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IVDD friendly activities
Neuro Corner Answers
Dr. Andrew Isaacs
DVM Diplomate ACVIM (Neurology)
Dogwood Veterinary Referral Center
Primary interests include intervertebral disc disease, seizure management, luxations/fractures of the spine, and surgery for brain tumors
Question
RONALD ASKS:
Hi, what is acceptable for a dog to do after having IVDD, is the dog allowed to run and play as usual, I understand no stairs or furniture but can the dog be a dog? Our dog loves running and playing in the backyard.
ANSWER
That is a very good question.
I think everyone has a different answer to this question.
But, in general the idea is to keep him strictly quiet immediately after surgery other than for low impact rehab sessions, then slowly reintroduce normal activity over a period of time.
The difficult part is what is “normal”.
The goal of doing surgery is to help improve your dog’s quality of life. I totally agree that not letting him do activities that are a part of a good quality of life defeats the purpose of having put him through surgery.
However, if possible, it is good to try to minimize the chance of your dog rupturing another disk.
Therefore, it is a balancing act between having enough activity to enjoy being a dog on one side and being too active and rupturing another disk on the other.
To guarantee he won’t rupture another disk keep him locked up in a cage the rest of his life.
To put him at significant risk, sign him up for the circus.
The goal is to find something in between.
Typically, the activities that would be good to try to discourage/minimize – jumping on/off furniture (sofas/beds), tearing up/down stairs (baby gates), giving them squeaky toys they “shake to death” and playing tug of war with them. Also try using a harness versus neck collar and taking outside on leash.
Again, easier said than done, but if you can it will help decrease the likelihood of rupturing another disk.
My advice is to decide what is reasonable with your lifestyle, house setup, your dog’s personality, and other variables at play and come up with a new set of “rules” to implement.
Once you have done this enjoy your dog.
[Editors note: Follow up to the ideas Dr. Isaacs suggested:
Why doxies are not little people with back problems
Neuro Corner Answers
Dr. Andrew Isaacs
DVM Diplomate ACVIM (Neurology)
Dogwood Veterinary Referral Center
Primary interests include intervertebral disc disease, seizure management, luxations/fractures of the spine, and surgery for brain tumors
Question
LAURIE ASKS:
Hello! Wondering if you can help me with a question? I’ve been asking several vets about IVDD. I have back issues and a herniated disc in my lower back and could barely walk. My Neurodoc gave me an injection of cortisone steroid combo done with a dye injection and xray light. I was pain free within 24 hours and walking fine. Why can’t this be done on our fur babies? Also I hear there is a shock absorber type of injection that works like expansion foam to surround and protect the disc. Thank you for your time and any feed back is appreciated,
ANSWER
This is a good question and highlights some of the differences between canine and human anatomy (spinal cord and intervertebral disks) and the pathology associated with them.
The canine spinal cord extends further down the vertebral column than humans. Therefore, most of the clinical signs in humans with lower back intervertebral disk disease are related to spinal nerve irritation versus spinal cord irritation (spinal nerves are more resilient and more likely to respond to medical management – steroids).
Also, the majority of clinical signs in dogs related to intervertebral disk disease is due to extruded disk material (nucleus pulposus herniating through a rent/tear in the annulus fibrosus) into the spinal canal. On the other hand, in humans the majority of clinical signs is related to protruding intervertebral disk (bulging of the annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus).
There are some cases where we do, after the appropriate diagnostics are performed and a diagnosis is obtained, use injections of steroids versus surgery. However, it does require heavy sedation or general anesthesia.
So, the first step with your pet would be to perform imaging of the spine to know exactly what and where the underlying cause is.
Regarding the “expansion foam” injection – due to the tearing of the annulus fibrosus there is the risk of “expansion foam” getting into the spinal canal and causing exacerbation of clinical signs secondary to compression of the spinal cord.
Unfortunately, due to anatomical and pathological differences between canines and humans treatments that help one species do not always translate directly the other species and may actually cause harm.
Thanks for your good question.
Andrew
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