Degenerative myelopathy is a progressive spinal cord disease causing hind limb weakness and paralysis in dogs. Appropriate welfare management can maintain quality of life through disease progression.
DM is unusual among progressive neurological diseases in being painless in most of its course. Dogs with DM do not suffer from the disease process itself in terms of nociceptive pain, though anxiety about loss of mobility and social isolation from reduced exercise are genuine welfare concerns. The progression to urinary and fecal incontinence creates management challenges that affect both dog comfort and human caregiver burden. Dog wheelchairs transform quality of life for many DM dogs by restoring independent locomotion. The welfare questions in DM management center on when decreased quality of life from incontinence management, complete loss of mobility, or respiratory involvement reaches a threshold that makes euthanasia the most compassionate choice.