fourteen month writeup on our five year old standard dachshund who had a Hansen Type I IVDD episode at T13-L1, the conservative crate rest protocol we chose over surgery, what the eight week recovery actually looked like, and the dachshund specific things i wish someone had told us before week one

Pretzel is our 5 year old standard dachshund, 22lb (in dachshund-healthy range), red smooth coat, the dog who has been ramp-trained off furniture since he was 14 weeks old and who has never been allowed to jump down from anything in his life. fourteen months ago he had a sudden onset IVDD episode anyway and i want to write up the conservative recovery protocol we chose because the surgery vs crate rest decision is one of the most loaded conversations in the dachshund community and i was not able to find a calibrated "we chose crate rest and here is what it actually looked like week by week with a dog at our grade level" writeup at the time. some of this is going to be specific to standard dachshunds rather than minis and some is generic IVDD recovery, i'll flag which is which.

the episode at month 0. easter sunday last year, he had been doing his normal morning routine, jumped up on his bolster bed (he is allowed to jump up onto things below his shoulder, just not down), and 90 seconds later started screaming and would not put weight on his back legs. we got him into the emergency vet within 35 minutes. neurological exam grade was a 3 on the modified frankel scale (non-ambulatory paraparesis, deep pain present, voluntary motion present but cannot bear weight). MRI the next morning confirmed Hansen Type I disc extrusion at T13-L1 with about 35% spinal cord compression on cross section. the neurologist gave us the choice we had read about in every dachshund forum, hemilaminectomy at $7,800-9,200 with a 90%+ return-to-walking rate at our grade, or strict crate rest for 6-8 weeks with about a 60-70% return-to-walking rate at our grade. we chose crate rest. the neurologist did not push back but did say the surgical option was the higher percentage and that if our finances allowed it she would normally recommend it. we had specific reasons for our choice that i'll cover below.

why we chose crate rest and not surgery. our reasoning, not a recommendation. one, he was grade 3 not grade 4 or 5. deep pain was clearly present, voluntary motion clearly present, the prognosis gap between conservative and surgical at our grade was meaningful but not as dramatic as at grade 4-5 where the gap widens substantially. two, our regular vet (who knows him) and the neurologist agreed that the imaging showed compression but not catastrophic compression, this was a recoverable extrusion. three, we have flexibility to be home with him 24/7 for the 8 week recovery (i work from home, my partner could shift his schedule), and we knew that crate rest done poorly is what tanks the conservative success rate, crate rest done strictly with the right setup has substantially better outcomes than the published averages reflect because the averages include all the families who attempted crate rest and quietly cheated on it. four, we had emotional capacity for an 8 week intensive recovery but not for the funded surgery decision at our specific financial moment. these are our reasons, not a general recommendation, please do not read this as "you should choose conservative over surgical." for many dogs and many families, surgery is the right call.

what the eight weeks actually looked like. week 1 was the worst. he was in pain despite the gabapentin (300mg every 8 hours) and the prednisone taper (we used pred not NSAID because of the spinal cord component, this is standard for the first 2 weeks). the crate was a 36 inch wire crate with the divider set so he had about 24x20 inches of space, enough to lie down comfortably and reposition but not enough to stand fully and walk. we lined it with a yoga mat under fleece for grip and pressure distribution. he could not get to a "potty position" so we had to express his bladder manually 4-5 times a day for the first 9 days (the discharge ER tech showed us, easier than it sounds, but mentally hard the first 3 days). week 2 the pain began to lift, he became more comfortable in the crate and started eating with more enthusiasm. by day 10 he was urinating voluntarily again with help (we held a sling under his belly to support him in a normal stance for 30-60 seconds). week 3-4 was the "is this working or not" plateau where his hind end function was improving slowly but not in the dramatic way we kept hoping for. he was now standing for 30-45 seconds at a time with the sling support, taking 4-6 wobbly steps before sitting. week 5-6 was the unlock, he started weight bearing on both hind legs without the sling for short bouts, the proprioceptive deficits we'd noticed in week 3 (his rear paws would knuckle under) were resolving, he was navigating the crate confidently. week 7-8 we did the gradual reintroduction protocol the neurologist had given us, leashed-walks-only at 5 minutes increasing to 15 minutes over 2 weeks, no running, no jumping, no stairs, no slippery floors, he stayed in the crate when not actively supervised. by end of week 8 he was walking with a mild residual wobble on the left rear but functionally normal in his world. month 4 the wobble was gone unless you knew to look for it. month 14 (now) he is a normal 22lb dachshund who walks 2-3 miles a day on the flat and shows no detectable neurological deficit.

the dachshund specific things i wish someone had told us before week one. one, the crate height matters more than the crate length for a recovering doxie, his back is the thing we are protecting, and a too-tall crate where he can rear up onto his hind legs against the door is more dangerous than a too-short crate. our 36 inch wire crate was actually slightly too tall, we ended up rigging a soft cap inside that prevented him from rearing. two, the standard "no jumping no stairs" advice for dachshunds gets cited everywhere and is correct but does not capture the next level of risk, the bigger risk for a dachshund in recovery is the lateral twist motion (he steps off a rug onto a slick floor and his hindquarters fishtail), and the prevention is wall-to-wall floor coverage in the recovery space not just blocking stairs. our living room got fully covered in non-slip rugs for the entire 8 weeks plus the next 6 weeks of taper. three, the bladder expression piece, take the lesson from the tech seriously and practice it on day 1 before the first time you need to do it, do not be googling videos at 2am like we were on night 2. four, dachshunds with a prior IVDD episode are at 15-20% lifetime risk of a second episode at a different disc, and the standard reintroduction protocol your neurologist gives you is too conservative for permanent lifestyle in some areas and too aggressive in others. specifically, ramps on every piece of furniture forever, but he can absolutely return to vigorous flat ground play and running and long walks once recovered, the persistent dachshund-folklore that any IVDD dog must live a sedentary life is just wrong and tanks their quality of life. five, the emotional weight of week 3-4 is enormous and not enough writeups address it, you will be 70% of the way through the protocol with no clear signal yet whether it is working, the families who give up on conservative usually do so at week 3-4 not week 1, push through this stretch and trust the neurologist's timeline. happy to answer specifics on dosing, the harness we used, the financial side, or the surgery question if anyone is at the decision point right now