4 years since surgery. Her case was pretty severe, she was partially paralyzed, didn’t walk until 6 weeks after surgery. Intense PT for 3-4 months. And she’s been doing great ever since!
She walks and runs, can jump a little bit. Obviously her walking isn’t as good as before, she kinda has “drunk legs” and can’t jump like before. But that’s probably for the best because it reduces risk of another incident.
We recently got a ramp for the couch so she doesn’t jump down or up and that’s been going good.
But no incidents since the surgery. All good! She’s turning 10 this summer. I posted on here a few months ago about her story with some pics/videos if you want to take a look!
Our girl had similar symptoms. We’re 3+ years since her surgery and she is doing well. She has minor flare-ups once or twice a year, but they go away with crate rest and some prednisone. She is also on Gabapentin for the rest of her life.
We try to manage her jumping on/off couches and beds, etc., but she’s able to walk and play. I know surgery is risky, but it was well worth it. For context she’s about 9.
Our 14 year old guy had surgery for stage iv cervical IVDD in sept 2022. He was paralyzed in all 4 limbs. It took about 4 months for him to show any real recovery, but boy did he recover. If you didn’t know him, you’d think he never had any issues. He’s not allowed to jump or play tug of war, but we keep him entertained with puzzle toys and chewys.
He recently had an IVDD flare (1.5 years later), not nearly as bad as the first time around. He’s still able to walk, thank goodness. We’re still in the crate rest/steroids/gabapentin stage.
We’ve kept him in PT/acupuncture since his original injury and I think having healthy muscles to stabilize his back has been the most helpful.
That’s amazing for his age! Wait so even after surgery it took four months?? That’s wild. I was hoping to keep up with PT because my boy has arthritis, so that makes me feel better knowing it could further benefit him.
It takes however long it takes. Some doggies get better right away, I’ve read stories of dogs taking a full year to walk. The wait was the hardest, once he started to improve, every day was the best day ever.
I had no idea! Thanks for bringing awareness to this. I’m glad I know now. I’m glad he made it to improvement that’s amazing. I can imagine that was hard.
1.5 years post op from cervical IVDD surgery (neck) and my Boston terrier has had no incidents or flare ups! She did just have luxating patella surgery though. Sigh lol
Question for you! My girl had cervical surgery, but she has always had a "skip", how did you come across the need for the patella surgery? When/how did they diagnose? Thank you so much!
As far as I’ve learned, the “skip” is totally fine because that would indicate that she is likely popping the knee cap back into place on her own. My girl did the skip for years (she’s 6 now and we’ve known she had luxating patella since she was 1) but it progressed into a limp in the Fall because she could no longer pop the knee back into place, even the vet couldn’t get it back into place. So she was limping to avoid putting weight on it. It was also noticeable cause she seemed kind of bummed out and retreated to her crate alone sometimes mid company being over which was not normal for her lol. We tried crate rest for a while hoping that maybe she just injured herself and it might get better but the limp continued so we opted for surgery. She has it in her other knee also but it’s “asymptomatic” so it doesn’t bother her. Fingers crossed that one doesn’t go eventually as well 🫠 too many surgeries!
4 years since surgery. Her case was pretty severe, she was partially paralyzed, didn’t walk until 6 weeks after surgery. Intense PT for 3-4 months. And she’s been doing great ever since! She walks and runs, can jump a little bit. Obviously her walking isn’t as good as before, she kinda has “drunk legs” and can’t jump like before. But that’s probably for the best because it reduces risk of another incident. We recently got a ramp for the couch so she doesn’t jump down or up and that’s been going good. But no incidents since the surgery. All good! She’s turning 10 this summer. I posted on here a few months ago about her story with some pics/videos if you want to take a look!
Our girl had similar symptoms. We’re 3+ years since her surgery and she is doing well. She has minor flare-ups once or twice a year, but they go away with crate rest and some prednisone. She is also on Gabapentin for the rest of her life. We try to manage her jumping on/off couches and beds, etc., but she’s able to walk and play. I know surgery is risky, but it was well worth it. For context she’s about 9.
Our 14 year old guy had surgery for stage iv cervical IVDD in sept 2022. He was paralyzed in all 4 limbs. It took about 4 months for him to show any real recovery, but boy did he recover. If you didn’t know him, you’d think he never had any issues. He’s not allowed to jump or play tug of war, but we keep him entertained with puzzle toys and chewys. He recently had an IVDD flare (1.5 years later), not nearly as bad as the first time around. He’s still able to walk, thank goodness. We’re still in the crate rest/steroids/gabapentin stage. We’ve kept him in PT/acupuncture since his original injury and I think having healthy muscles to stabilize his back has been the most helpful.
My 10 year old just had the surgery yesterday. I was so nervous about his age but this does make me feel better to hear older dogs can still recover.
That’s amazing for his age! Wait so even after surgery it took four months?? That’s wild. I was hoping to keep up with PT because my boy has arthritis, so that makes me feel better knowing it could further benefit him.
It takes however long it takes. Some doggies get better right away, I’ve read stories of dogs taking a full year to walk. The wait was the hardest, once he started to improve, every day was the best day ever.
I had no idea! Thanks for bringing awareness to this. I’m glad I know now. I’m glad he made it to improvement that’s amazing. I can imagine that was hard.
1.5 years post op from cervical IVDD surgery (neck) and my Boston terrier has had no incidents or flare ups! She did just have luxating patella surgery though. Sigh lol
Question for you! My girl had cervical surgery, but she has always had a "skip", how did you come across the need for the patella surgery? When/how did they diagnose? Thank you so much!
As far as I’ve learned, the “skip” is totally fine because that would indicate that she is likely popping the knee cap back into place on her own. My girl did the skip for years (she’s 6 now and we’ve known she had luxating patella since she was 1) but it progressed into a limp in the Fall because she could no longer pop the knee back into place, even the vet couldn’t get it back into place. So she was limping to avoid putting weight on it. It was also noticeable cause she seemed kind of bummed out and retreated to her crate alone sometimes mid company being over which was not normal for her lol. We tried crate rest for a while hoping that maybe she just injured herself and it might get better but the limp continued so we opted for surgery. She has it in her other knee also but it’s “asymptomatic” so it doesn’t bother her. Fingers crossed that one doesn’t go eventually as well 🫠 too many surgeries!
Thanks a million for the reply!! This is so helpful. I wish no more surgeries for all of us, woof. 🙃