IVDD is a common and potentially catastrophic spinal condition in dogs, causing pain and paralysis — early recognition and appropriate treatment improve welfare outcomes dramatically.
IVDD causes some of the most acute and rapidly evolving welfare crises in companion animal medicine. A dog that was walking normally in the morning can be paralysed by evening — and without emergency surgery, that paralysis may become permanent. The pain of disc herniation is severe before paralysis; the loss of function and dignity of incontinence compounds welfare harm after. Early recognition of warning signs — reluctance to jump, spinal pain, progressive weakness — allows intervention before irreversible spinal cord damage occurs.