My IVDD dog walks, no bladder/bowel/tail control. Will he recover?

My practice does rehab for animals like yours that are recovering from paralysis. I find doing laser like you are doing in the photo helps, also acupuncture. For my acupuncture treatments I start with three treatments several days to a week apart then every 2-4 weeks. This can help the nerves start functioning again. The incontinence may improve with time also, I generally continue to see improvement over the first 4-6 months after the paralysis. Make sure you are fully expressing his bladder and repeating a course of antibiotics to cure a low grade urinary infection may help also. To manage the fecal incontinence you can learn to stimulate him to poop twice daily which helps control accidents in the house. Check Dodger's List for other ideas on how to manage him. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

I'm very sorry Sammy had to have surgery for a traumatic accident. Depending on the severity of her injury, it make take longer than usual for her to fully recover. Typically after spinal surgery, full recovery can take four to six months, but I'm guessing her injury may have been pretty severe. You have to be prepared that she may never regain bowel or bladder control. I'd speak to the vet who did her surgery to find out more information on her prognosis. I hope this helps Robert.

Hello again. As I mentioned before Hannu needs rest. This means in a cage where he cannot move around much. You will need to express his bladder about 4-6 times per day. I hope the vet gave you medicine, so continue to give that as prescribed. If he improves it will take weeks to months to get better. His best chance for quicker recovery is surgery. If you have more questions a consult with us would be best. Good luck and kisses to Hannu!

Hello. I am sorry that this happened to Gina. The most recent recommendations for IVDD do not include steroid use and do include surgical decompression (a surgery to remove the herniated bit). If surgery is not possible due to finances (usually at least $4000, but talk to vets in your area), then strict cage rest for 6 weeks is recommended. These are the latest recommendations. The best thing to do would be to get a consultation with a neurologist or a surgeon, and have surgery if you can. I would look into these options ASAP as prognosis and return of function decreases the longer the compression is in place, so surgery now isn't as successful as surgery when it first happened, however surgery does have very good outcomes, often getting 80-95% of normal function back. I would recommend a consultation with a surgical specialist or a neurologist if you can. Good luck with Gina!

I'm so sorry Drew is going through this at the moment, and I'm sorry for you as well! This is a very hard situation. Unfortunately, the statistics with recovery are very poor with stage V IVDD. With medical and conservative treatment, the prognosis is less than 5% of recovery. With surgery, there is a 50% chance of recovery if the surgery is done less than 24 hours after symptoms appear, and less than 5% if it's done more than 48 hours after symptoms appear. As you can see, these numbers are quite poor, and if your vet has ruled out surgery, your only option is the medical treatment. I guess you need to weigh whether or not you want to see if Drew will be part of the less than 5% who can recover, but the fact that she doesn't have deep pain is not a good prognosis. You can have her monitored with the vet for another 24-48 hours, but if things still look poor after that time, euthanizing her may be the best option. Again, I'm so sorry you are going through this, and I hope my answer helps you somewhat.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If he has already lost the ability to use his legs, he is not going to recover without surgery. If he is able to use his legs, there is a very small chance that he could recover with medical therapy but that is based on other physical examination parameters. I recommend that you consider proceeding with surgery if it has been recommended by your veterinarian. Best of luck!

Behavior changes can be difficult to pinpoint. However, if he remembers being really painful outdoors when he pooped either right before or after surgery then he may associate outside with pain and now prefers to go indoors. I would encourage you to treat him like a puppy and re- potty train him. Lots of positive reinforcement for going poop outside. Also limit his access indoors by possibly tethering his leash to your belt loop so you can catch him before he poops inside. This will likely take time and repetition. Best of luck and I hope he improves soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.