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.