Degenerative Disk Disease, Canine - contd.
Dogs with degeneration of a cervical disk have good prognoses. Many dogs will improve with medical management alone, although there is a 33 percent chance of recurrence of the problem. Additionally, the neck pain tends to respond more slowly, and may be more difficult to control with medical management. Decompression and fenestration yield better results in a higher percentage of dogs than medical treatment alone. When a cervical disk rupture results in a dog not being able to walk, the degree of recovery depends on the location of the disk rupture and duration of immobility before surgery is performed.
Dogs with degeneration of the thoracolumbar disk have prognoses that depend on whether the dog is able to feel deep-tissue pain. Even dogs that are severely weak or paralyzed have a good chance of recovery, as long as they can feel deep-tissue pain, and undergo surgical decompression within 48 hours of symptom onset. Dogs may respond to medical management alone, but without surgery, recurrence is likely.
Following recovery from disk herniation, dogs may experience problems at another site. The reported incidence of additional herniation varies from seven to 15 percent in various studies.
