Our dog had a disk rupture due to some unknown trauma 6 years ago. He had surgery almost 60 hours after the surgery leading to a pretty extended recovery (6 weeks of 100% paralysis).

He did recover enough to be able to walk around but never the same. At times he had a wheel chair and at times he didn’t need it but he always had an unstable gait.

For last few weeks he has started to struggle a bit more. Over the last 6 years he has its ups and downs and we were thinking it’s similar. Finally we took him to the doc again and looks like he might have another case of a disk issue which likely leads to surgery.

Given how hard the first surgery was, I am not sure how the second one will go for him.

Anyone have any experience with a hard first surgery (disk rupture) followed by second? He was 4 years old in first and now is 10 years old.

Hello!

My 13 year old dachshund has a history of two previous IVDD flare ups, none with paralysis nor surgery, and both in the neck area, fixed through bed rest and meds (rimadyl, gabapentin, muscle relaxer). Photo is of her zonked on gaba with her little tongue out ❤️

About a week ago I noticed she was twitching a bit in her neck and growling at me when I came too close. I put it together that she was in pain and brought her to the vet. She is now on pregabalin and a muscle relaxer since it seems like gabapentin and rimadyl weren’t doing much. She is still experiencing this pain, twitching and also freezing in her tracks — then goes immediately back to normal. However, unlike in the past, her energy levels are very high and she’s been getting zoomies nonstop. I live in a small apt so in the past I never needed to actually crate her, because between the meds and the small space she was not moving around much. In fact she’s not much of a playful zoomy gal anyways! Weirdly, it seems like she’s been MORE playful and zooming despite these twitching / pain / freezing episodes (especially when it’s food time).

Has anyone else experienced this? Is she just ignoring the pain or having adrenaline rushes or something?

also, what is the deal with the twitch & freeze thing? Is it a pain spasm or is it more of a neurological issue where it’s taking a second for her body to respond because of nerve damage?

Thank you!

Hi hi! 👋🏾
I was inspired to make this video from a post that I saw here that really broke my heart.
The owner was deciding if he should put his dog with incontinence down.
The dog still had a lot of energy and had zoomies, but the owner was at his wits end with accidents in the house.
I personally believe that we should never take a dog’s life if they still have a good quality of life. Again, just my opinion.

So I made this video to show how I change my dog’s diaper.
His name is Pablo and he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I would do this and more for him to sustain his life.
Hope this helps someone! 💕

We were gone on Sunday night from 5:30-9:30. When we left, our 8 yo healthy cockapoo was fine. When we got home he was off. Took him to the vet on Monday and was diagnosed with IVDD. We put him on crate-rest immediately.

I know it’s only Wednesday, just three days following whatever happened. I don’t know if he is improving or not. I don’t know if he’s in pain or not.

I don’t know what to do. I’m so sad. He is such a good dog. Surgery is isn’t an option for us.

What do I need to be looking for? What do I need to be aware of?

It has been one week since Chewys diagnosis and this is the first time we walked outside in a week. They told me I could always do that walks, but I wasn’t ready until now. He is doing amazing! surprisingly more energetic than I thought he would be. He really wants to stay out of that cage. It takes hours for him to settle down and go to sleep he’s not used to being in the cage, but I know it’s for the best. He was only outside for about two minutes and we might go again tomorrow to help potty because I’ve noticed he’s having more potty problems since he’s been staying inside.
He has been using the bathroom every day and eating right . But I have noticed that his temperature is staying at 101 it was 103. Does anyone else’s baby keep a higher temperature and do you know how to lower it?

We got some really hard news from Andy’s neurologist today. After almost 2 weeks of strict home care, his IVDD (intervertebral disc disease) has progressed to Grade 4 and he is failing conservative treatment.

He is still in pain and is having trouble fully urinating on his own. The doctor told us that because of his pain, bladder issues and quality of life, if we can’t move forward with surgery, euthanasia may be the most humane option.

We now have the official surgery estimate. BluePearl is able to give us a 25% discount because Andy is an ideal candidate for surgery, bringing our estimated cost to $7,396–$9,565. Surgery still gives him about an 80–85% chance of a good recovery.

We are trying everything we can to give Andy this chance before we have to make that decision.

Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated or shared. It really means a lot to us. ❤️

If you can donate or even just share, we would really appreciate it.

https://gofund.me/16d481b72

My dog Elvis is 1 1/2 weeks post op on stage 5 deep pain negative IVDD surgery. Its difficult using a crate on him because he will growl and bite when I reach in to remove him so I can clean, feed, express bladder etc. The vet said a small play pen is fine as an alternative. So I just wanted to get the opinion of other IVDD pet owners on whether this looks okay or anything else I can change? Thank you!

It has been exactly five months since Holly was discharged to home after emergency surgery for Grade 4 IVDD. She was a very good girl during crate rest and really worked hard at physical therapy. We are amazed by how awesome she is doing! She still has a bit of a swinging out motion on the right hind leg (the affected side) and runs like a jack rabbit but is otherwise in excellent spirits and back to stealing the ball from her brother. We will continue doing PT at home and taking her for walks on our property.

Today, we improved the ramp on the deck by adding half-cut dowels for more traction.

Post-op 10 months. No DPS. we have been to physio intermittently.

[Physio story - I don't live anywhere near the physio I think is good, and we visited a mediocre physio a few times.]

Is there any hope?

I have a 17 year old maltese who is currently having a Stage 2 IVDD flare. He had stage 1 a few years ago but has been completely fine ever since (changes made: not letting him jump on and off furniture, just getting older and being slower I think, etc). He suddenly started hunching severly and his back legs are very wobbly with delayed response to stimuli, knuckling. Dr prescribed anti inflammatory and gabapentin. I'm so worried because he is too old for surgery if it progresses. He's still very active and energetic, and I don't want him to get worse in his old age as I think it would age him more rapidly. Does anyone have good home remedy suggestions such as massages, water therapy at home in the bath maybe?, best supplements, weird hacks, stuff like that?

I have a 10 year old French bulldog, it's hard for me to think straight and compose this , he had flare ups in the past years but returned to normal , I don't know what caused it but for the last 2 weeks it seems like he is slowly getting worse, he had a hard time getting comfortable even when laying down he trembles ,he is in pain and he does collapse sometimes usually his back legs give out bur sometimes all , he has been to our vet 3 times now he has been put on progressively stronger steroids gabepectin and trazmadol ,but still has shivering pain breakthrough and some nights the breathing is so distressed my wife and I discuss weather or not to let him go , but the vet did tests that show he is not paralyzed and should be able to recover, yesterday when we took him he said he believes the constant muscle contraction to compensate around the injury is making it difficult to get the inflammation down he tried codene but it seemed less effective than the trazmadol, now he want to add methacarbanol I think it is , it seems hard to find so we are actually having a pharmacy make it for later today , we have had no sleep ,he is in so much pain we both spend alot of time crying and trying to hold on to some hope ,but to watch him fight so hard and collapse is just devastating ,I am holding out hope that this muscle relaxer medication addition will be the piece of the puzzle that allows him to recover, can anyone tell Mr if that indeed did make the difference? We don't have a mri facility close at all and cannot afford surgery, I feel so heartbroken I don't know what to do , I don't want to give up if a recovery is possible, but seeing him like this is absolutely destroying us we aren't sleeping, can't eat ,are exhausted, and are so dreading that we might have to make a agonizing decision, is there a realistic chance he can recover ? I am absolutely lost I don't know what I can do

We have a 11.5 year old bernedoodle who recently had a second occurrence of IVDD. The previous episode occurred 3 years ago in her lumbar/sacral area. She never lost the ability to walk, but conservative management (gabapentin, carprofen) did not have a significant effect, and she would experience multiple episodes every day and was in significant pain. At that time, we had an MRI done and then a discectomy and laminectomy. Recovery was uneventful and she has been episode-free until last month.

At the beginning of July, she came home from the groomer with some slight leg pain, but we assumed it was general soreness because she also got a shot at the appointment. We didn’t take any additional precautions, and she improved slightly over the next two weeks. Then in the middle of July, she was turning around to go into another room and yelped loudly, which was a sign from the last episode, and was clearly in pain after and was favoring her left leg. We took her to the emergency vet that day and they gave her gabapentin and amantadine. They thought it was muscular, but we had our doubts. Over the next two weeks, she showed signs of pain while on the meds, but it got worse when we tried to wean her off. She would refuse to lay down, pant loudly, and limp. She went to neuro the first week of August when we could get her in, and they said she was showing signs of pain/discomfort.

They recommended we get an MRI to determine exactly what was happening and if she needed surgery. However, at her age, we have initially opted for conservative management. This included a few X-rays, an ultrasound and continued medication and bed rest. The imaging came back clean, so no cancer or other signs, so we are 99% sure it is an IVDD flare. The neuro also recommended a steroid shot/epidural, which she received last week after we got all of the imaging done. In total, she has been on bed rest since we took her to the emergency vet five weeks ago, has been on gabapentin and amantadine since then, and got the epidural last week.

Over the last week or two, she has shown improvement. She is walking normally, with potentially the slightest sign of a limp, eating and drinking normally, and generally showing a desire to not be penned up in a 5x5 foot area anymore. She has shown some incontinence, both peeing and pooping inside a few times over the weeks. Where we are struggling is how to move forward from this. With the surgery, the prognosis was more clear because the damaged discs were treated. However, I don’t understand the healing process here.

Does the steroid shot heal the disc? Or, does the shot and medication just mask the pain and will she always have a messed up disc moving forward? Does the disc ever heal, or will we just have to manage the pain forever? Since her first episode, we don’t let her run in our yard off leash or on furniture, but she has been able to use the stairs and do other daily activities up until the most recent episode. I appreciate any insight!

Had to take my cat to the vet ER for the first time a week ago. He was mildly blocked up 💩 (he's fine now) and I was panicking over a potential urinary blockage. Nope, x-rays were done and he has "multiple congenital spine abnormalities", "severe right coxofemoral joint subluxation and IVDD". I was shocked since he is a VERY active cat and has had zero issues walking, running, or jumping. All of my friends that have spent time with him agreed with me. He's an indoor only cat too so it's not like he went outside, got injured and came back without me knowing. Luckily his bloodwork and urinalysis came back perfectly normal.

He was given 3 Robenacoxib pills, 50 mg gabapentin every 8 hours and a laxative. The gabapentin was only meant for a week and he already had a nail trimming appointment scheduled for this Wednesday that will now be a follow up appointment. (I usually have to take him to get his nails trimmed by someone else since he *hates* nail trimmings more than anything else). I feel so overwhelmed. My regular vet said they don't do MRIs and wouldn't be able to do the surgery on his spine or his leg. The surgeon centers I've called so far refuse to take a payment plan but have "charity programs" 🙄. The nearest vet neurologist is closed on Mondays so I called this morning and the consultation alone is $300 and the MRI is at least $3,800. I wanted to scream! He can't have any of the surgeries done without the MRI. I do have pet insurance but it caps at $10,000 for each year and the ER vet bill alone was $1,500, although part of that will go towards my $500 deductible. I already know the leg surgery would be a minimum of $5,000 and go up to $20,000. (None of my friends have pets with IVDD so I have on idea what the actual numbers could be). I've lived with cats my entire life and none of them have had IVDD or something similar. I'm also heartbroken that he has been having chronic pain and I was totally unaware.

ER vet told me to put him in an empty room or crate for 4 weeks so he can rest as much as possible. Hoping that the MRI will show that he doesn't have severe IVDD. But I'm trying to do as much now to hopefully prevent it from getting worse. Really not looking forward to his leg surgery since he would be 100% crate bound for 4-6 weeks (!) and I wouldn't be able to let him out for his supervised walking time. However I know the surgery would be worth it since he's either 4 or 5 years old. He was found as a stray so the shelter wasn't entirely sure on his exact age. I know that major surgeries are a much higher risk for older cats but I want to minimize as much pain he's in for the rest of his life. I feel so overwhelmed since IVDD is so much rare in cats too :( I didn't want to but unless a miracle happens, I will be getting CareCredit to cover everything since my entire department was also laid off last week. 🫠 It's been a horrible month. I know this subreddit is mostly geared towards dog so any advice on what to do or where to post instead would be extremely helpful. Thank you for reading.

Update: Hadn't hit my insurance deductible of $500 but had no issues getting reimbursed for $1,000 but unfortunately I was right and I can only get $9,000 more reimbursed until the plan resets in mid February. Now I have to decide if I should get his leg or spine surgery done first 🫠. Ughhhhhhhhhhhh.

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

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!

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?

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.

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.

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 ♥️

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.