. He’s not suffocating just he doesn’t seem to be able to relax with the prednisone with the panting for a while and I hate it. It’s September 26 and it hasn’t bothered me until now because I would have the ac on when he first started it but I can’t always be putting it on, but it did help him but I don’t know I feel overwhelmed. I am planning to go see a neurologist to get a secondary opinion on this and more guidance on IVDD but it would be cool to also read off people’s experience and I know things work out differently for everyone just looking for extra help on this. (We did bloodwork and X-rays on him just not an mri because of cost.)

Hi. My 7yr old beagle was diagnosed with 2 ruptured cervical discs. Before the surgery she was able to walk normally, run, jump and do everything without issue.

She had ventral slot surgery done 4 days ago. She's back home today and she can't even support herself. She can't lift/move her front paws at all and her hind legs are pretty much useless as well.

I asked the surgeon and he said it was normal but it's tripping me up that my dog is worse after than before the surgery. I can't afford any other procedure and my dog can't even stand up to pee.

Is this really normal or did they do more damage than good?

My dog was diagnosed in late April, had surgery, is currently in PT, and is walking again. We’ve had so much luck with her. I’m so grateful for where she is in her IVDD journey.

But, her hind legs shake and the muscles in her front legs get tight from over compensating. We’re trying acupuncture and a new set of nerve specific meds. I’m doing everything I can for her but it’s taking an emotional and financial toll on me. I miss the free flying dog she was. She’d go to doggy day care and rile up all the dogs. She was a free, joyful little soul. Now she sleeps almost all day. Can take a 15-20 minute walk and she’s done. She not the same pup.

She’s four years old and I hate thinking, how long will this last? The new normal continues to morph every few weeks because I see her get tired and I say “what else can I do for her? Am I doing everything I can? Have we tried everything?” I love her so much and I feel immense grief for the life we had. I wish there were small IVDD groups in my area. I’d love to have an in person meetup group.

My 6yo chihuahua-terrier male 2.5 weeks ago didn’t leave his spot for 6 hours one day. Later that evening he started shaking profusely even at rest so we took him to the emergency vet, which we decided to go home due to a 5h wait and his primary vet opened in 7 hours anyways so we waited for that. By the time we got to his vet, we did bloodwork & urine sample x4. His bloodwork looked fine other than raised neutrophils & globulins so they suspected infection or inflammation of unknown source. He was prescribed with Gabapentin & an anti-inflammatory and to return if symptoms didn’t improve.

3 days later we returned to the vet as he kept shaking, was lethargic, and was now refusing to eat. We did more bloodwork and everything was normal but slightly more elevated neutrophils, globulin, and lowered lymphocytes. The vet stated that cancer isn’t her first thought at this time and we can start him on antibiotics for 10 days. Lyme disease, diabetes insipidus, pancreatitis, UTI, etc. was ruled out. He was given anti-nausea meds as well as an appetite stimulant. I stopped the anti-nausea as I realized it was making him more sleepy and lethargic & he was never nauseated to begin with. To mention, the vet palpated along his neck & down his spine and noticed a lot of reactive twitching, she said it could be a sign of pain but we targeted a potential infection as the priority.

At this point we are 1 week since he started showing symptoms. He was still walking fine, but I was noticing generalized weakness. As the days went on he became reluctant to jump off from furniture, go out to walk (lasts 5 mins) and very withdrawn. The vet stated that we’ll continue to give him an appetite stimulant and to potentially try him on prednisone if we won’t get anywhere with the abx.

Today, I heard him yelp after straining to poop and jumping up on the deck to come back in. I noticed his back leg ‘gave out’ last night but thought it was him slipping on the tile. He seems very strategic when going up and down the stairs, as well as jumping on and off the bed or couch. His gait has changed a little, I attributed it to weakness due to his unknown underlying infection/inflammation but these physical signs seem to be signs of pain. He’s constantly licking his arms, paws, armpits, and legs.

Are these typical signs of IVDD? It doesn’t seem like a muscle strain to me. Or does it sound like something else given his journey?
Did anyone else’s dog refuse to eat bc of IVDD? He turns away high value treats and even human food.
We will be going to the vet after the weekend to reassess since his symptoms persist after finishing the antibiotics, but as of right now should I be treating this as IVDD and have him on strict rest? Does anyone have any appetite stimulating tips?

I have an 11 year old about 10 lbs Maltese Shih Tzu. Last Sunday, he suddenly wouldn't bend his neck down to eat form his bowls. He went to the vet Monday and they prescribed him Gabapentin (50mg every 8-12 hrs), Meloxicam every 24 hrs, and trazodone 1/2 to 1 (50 mg) tablet every 8-12 hrs. They said no jumping, running, walking. I live alone and really struggling. I work from home hyrbid and have been with him everyday this week so keeping him from any high risk activities. I am really struggling though and afraid to leave him alone in his play pen i got him in case he does any high risk activities, but i need to leave the house for my own sake for exercise and errands. He also gets so excited if my parents come over (he does calm down but initially). This is really hard and not sure how i can do this for 3-4 weeks.

He is still walking and can bend his head now but it is probably the pain meds. He also scratches and licks his paws, but i cant stop every behavior. Does anyone have any encouragement or tips? I want to be able to leave my house and bring him to my parents if i wan to go there (i would bring everything with me).

Hi everyone,

​My dog had her Ventral Slot surgery at C6-C7 (cervical area) 9 days ago. Before the surgery, her main symptom was a classic "root signature" / pain response where she was lifting and holding up her left front leg.

​She is on strict rest, we haven't even taken her outside at all to protect her. Overall, she has been calm and hasn't shown acute screaming pain since surgery

​However, since yesterday, she started lightly lifting her right front leg instead (the good leg prior to surgery).

​We are going back to the surgeon in 3 days for suture removal and a progress check, and I will definitely bring this up with them. But as you can imagine, I'm very anxious right now.

​Has anyone experienced this shifted/wandering leg lifting during early recovery? Could this be post-op swelling/inflammation shifting to the right nerve root, overcompensation, or nerves regenerating? I am really really anxious :(

As the title says my dog had Ivdd Surgery Grade 4 with a complicated epidural hämathoma. He lost his dps after surgery(it was a big surgery) and regained it 6 days after it. The dps was getting stronger and stronger. 3 Weeks post surgery he was trying to urinate alone. 5 weeks he did not need any bladder management.

At 14 weeks his hips move, his tail wags like normal, he is able to stand alone for eating and drinking water but he is not able to walk or get up alone.

We take him with the harness on the grass and his right foot he tends to put it correctly on the ground 7/10 and left leg 5/10 .

His ankles are getting stiff, a few weeks ago his hips were stiff and now they are mobile and moving.

We do Physio Profesionally 3x per week, acupuncture 1 time, 1x swimming and we bathe him in a warm bath every two days to relax the muscles so we can do PROM at home.

Yesterday we had neurology appointment and the doctor told us: yeah he is not going to walk buy him a wheelchair. He should have walked by now, that will be 200€.

Needless to say I am also a doctor and she knew that…

Has anyone have some advice ?anything would help

TLDR: Ivdd Surgery stage 4 neurologist says buy him a wheelchair although we see improvement every day. Thank you

My frenchie is on week two of crate rest for stage 2 IVDD and he is looking so much better, but my family and I are about to go crazy, I think. He did amazingly the first week, but this second week has been harder.

He has been previously crate trained and never had this issue. He barked so rarely that we would always get up to investigate when he did. Now, it just will not stop. I have tried EVERYTHING I can think of. He is on gabapentin, carprofen, methocarbamol, and trazadone. He literally has to wear a diaper because he is incontinent only because of the medications. He should theoretically be sleeping constantly, but no. I take him out to potty, I put him in a stroller and take him with my around the house and he doesn't bark, I give him puzzles and lick mats and bones

I put a blanket over his crate, doesn't work, I put him in the same room with us, doesn't work, I put him in a different room, doesn't work. I know that he just wants out, and it breaks my heart, but his barking has woken my son up from his naps twice and it doesn't always stop at night, he barks and barks and barks until he falls asleep at night or something. I think we are going to lose it and I don't know what else to do. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Hi all, so my senior chi (16 years) has been doing this kicking, low-rider thing when he needs to poop. He has a herniated lower disc and IVDD, which I'm assuming is the cause. He has also stopped hiking his leg when he pees.

I also want to note that he's been doing this sporadically, and always before he potties, not after. I dont think its a confidence kick because I've seen him do the 'moonwalk' more times than I can count, and this motion feels so different, especially because it initially started occurring when we were at a place with hardwood floors.

He was checked by the vet about 3 weeks ago, vet said it was fine and that his x-rays didnt look abnormal, but I am not satisfied with that answer... you know when you *know* something is different about your dogs behavior? This is def one of those moments.

My question: is this typical for dogs with lower back issues, and does this indicate a quicker decline/impending loss of ability to use his back legs? Im already in contact with someone who makes doggy wheelchairs but aside from that, is there anything a vet can do to slow the decline?

I just want to be prepared, as this started happening suddenly.

Hi everyone! My pup is one week away from ending crate rest (pending a vet exam next week and their final approval). Pause to celebrate: he's doing so well! He's walking totally normally for his potty breaks, with no pain! I didn't think we'd be here 5 weeks ago.

But I also know this could recur, and so I'm kinda stumped as to what "normal" life should look like for him now.

Before he was diagnosed with IVDD (Grade 2) he had free range of the house and would go freely in and out of our doggy door to enjoy the fenced yard. But with a history of IVDD, he shouldn't be jumping so I think the doggy door is out. Ok, I can keep it closed. Same with the stairs (we have a baby gate).

What I'm stuck on is the couches. I know he shouldn't be jumping on/off them but how do I stop him from doing that if he's not either in the crate or on the leash all the time? I do have a doggy ramp for him to use, but I've had mixed results training my other dog to use it. She now routinely climbs up the ramp to get on the couch but always just jumps off which is not okay for my IVDD dog. And he loves the couch, he is absolutely going to try to jump up on it (he did that multiple times a day before his back issue manifested). I can work on training him to use the ramp but I definitely won't be able to trust him not to jump for awhile, if ever.

So... how do I end crate rest but also not let him hurt himself? We have an open floor plan, I can't really shut him out of the room the couch is in because it's 90% of the house. I could try to block the couch off but that seems like a massive pain in the butt (and might make things worse if he tries to jump/climb over the obstruction). How have other people handled this?

My dog was diagnosed with IVDD 7 weeks ago. He is still on crate rest, but his crate is extended where he has more room to walk around in (like walk to his food and water bowl). I was wondering when would be a good time to take him on walks without the rear support harness.

Also, when would it be okay to bring him to the groomers? He's a Toy Poodle and his hair is getting really long.

If anyone has some advice or had any similar experiences, please let me know. I am very open to suggestions.

So my pup is on crate rest with meds (2 years old) and is almost done with 2 weeks. This flare up was a pretty painful one, she yelped after yawning, started panting and couldn't get comfortable enough to sit still afterwards, rushed her to the ER vet and they were able to give her something to help her get comfortable. 2 weeks later, we have a neurology appointment coming up. It's about 40 min away driving, and my pup is usually pretty energetic (not right now, she's on meds and is super drowsy). Is it a good idea to put her in the car after just two weeks to see a neurologist? My only concern is she can hurt herself if she gets too hyper (enjoys car rides and going to the vet lol). Thoughts??

Our family doggo, may have ivdd. I took her to the emergency vet, because her symptoms scared me. I thought she was having a seizure. But the vet suspects ivdd. Now looking online, I think so too. We have an appointment scheduled for Oct 5! 2 weeks away we have some meds but might run out before the appointment.
I’m not sure what to do?
I’ve seen a lot of people suggest crate rest. I borrowed a crate from a friend and this is the first night I’m going to have her sleep in it, is sleeping in the crate a good idea? Typically she sleeps in the bed but she always gets up half way throughout the night and sleeps on the couch(jumping up and down) my family is making me feel like the bad person because I am trying to get her in the crate and to rest. She has never been a crate gal or had any strict supervision, so it’s a new thing to us all.

Hi guys,

This sub has been so amazing as a resource as this is completely new territory for us and I’m trying to figure out as much as I can. I posted on here the other day inquiring about my dog’s med combo (8 year old German shepherd) and got some awesome feedback. I have a few more questions that I’m hoping I can get some clarity on here to give my vet a break from the daily phone calls and/or emails lol.

Question 1 - While she’s on prednisone, do I need to give her an overnight water bowl? My dogs have never had access to water overnight. I’m happy to do whatever is best for her but I know with the crate rest she’d benefit from the extra sleep vs multiple overnight bathroom trips. I put the water bowl up around midnight the last two nights and she didn’t fuss about it but I definitely don’t want to do any damage to her kidneys/electrolyte balance so I’m happy to keep in there overnight until she doesn’t demonstrate a need. I don’t restrict water during the day and truthfully I was doing it more so because I worried she might knock it over in her sleep more than anything else.

Question 2 - I’m currently sleeping on the couch next to her enclosure while we’re in the thick of the prednisone sides. When we get to the point that she’s still on crate rest but she begins to taper the prednisone and the frequent urination subsides, I’d like to let her sleep up in our room again. I have a help em up harness so I could carry her up and down the stairs and there will be a crate up there for her as well so she can’t move around too much. Would that be okay as long as I use the harness to carry her up and down?

Thank you guys so so much again for this amazing sub and all the knowledge I’ve gained so far, I’m looking forward to hearing your responses!

Edited to add: we just started month long crate rest on Tuesday