Hello!
I came across your youtube video about ivdd. I have a 6 years old mixed breed dog (around 20-22lbs, not overweight and actually pretty active) that suddenly showed limping and abdominal pain. I went to the vet and at the beginning there was just a suspect of pancreatites + muscle strain and started a 5 days treatment with gabapentin and metacam. The fifth day seemed almost back to normal, but the week after she got worse than before. The vet than suspected a ivdd, blood test was perfect, and suggested cage rest and new medications (gabapentin, robaxin and metacam). Now, it’s the nineth day but don’t see much improvement. She doesn’t limp as before, actually she walks pretty ok, she is just very stiff and walks super slowly, no wobbling. She doesn’t like to be manipulated so it’s extremely difficult to lift her up to bring her outside to go to bathroom or turn her. Once she lies down she keeps that position for hours. I just wondering if you have any advice or technique for dogs that growls if approached. I’m pretty sure it’s just a fear response cause she doesnt bite but i don’t want to hurt her and once she screams, even out of fear, i dont know if I’m doing something wrong. Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Good morning!
First and foremost, thank you for doing the work that you do!
I have a 7-year-old orange tabby named Milo. He started having seizures a couple of years ago. It became frequent enough that the vet decided to put him on the antiseizure medicine Phenobarbital. That was working okay, but then I started to notice that he was losing weight. Now, just to be clear, Milo enjoys his food, so he could benefit from losing some weight. However, he lost a considerable amount of weight in a short period. He also became lethargic.
I took him back to the vet, and after bloodwork, it was determined that it was affecting his liver, and he was anemic. The vet wanted to put him on Zonisamide instead. It was expensive, but we didn’t mind. We were told that the options were limited as to what he could be put on, and this was the only other suggestion that she had, so we took it.
Fast-forward a couple of months. It became nearly impossible to give him this medication. Milo would hide all day, and when we dragged him out of hiding to give him this medication twice a day, he would foam at the mouth and run back to his hiding spot. He was traumatized (I think!) from taking this medication.
My husband and I sat down to talk about this. We decided that we were going to take him off the medication because we wanted a better quality of life for him. At this point, he is back to being healthy overall (except for the few extra pounds he still carries).
He still has seizures, and on average, I would say that he has two a month. They are always at night. I’ve read that nighttime is a trigger because of increased brain activity. When he has them, they typically last under a minute (I’ve been woken up by him when he has them because he sleeps with us). He loses control of his bladder and will pee. He will foam at the mouth. Once he “comes out” of his seizure, he will then circle and meow for five (ish) minutes after. He is typically back to normal within 30 minutes.
Here are my questions:
(1) Would you recommend that he go back on antiseizure medication?
(2) Are the seizures affecting his brain? Or are seizures typically harmless?
(3) If medication is recommended, are there any other options besides the two that we have already tried?
Thank you for any insight you can give! I just want what is best for our Milo Man, and if that is medication, then we are fine going back down that route. But, at the same time, I do not want him to live in fear of taking the medication.

My 8 yr English Bulldog started dragging his front foot a few weeks ago.(what I now know was knuckling) It started after we dremeled his nails and thought maybe we just did one too short. A few days later, he was running in the yard and face planted repeatedly. We took him in and the vet said she thought it was neurological. They did X-rays and showed us that he has no space between some of the discs. She said they could refer us to a neurologist and we could do an MRI and surgery but that would cost ballpark $15k which is not feasible for us. She also said that considering he is 8, he has lived a long life for a bulldog. We were given a steroid, muscle relaxer and something for pain. She said if he showed no improvement in a week, that we need to look at quality of life and consider euthanasia. I have since done my own research and believe it’s IVDD. It seems to be affecting his left side so he can’t balance himself. I immediately set up a large crate and he has been in it for a week now. He is eating and drinking. He is urinating and defecating. He has feeling in the limbs because he responds to me tickling his feet. I’ve also seen him use both limbs to push himself around in the crate. He seems to be his normal self except his ability to stand/walk. He’s getting annoyed now being in the crate and barking a lot to get out. At what point do I try to get him to stand & walk? I know this could take weeks/months of crate rest. I found a vet 1.5hrs from me that does acupuncture for IVDD and am considering that also. Appreciate any advice. Maybe naive, but I refuse to believe this is an automatic death sentence for an otherwise healthy but chunky happy dog.
Thanks so much.

My seven year old, 27lb beagle Olivia had her first run in with IVDD in December of 2024. It was very mild and was mostly pain with little mobility issues. An X-ray at that time showed some possible compression in the rear third of her back but nothing significant. She was treated very conservatively with Rimadyl and the pain resolved within two weeks without crate rest. She led a fairly normal life since then.

Last Monday evening here in Northeast Ohio, it was about -8 degrees outside. I let her out to urinate and she was walking normally. She crouched down, used the bathroom, and came back in dragging her legs behind her with an arched back. She had trouble urinating and defacating due to the pain in her legs and back. She could put some weight on them but would lose footing very quickly.

Her doctor has placed her on strict crate rest (which she hates! She has worn a sore into her snout from barking and running her nose across the top of the crate when I am not home). This is even on 200mg of Gabapentin 3x/day and Prednisone 2x/day. The doctor has advised he wants a full week of Prednisone in her before we refer to a neurologist. I pick her up to potty and only let her stand as long as necessary to relieve herself. Within two doses of Prednisone she was able to squat almost normally (with jelly legs) to relieve herself. Now that her pain is seemingly better, she has been moving quite a bit around her crate despite my efforts to restrict her.

I don’t know what I should do…Should I insist on a visit to a neurologist? It hurts me so very much to see her like this and I feel absolutely hopeless thinking that I’ll have to crate rest her for months on end. Your videos helped ease my mind a little bit, but the doubt and worry are consuming me about my poor girl. I have a second beagle, Rex (he is five), and now I’m afraid to let him use the stairs in my split level house, or act like a beagle in general!

I never thought my life could be so overturned by such a horrible canine disease. My dogs are my family. Anything that one could offer so far as assistance would be so very much appreciated.

Hello and thank you. I have a 12-year-old Pitbull mix named flower who had heartworm and she was treated with the three shot series back in June of 2025 and then 3 weeks ago she had a mammary gland tumor removed. Three days after surgery she started honking heaving and coughing. I’m afraid her heartworm has come back. She still eats and drinks and gets up but doesn’t look comfortable All she does is walk around and cough, spit up . I don’t have the strength to put her down but I’ve also spent thousands and I’m at a loss of what to do. Any advice would be helpful Thank you

Hello there and thank you for providing this platform. I’m in South Africa but I need advice. My neutered male Siamese cat has suddenly developed crystals and wasn’t able to urinate. I asked my friend who runs a charity and she helped to pay for the vet. cat child was put on a drip for about 2 days and recommended and given special Hills food and sent home. About 4 days later the same rhing happens. Back we go, and again on drip and will be released tomorrow. I am stressing terribly. There isn’t money to go back for anything else but to put him down. He is barely 2 years old and I love him. So much. The vet agreed that stress is a cobtributing factor, so this food has CBD in it and he will give 4 days’ anti anxiety meds. What is there that I can do at home to prevent this? It is very hot here, and I suspect this child is not drinking enough water. Can i force water down his throat with a syringe? My cats are lucky, they live on a farm but I do have litter boxes set up inside.
The vet said only the special Hills food and water. I feel there must be something more I can do. What if this happens again in a couple of days?
Any advice please?

Our female German Shepherd dog is 5 years old and has had chronic liquid diarrhea for 5 months. Other symptoms are weight loss, sporadic inappetence and vomiting. Her energy is normal and bright. History of Pika, but no obvious ingestion of foreign objects during this interval. Three fecal studies mostly negative, two blood panels not conclusive (some levels low-normal). Two courses of Metronidazole (no effect), Three courses Amoxi/Clav (effective until finished), Panacur, probiotics, Cobalequin, special diets. Now on Hills GI Biome diet. Negative for EPI. Low B12. Vet has advised that this is antibiotic responsive diarrhea.

Went to an internal medicine specialist today upon referral. Ultrasound shows a tumour and intestinal thickening, lymph node activity. We are being steered toward open surgery to resect the intestine for possible, but unknown, malignancy and removal. Vet cannot explain why the diarrhea is antibiotic responsive, if malignant tumour. We are doing yet another expanded fecal study and Pancreatitis test to determine if coincident. We are already $3,800 into diagnostics with no real answers or help as to the root cause. Dog improves significantly with normal stools while on the Amoxi/Clav, but regresses immediately to liquid diarrhea when treatment stops.

Surgery recommended that may or may not be curative ($6,500). Of course, we hate to put our dog through this if futile, but understand that cancer cannot be diagnosed through imaging. Can anyone offer insights to either affirm our path or offer alternative ideas? Why the improved response to the antibiotics if a tumour is the cause? Thank you kindly.

My four year old male Doberman (Oskar) seen at emergency vet Sunday 1/4 for excessive vomiting (10 times right after breakfast) . X-rays /labs/fluids. Suspected hiatal hernia. Vomiting has stopped. They felt he was critical. They transferred us to a larger ER as they were not equipped to handle this. Ultrasound and another xray performed. Dog is stable. First two vets at this location felt wait and watch. Third vet says we need to repair with surgery. Sending us to internal med for barium swallow. We are at about $ 6000 so far. Thank god we have insurance.
History of intermittent regurgitation while eating. No other symptoms. No reflux. No drooling. No weight loss. Only happens in the mornings after breakfast every few months. Nothing as severe as Sunday. Only once or twice then done. Happy energetic dog. History of allergies. Testing done. Tried immunotherapy Itchy skin , runny eyes. Managing on raw diet last three years. Cleared his skin for the most part. Avoided apoquel and cytopoint. Used Zyrtec. Previously tried hydrolyzed protein foods at around a year old. This is when regurgitation started ( coincidence? )he would also refuse to eat it. Bottom line do you think we should we consider surgery ? We do yearly echos and own our own holter monitor. We pinch penny’s to give them good care as these dogs mean so much to us. Feel we are being pushed into a very expensive and possibly risky surgery and I HATE putting my dogs under anesthesia. My own vet left the practice and I’m trying to find another that might be a good fit. I’m in NH and it’s not easy. Thank you !