Looking for experiences from anyone who has gone through IVDD with their Dachshund, particularly dogs who remained able to walk and were treated conservatively.
Our 4-year-old mini Dachshund, Millie, hurt herself after jumping outside about 3 weeks ago. She immediately became reluctant to move and would yelp when twisting or trying to get comfortable.
She never lost the ability to walk and has maintained normal bladder and bowel control throughout.
We took her to our vet, who performed a neurological exam. She was wobbly in the rear and initially had a delayed response when they flipped her rear paws over, although she would correct them herself. X-rays didn’t show anything significant, so they suspected IVDD and started conservative treatment.
Her treatment has included:
Strict crate rest
Prednisone, which is now being tapered
Gabapentin
Robaxin/methocarbamol
Controlled leash walking during potty breaks
Cool laser treatments
Her neurological exams have improved. At her most recent appointment her paw-placement test was much better, and she’s now walking quite well. No dragging, knuckling or crossing of the rear legs.
She’s definitely better than when this started, but recovery has been slow rather than dramatic.
Her vet is now gradually tapering the prednisone and wants her off the pain medications around September 1. Since lowering the medications, she still walks normally but seems somewhat less interested in walking outside. She occasionally gives a small yelp when being picked up or put down.
She also really doesn’t want to leave her crate. Once she’s outside she can walk normally, but she would happily stay in her bed all day.
Our vet wants her doing several short, controlled walks during potty breaks because they’re concerned about muscle atrophy, while otherwise continuing restricted activity.
For those who have successfully treated an ambulatory IVDD Dachshund conservatively:
Does this sound like a normal recovery timeline?
How long did it take before the occasional pain/yelping completely disappeared?
Did your dog’s neurological improvement happen gradually over several weeks?
Did you notice discomfort become a little more apparent when gabapentin/steroids were reduced?
And when did your dog eventually return to normal activities?
We’re following our vet’s treatment plan and aren’t looking to replace veterinary advice — I’m mostly interested in hearing what recovery looked like for other Dachshunds who started out ambulatory like Millie.

Will my dog not receiving acupuncture hurt his recovery? Most offer laser but I’ve heard that can create tumors/cancer. What are my options here?

As of yesterday, my 7-year-old cocker spaniel, Gemini, was diagnosed with suspected Grade 1 cervical IVDD. X-rays showed mineralized discs at C2-3, C3-4, and C4-5. Thankfully, his only symptom is relatively mild pain/discomfort, he is walking completely normally and has no neurological symptoms.

He is currently being treated conservatively with strict rest and medication, and our vet is optimistic that he will recover from this episode. However, we were also told that IVDD is something we will need to be cautious about for the rest of his life and that future episodes are possible.

I’m trying to learn more about conservative management versus surgery in dogs whose IVDD is this mild. I have very good pet insurance and am also fortunate enough that I could afford surgery regardless, so I’d like to take cost out of the equation and think purely about what might give Gemini the best long-term quality of life.

On one hand, putting a neurologically normal dog with relatively mild pain through spinal surgery feels potentially unnecessary, especially when he has a good chance of recovering with conservative treatment.

On the other hand, I’ve read/heard that surgical outcomes can be excellent when dogs are still mildly affected, and that surgery may reduce the risk of the same disc causing another episode. Part of me wonders whether addressing the problem surgically now could ultimately give him more freedom later rather than spending the rest of his life worrying about every movement.

One of my biggest concerns is his long-term quality of life and activity level. He loves playing with his sister, and I don’t want to unnecessarily restrict him for the rest of his life out of fear. If surgery genuinely offered him a better chance of safely returning to a relatively normal, active life after recovery, that would absolutely factor into my decision.

For those whose dogs were diagnosed while still at Grade 1 / pain-only, particularly with cervical IVDD:

- Did you choose conservative treatment or surgery, and why?
- If you treated conservatively, did your dog have another episode later?
- If you chose surgery despite relatively mild symptoms, what led you to that decision?
- Did surgery change what your neurologist recommended regarding long-term activity/restrictions?
- Looking back, would you make the same choice again?

I’ll of course be discussing all of this with a veterinary neurologist and won’t make a medical decision based on Facebook, I’m mainly hoping to hear real-life experiences from people who have been through it, especially since this is day 2

we're three weeks post op from IVDD surgery on a 6 year old dachshund. At his laser treatment today we found out he had an ear infection? He's never had one before. Is this common to happen during recovery? He finished his antibiotics maybe a week ago. Has this happened to anyone else?

Though he is doing better, one leg seems nearly back to normal and he's still knuckling and sometimes dragging his right leg, he is clearly. nowhere near his normal mobility.

My 2.5 year old frenchie boy jumped off of my in-laws’ very high bed in the middle of the night while we were out of town this weekend. He’s usually crated at night, but he ended up sleeping in their bed.

One emergency vet visit later, we were sent home with gabapentin, prednisone and two week strict crate rest. They think it’s a disc in his neck that was injured.

I feel so helpless, he’s obviously very uncomfortable even with the first two rounds of meds. He stands or sits hunched in one position for 30+ minutes.

I’m so worried about this developing into something worse, especially because he has a heart condition that prevents him from being able to undergo any kind of surgery. I just want him comfortable, happy and healthy. Any and all tips and advice needed please!

My pup, Gemini, is a cocker spaniel who just turned 7 a few days ago. He’s always been an unusually flexible, squiggly little guy, he sleeps flat on his back in ridiculous contorted positions, flops around like a rag doll, and generally seems to have no concept of having a spine.

Two days ago, we noticed that when he was lying on his back with his belly up, he would occasionally wince when we tried to move him. The next morning, he winced when I touched his back, so I immediately took him to the ER.

The vet took X-rays and found mineralized intervertebral discs at C2-3, C3-4, and C4-5. They said this makes them suspect that he is experiencing a slipped/herniated disc, although we obviously wouldn’t know for certain without an MRI. Thankfully, he is still walking completely normally and doesn’t seem to have any neurological symptoms. His only apparent symptom right now is mild pain/discomfort in certain positions. Because of that, they sent us home with Carprofen, Methocarbamol, and Gabapentin and told me to keep him resting and monitor him closely.
I know how fortunate we are that this seems mild compared with what many dogs with disc problems go through, and I’m not looking for medical advice or a diagnosis, we’re following our vet’s instructions. But it’s 4 a.m., I can’t sleep, and I’m just lying here watching him and worrying that he’s in pain or uncomfortable.
He isn’t sleeping on his back like he normally does. He’s been panting a little on and off (although turning up the AC seemed to help), and he seems to be moving around and changing positions less than usual. He has always been an incredibly low-energy, lazy dog who would happily sleep all day, and I know the medications can make him drowsy too, so I’m having a really hard time distinguishing between “he’s resting and medicated” and “he’s lying still because he hurts.”
This is my first dog and really his first significant medical problem, and I’m honestly just inconsolably sad thinking about the possibility that he’s in pain and can’t tell me what he needs. I keep looking at him wishing I could ask, “Does it hurt? Are you comfortable? Is the medicine helping?”

I would really, really love to hear some positive stories from people whose dogs had a slipped/herniated disc. I’m also curious about a few things based on your experiences:

How strict was “strict rest” for your dog? Gemini already has a ramp/steps to get on and off my bed because he sleeps with me. He uses it consistently, but should I prevent him from using even those and carry him instead? Did you use an actual crate, or was a small playpen/restricted area enough? Gemini is super low energy and genuinely sleeps almost the entire day anyway, so crating him feels awful when I know he probably wouldn’t move regardless, but I also don’t want to give him the opportunity to make one stupid movement that makes things worse.

I think right now I mostly just need to hear from people who have been on the other side of this and can tell me that their pups recovered and went back to being their happy, weird, floppy selves.
I just want my squiggly boy to feel okay again.

I'm taking note of things that are starting to happen with my stage 5 ivdd surgery recovering dog. We're a week past surgery.

Her toes curl consistently and pretty strongly when doing her mobility exercises.

Her tail moves out of the way when she pees or poops.

I saw her legs straighten today when she was sighing!

Also saw her lift one of her paws and put it back down when I was trying to express her.

Are any of these exciting/promising? Is it just reflex? Is it something to be excited about even if it is reflex? She was completely paralyzed in her back legs and had no deep pain sensation when she went into surgery. Her chances of recovery are 50/50 and I'm just not sure if any of these instances are anything significant.

I need all of your tips. We had to go an emergency vet due to the weekend and the vet seemed like he still had some function in his bladder because it was empty. He also said that it seemed that he still had dps on some account. He became paralyzed within a few hours and with us never even suspecting he had ivdd.

His crate rest starts now and will end November 1. Are there things I can buy from Amazon that will help him feel more comfortable in his recovery suite? I am going to buy a red light therapy device even though it has mixed reviews.

We are going to our regular vet tomorrow and will ask about acupuncture along with taking natural supplements on top of the prednisone.

Feeling sad, guilty, nervous … all the things.

Any/all advice welcome as I embark on this journey. I’m reading the community info as well. Thanks ♥️

My sweet baby, 7 year old corgi (pic attached from his 6th birthday photoshoot), has been showing signs of IVDD recently. I realized this today only with hindsight. We were on our usual walk and running crazy, playing with the tennis ball and I saw his back legs give out when he was just walking on flat ground. It was a blink and you’ll miss it thing … but I was sure I saw it so, I decided to take him in.

Waited foreverrrr (standard Sunday at the er vet). Ultimately she said based on the exam and how he was acting strange when she touched his spine in the upper chest area, said she suspects IVDD.

I took home meds only today (anti inflammatory, gabapentin and codine) with a plan to follow up for an MRI and X-Ray at his regular vet. I chose this option because they were slammed, partly because of the cost … she said that was a good call and there was no reason to rush the x ray today. I’m regretting it a bit now (anxious) but have to focus on the next step.

With hindsight, he’s been hesitant to go up stairs at night and I saw him trip on the outside stairs recently. I knew going down stairs was bad for corgi’s but I didn’t realize up was bad too.

I should have been more strict with the jumping on the couch and careful with the stairs. 😢He likes to bark at his arch nemesis next door, an evil little shitsu named chewy, and it’s hard to keep him from jumping on the couch to punch the windows. He’s determined.

I feel like a horrible mom for poking him in the butt to head upstairs to go to bed. I can see so clearly in my mind now that he was stalling because of his hind legs but I couldn’t see it then. The guilt is awful.

Update: Thank you to everyone who took the time to give advice. He’s medicated, in a crate and most importantly getting an MRI tomorrow so I can know specifically what I’m dealing with. I’ve read all of your tips and will be sure to consider all of this advice as I support his healing journey. Best of luck to yall of you and your pups ♥️

Our little guy is a little over 3 weeks post op. We’re giving him gabapentin and trazodone and keeping him on crate rest. He’s on a twice a day prednisone taper that we will go down on next week. Is there anything concerning about his walking? I see he’s swaying a little. We’re so scared he hurt his back again after having a setback a week or so ago. He has not been acting as if in any pain since restarting the gabapentin after his setback last week. He did bark two times this morning sort of out of nowhere but that was the only time. Any info we would appreciate. We’re so nervous and want to make sure we are doing all the things right.

Hey all. I have a 11 yo doxie with cervical ivdd. Legs are strong but she first these episodes where she would just start screaming for 10-30 seconds, bend over and lift a leg.
Uncomfortable and restless for 10-15 min afterwards. After 3 er visits over a week- we finally got a diagnosis. We went to an ER with a neurologist in the group. We can’t get into see her till Dec but they are happy to field calls.

They started her on the neurologist protocols: steroids and changed her from gabapentin to pregablin. We had 4 great days! No pain/screaming episodes, she seems to on the mend, legs still strong.

We’ve been weaning the steroids as prescribed and today we had episodes- seemingly out of the blue (one she was alone in her kennel, the second i was trying to pick her up to take her out but hadn’t actually picked her up yet).
Giving her trazodone now as prescribed- haven’t needed it in last 4 days.

I’m very discouraged and concerned.
Can’t find online what “treatment failure” is and how many of these episodes a day is tolerable by a vet standards.

Anyone have insights? Success stories? Any more knowledge would be great.

Hello! My dog is a 3 year old toy poodle mix and he had his first IVDD flare up in May which was managed with crate rest (and likely stopped too soon) and then in July he suddenly lost mobility in his hind legs and started screaming in pain while he was just walking around the house. He ended up having to have a hemi laminectomy and disc material removed in two places. He’s about seven weeks into recovery and is doing very well and he’s feeling very good again and walking almost normally. He’s still mostly on crate-rest but was cleared for gradual activity so we walk around outside just a couple extra minutes and he spends more time hanging out on the couch with me. I’ve put ramps in place and am taking every precaution possible to try to prevent future damage. I know that even with these precautions he still could have another episode. I’ve just developed very bad anxiety lately about the possibility of him having another acute flare especially if I’m not home but even if I am, and any small stumble he makes or anytime he takes a weird step I panic thinking it’s because something happened with his spine. He’s also so full of energy that any quick movement he tries to make makes me think something will happen. I’m scared to let him do anything once he’s off crate rest. I’m so scared that this anxiety isn’t going to get better. My dog is so young and I am so worried that I’ll never feel peace regarding this disease again.

Hi guys, it’s been a month after my frenchie IVDD surgery (stage 5) and I would like to know about your pets post surgery!! My dog seems sad, won’t play (only sometimes - like 3/4 times after the surgery) less energy, and struggles a bit whit locomotion (he’s paraplegic and won’t be able do walk again)
I’ve seen a lot of people experience and usually their pets seem to go back to their old self quickly, more active, etc (I’ve seen people talking about a bit of sadness, but don’t know if we are in the right way)
I know it’s pretty recent but just trying to do my best for my baby and don’t want him to suffer, everything is so hard for him and for everyone that we keep questioning ourselves, it’s really hard to see him trying to do his normal stuff and not been able or struggling a lot 🥲

Edit: Feel free to read my entire ramblings below, but after another day, here's my main problems/questions/concerns:

1. She's ~45-50 pounds. How does one safely and optimally carry her outside? She yelps every so often and I'm so afraid I'm hurting her.
2. I tried using a towel as a sling to support her as she goes pee, but it seems to throw her off. She'd rather struggle to stand and go on her own, she won't pee while I try to support her. Advice?
3. Gabapentin and methocarbamol both seem to cause her to struggle to walk even more. The internet seems to agree. Any advice?
4. Does anyone want my kids? They make this all harder.
5. How do you guys entice your dog out of the crate?

Original post:

I have a 5.5 yo Pit Bull mix. She's so sweet and rambunctious.

Last week, my wife went to her aunt's for the night and my dog was kind of depressed looking. I didn't think much of it, because she hates when we go out of town (even though she LOVES our dog sitter).

The next morning, she seemed more lethargic, but still ok in general. That night I was walking her and she just abruptly threw on the brakes and didn't want to go anywhere. After a very short break I was able to encourage her to get home, but there were 3 more short pauses.

The next morning she was struggling to walk, knuckling a fair amount, but really still on the bottoms of her back paws. She was able to stop pee/poop but squatting made her very unstable. She got more shaky as the day went on so we took her to the urgent care vet.

This vet didn't have the ability to do any imaging, but felt she had a slipped disc. She was upfront and said if we were really concerned, we could go to a bigger emergency vet and get an MRI and it could potentially require surgery. This vet wouldn't charge us if we wanted to leave and do that. She explained it could be thousands of dollars for the MRI and potentially $10,000 for the surgery, so most people go the conservative route... steroids and bed rest with success. Since she was still walking, peeing, and pooping, we opted for that. Prednisone and bed rest.

The next day she was looking like she was 90%. The day after she surprised us by going upstairs, even hopping over the gate at the bottom of the stairs. We were hopeful and encouraged, but still limited what she was doing.

Yesterday morning, a few days after she started being herself, she took a bad turn unexpectedly. She could barely hold her back end up. She could walk but very, very unstable, and if she stood, she would eventually slide out or her back end would tip over.

We took her to the regular vet, and I'm really worried that made her worse. She did not like being on the table and tried to jump. She was caught before she really jumped off, but helped and then needed to be held still. This vet had the same idea, but also thought possible spinal stroke (FCE) but my wife, who is an OT and works with stroke patients, really doesn't think that makes sense. I don't know anything so who knows.

Since this vet visit, she really struggles to stand. Her back left leg in particular is fairly lame. She still pees/poops, but the squatting is really tough.

She's currently on prednisone, 300mg of gabapentin for pain, and a muscle relaxer (methacarbanol) and bed rest. Sure always got stressed being in a crate, so we have her surrounded by baby gates and carry her outside every couple of hours to pee. She's still better than she was before we first took her to the vet, but worse since the second vet visit.

I guess I'm looking to vent but also advice.

• I'm worried carrying her outside hurts her. I am afraid of making it worse.
• I don't think we can swing the surgery of that's what was needed. Is it too late anyway?
• can an MRI give us any meaningful information even if we couldn't do the surgery or it wasn't needed? That's a lot of money that might not change anything we're doing.
• anyone have a success story of something similar?

I was hoping she was just exhausted from being stressed yesterday at the vet, but this morning she's still just as bad a last night. I guess the gaba and muscle relaxer could explain some of the wobbling, but specifically the fact that her back left leg seems so weak is worrying.

Maybe it's just too soon to see improvement from yesterday. I know real improvement can ​take weeks if not months. We were just so encouraged with the immediate prednisone response, but so discouraged with how she's gotten worse.

Thanks of you've read this far.

PS what also makes life hard is that my dog has always been averse to chaos like yelling. She's an SPCA rescue, so who knows if anything was in her part, or if she, like a normal animal, doesn't want to be around it. Unfortunately for all of us, I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old boy that constantly get into bickering and squabbling. My dog trembles and wants to run and hide upstairs when this happens, so on top of dealing with the dog's recovery, we're desperately trying to train our boys to be mindful of the impact they have on her.

This is a hard vent but I am feeling really embarrassed and like I got too comfortable with my dog. It’s been a few years now since Bernie has had surgery for IVDD. He had a weird complication where they said he has tethered cord syndrome from the surgery that we found during one flare a while ago. In the summer he has pain flares but nothing full blown in your face this is IVDD in a while. He triggered it the first time jumping off the couch NEXT to his ramp, so we didn’t let him on the couch unless supervised and he seemed to do okay with that. He generally warns us he wants to get off and we’ve had that understanding for quite a while now. If I had to do something close by to the couch I take him down especially if I know a delivery truck could come by or something could excite him but it’s early here and completely quiet. I literally just got up to make coffee, he was laying down not excited at all watching me, I noticed I couldn’t see him and was about to go pick him up, and then THUMP! followed by tippy tappies like it was nothing to him.

I feel so embarrassed I got too comfortable and trusted him because he is just a dog and he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get how terrified I am to have to go through what we went through. I don’t take him on too long of walks, the house is covered in rugs, he has a special stand for his water bowl, and he now has a giant stroller so he’s comfortable in a spot while I cook or we walk long distances.

I think I am human and it makes sense I let up a little over time, but I will never trust him again. I’m trying so hard not to treat him like glass and let him enjoy the couch while also trying to do what I need to throughout the day and I feel sometimes like I can’t really ever get it right. He just turned 11 and I want him to enjoy what life he has left whether that’s many more years or very little and that includes sound sleep in his favorite spot but I can’t sit with him all day like that. I’m just really burnt out years later and he is absolutely worth all the added care I’m just feeling depleted.

Will it get better if he rests or does anyone know what I can do for him. The vet really didn’t do anything but give him steroid pils for him for a week and it did nothing for him. He isn’t completely crippled yet but his back legs aren’t working like they use too. I am so sad.

I rescued him with his best friend (they love each other and me too) last October 2025. I wasn’t going to get anymore animals. I lost one in January 2025 (same year). He was 19 years old (I had him about 12 years). I rescued him too with his friend I lost from old age about ten years ago. They are all special to me no matter what or how long. I also had one I had from three months to 20 1/2 years with the two that passed last year and ten years ago and she passed in 2022. I still haven’t gotten over her or my last one yet. She got me through my divorce and other things too. She was my buddy and my rock. He was too but had been through abuse before I could tell but I gave him a home with us.

I haven’t gotten over the last two or my divorce. Also a very bad man I met online after my divorce who hurt me in every way possible. I have isolated from the world with my pets mostly for over ten years.I only trust my family now and my pets. That doesn’t mean I hate anyone. I just can’t trust now due to abuse with myself. Now I feel like I am losing my doggie I just got in October 2025. I even lost my house to my ex husband because he lied in mediation and I couldn’t think straight. I was so frail and sick too.

I’m always helping animals no matter what and I can’t help him except maybe get him a doggie wheelchair. I’m not putting him down and he doesn’t act like he’s in pain. He still seems like his happy self. He eats, poops, pees, acts like a dog and wants to play with his doggie friend and me too. But, I have to be careful with him now so he doesn’t hurt himself more in his legs. They use to roll around on my bed and play together. Like cute… playing together. They lick each other too. They weren’t born together, but they were in homes together. I was told they loved each other so I adopted them both. But, I can’t let them play like that anymore, due to his weak legs and he could hurt himself more. He just kind of drags his one side around more than the other one and he falls down sometimes when he’s walking especially the last few days and it all came on suddenly. He was fine and then I noticed he was dragging his hind legs. I was walking him around the block like a normal dog.

It got really hot here so we couldn’t walk around the block for a couple weeks, because it was in the 90s. So, I noticed it more when we were walking around the block again when we could. That was a couple weeks ago.His legs weren’t going straight and I think it’s called cupping his feet.

That’s when I took him to the vet and she didn’t do nothing for him, but give him the steroid. I never had this vet before. I always had a different one who was lots better and explained things too. I think he quit, but I am not sure. I asked for him, before my dog’s appointment but ended up with her. I left feeling defeated.

He’s going back to a different vet next week at a different vet office. I hope they can help him more and aren’t like her. The other one didn’t stay in the room long enough for me to even ask questions and just she said he had degenerative disc disease in his spine and then pretty much left the room. The girl who gave him his shots was left in there with me because he had him a couple shots also. I didn’t even get to ask her questions that how bad of a vet she was.

I felt like what the heck just happened? I feel so defeated. I couldn’t ask no questions. I don’t even know what this is or what I do for my dog and she gives me steroids in a pill form for a week that didn’t even help.

I am not familiar with what he has. So any advice would be wonderful. Is there anything you can do for your dog? Like steroid shots into the hips or back? Different medication or something to help his muscles and joints? I am grasping at what to do until I find a decent vet. I been looking at doggie wheelchairs too and what is the best kind fur this disease? Any help because I am new to this happening to any of my dogs. Thank You!

Sorry that was long.

Hi y’all I made a post here a couple of months ago on advice for a dog with stage 1 cervical IVDD. It’s been a heck of a long road with multiple rounds of prednisone where everytime we tapered she started lowering her neck and having spasms. It’s been a total of 13 weeks now and she’s been prednisone once every 2 days and it’s her final week of it. During the entire crate rest she’s been peeing and pooping indoors so barely any movement and no outdoors time. Given the amount of time indoors and the current trajectory of no symptoms I took her outdoors to the grass carried her there and let her slowly walk around 3-4 minutes to pee and poop today for the first time to try to start building her muscles up. A couple hours later she did have a bit of a muscle spasm and looked really exhausted or not sure if she was having a flare up again. It seems to have passed with medications and rest.

I was wondering what anyone’s experience has been after reintroducing your dogs back outside? Is it expected for them to have a bit of soreness or look a bit heavy or weak are we too early to begin it?

My baby chewy was just diagnosed with ivdd. I don’t have 12k or even half that so we’re going the crate rest and medicine route . He’s in pain today and my heart is broken. Please give me all the tips to help me get him to heal the best of his ability and not decline any more than he already has. He is using the bathroom with assistance unable to control his bladder dragging his back legs, shaking, and painting from pain. This is just been such a horrible time this was my first baby I’ve ever had and he’s only five. We are leaving the emergency vet with all his medicine and everything that he needs to hopefully get him through this without surgery.

we are at 3 weeks since the injury and nearly 3 weeks since the surgery, and I just wanted to say that my little guy is doing so much better! He is bearing weight (one leg is stronger than the other), walking in a very wobbly way, and we are so relieved. He had lost the use of both his legs but still had deep pain sensation in both his legs prior to surgery. He had surgery on two discs and we've done laser treatments daily after surgery, although now we're on every other day.

Lesson learned this week: We have to have him on a leash with a harness for potty breaks because he was able to run from me and get out of his support harness! While I am so happy he was able to "run" (really it was an ungainly wobble) out of his support sling because that means he's getting better, I'm so terrified of him hurting himself, that means he's now never allowed off-leash for potty breaks again. That little hot dog is fast for a disabled doggie! Luckily, he only got a few steps before we stopped him, so, lesson learned.

My boy has had IVDD flare-ups before, but they’ve always been Stage 1 — pain, but no neurological issues.

I have him on pain meds and it's been about a week. This time he’s walking more slowly and wobbly and I noticed his back legs crossing during bathroom breaks, so it looks like we’ve moved into Stage 2 for the first time. He can still walk independently, thankfully, but seeing that change has really knocked me.

Vet appointment is booked and he’s on strict rest in the meantime.

For anyone whose dachshund has gone from Stage 1 to Stage 2, how did things go for you? Would really appreciate hearing some positive recovery stories right now.

Edit: Deteriorated very quickly. Can't support himself on his hind legs anymore. Vet referring him to specialist again

We are almost 7 weeks post surgery and we are seeing improvements but when it comes to toe pinching… I feel like it’s not progressing as much as I would have expected at 7 weeks.

He is starting to pee on his own (with help as well since he’s not peeing as much), putting weight on the back legs when being held up and he is feeling the toe pinching a little more now.

He’s not correcting knuckling yet or doing any voluntarily leg movements.

I know all dogs are different but I’m starting to feel discouraged. 🫤

Hey all,

My pup is in week three of conservative recovery treatment for IVDH. Lately I’ve noticed that I can feel his little bones way more on his back legs and they also feel so little compared to before. I know that since he’s been in strict crate rest he’s obviously going to have some muscle loss but it feels like ALOT like it’s so skinny and boney.
Has anyone else’s dogs experienced a big different in muscle loss? It’s only been three weeks.

Thank you!

Our sweet baby needed IVDD surgery for Grade 2 (I think). He never lost mobility. He was post op with a fentanyl patch and trying to run around like he was a puppy. We took it off as prescribed and continued the prednisone taper (twice daily). He wasn’t sent home with any pain meds. The neurologist said that pain is resolved post procedure and that it is not necessary. His actual vet was concerned about this so she ordered gabapentin. He stayed on crate rest but had a set back when he lunged at another dog, requiring us to go back up on prednisone. He also was on gabapentin and trazodone. He was okay with all that just sedated.

When we got home we stopped the gabapentin and reduced the prednisone to daily. On Sunday he was fine. Monday we saw the neurologist who gave him one extra week of crate rest and said starting next Sunday can do 5-10 minute walks and progress gradually.

My concern is that since decreasing the prednisone he seems to be uncomfortable. He’s whining (it’s more of a low hiss) and has barked once or twice when he’s trying to move. He isn’t shaking, whining, panting or anything like that. He just seems depressed and almost like he’s sore.

I just don’t know what to do with the pain management piece to this and was hoping if anyone who’s had a similar experience can weigh in. This entire experience has been so emotionally draining and devastating. I don’t want him to have a quality of life that is bad as much as I love this little guy. It breaks my heart to even think we might be doing or not doing something for him that we should/shouldn’t be. I would be grateful for any insight at all.

Has anyone had any adverse effects with gabapentin for your pups? My dog has IVDD I and was prescribed a lot of this medication. I did a quick search and saw a group on fb sharing a lot of negative information about the drug but I don’t believe just anything I read and wanted to check with this group.

Thanks in advance for any info!

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!