IVDD Concerns and Questions

I have a 6 year old Cardigan male that suddenly today lost use of his rear. Yesterday, fine acting quite normal. I know that the Cardi's are prone to IVDD and perhaps suspected it and had him at the vet within the hour. The vet is pretty knowledgable but like most local vets aren't necasarily completely up to date on the breed specific issue's and what to look for on IVDD suspect x-ray.

We also wanted to rule out any obvious issue's, tumors, fractures, etc. What we did find was two discs that were seemingly close together and in that same area some erosion of cartilidge of the tissue around the discs. He compared it to osteoperosis.

Surgery was recommended and we're considering it but want to know that the prognosis of it is good.

Also, we have available to us either Oklahoma University , Kansas University and Missouri University as surgery options. Anybody have input on who might be preferred or if they are all equally capable.

Does this sound like IVDD and can it set in so quickly?

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Permalink Reply by Judith Andre on January 14, 2011 at 1:25am

I have no experience with that type of back trouble but several years ago I took my Corgi to K State twice trying to find out what was wrong with him. He was finally diagnosed with DM at Colorado State. I found out after that at that time they didn't have either a MRI or a Neurologist. Their Ortho Doc was very arrogant and didn't have a clue what was wrong with Zac and atributed his problems to arthritis.

Recently a good friend of mine took her dog there and they totally missed a hugely enlarged liver that was the cause of his death a few days later.

The University of Missouri is doing a study of DM in Corgis so I assume they have a good neurology department and are quite familiar with the breed.

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Permalink Reply by Wind Dial on January 14, 2011 at 3:03am

This has been two weeks ago and Ziggy is recovering quite nicely after surgery at K-State, as a Pembroke breeder I was quite aware of the research that Dr. Coates is doing at MU but time was of the essence and the referring vet was well acquainted with K-State so that is where we went. It couldn't have turned out any better than it did. Very professional and the doctor we worked with is also acquainted with Dr. Coates since again being a Pembroke breeder I couldn't help bring up the topic of DM with a neuro vet even though DM was not why I was there. I found the University to be very well equipped and capable.

Ziggy is also a Cardigan, not a Pembroke, they don't have the DM issue's that Pembrokes have. If I was working with DM I probably would have chosen MU but this wasn't DM but a herniated disc compressing the spinal cord so mere minutes meant the difference between recovery or no recovery.

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Permalink Reply by Judith Andre on January 14, 2011 at 1:27am

p.s. I have a Corgi size "Doggon Wheels" if anybody is in need.

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Permalink Reply by Judith Andre on January 14, 2011 at 4:12pm

I'm glad things went well for you, but I don't plan on going back to K State. I know that no place is 100%, but for me 3 times and they're out. All my best to Ziggy. I should have paid more attention to the original date when I posted.

Judith

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Permalink Reply by corgigirl on January 24, 2011 at 1:15pm

My cardi boy went down when he was about 6 years old (rescue so don't know his birthdate). He was diagnosed with DM by three vets--he did test at risk------However we did treat him for a "dinger" and he recovered most of his mobility.

Treatment was Previcox--some vets use Prednisone but my vet says that tends to waste muscle and he wanted Flash to keep his muscles strong. We also went to a physical therapist and I did therapy on him three or four times a day. He wobbled across the room on Christmas day.

He still shows signs of DM but his recovery has the vets stymied. I say it was lots of prayer and lots of PT and the Previcox. Don't know what is in the future but for now Flash is doing well.

Not sure if you would want to do much PT at first with IVDD but the therapy pool and range of motion moves shouldn't hurt. The Previcox was a "Hail Mary" but it did wonders for him. His xrays etc showed NO damage which a dinger or injury would show.

Good luck--I would talk to a therapist or vet who believes in more holistic treatmenst first. You can always operate if you don't like the other options.

Kay

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Permalink Reply by Wind Dial on January 24, 2011 at 1:20pm

Thanks but he had surgery within hours of posting this 3 weeks ago. There is quite a difference between DM and IVDD and with IVDD, you do NOT have time to see if holistic therapy works because you have a very small window of oppurtunity to reverse the damage to the spinal cord. Once that window is closed, there is no turning back. He is doing fantastically well and walking again.