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Otto an 8 year old male Dachshund
When Otto, an 8 year old male Dachshund collapsed with sudden paralysis in both hind legs, he needed emergency spinal surgery within hours. Advanced Vetcare London's neurology team performed an urgent hemilaminectomy to decompress his spinal cord and two weeks on, the signs of recovery were already showing.
How It Started
Otto's owners noticed something was wrong almost immediately. He'd developed a sudden hunched posture and weakness in his hind legs and over a very short period, that weakness became paralysis. It wasn't a gradual decline. This was rapid, progressive, and alarming.
He was referred to Advanced Vetcare London's Neurology and Neurosurgery Service as an emergency on 4th June 2026.
What We Found
On arrival, Otto was bright and alert, which is important to note, because with spinal injuries the brain itself is unaffected. But neurologically, the picture below the neck was serious.
He was holding a kyphotic posture, meaning his back was hunched and rigid with pain. He couldn't walk. He had no postural reactions in either hind limb, meaning when the team tested his ability to sense and respond to his paws being repositioned, there was nothing there. His spinal reflexes were normal, which helped to narrow down exactly where in the spine the problem was sitting. And on palpation of his thoracolumbar spine (the junction between the chest and lower back) he showed pain.
The neurological picture pointed to a lesion somewhere between T3 and L3, the mid-to-lower section of the spinal cord. This is neurolocalisation, and it's the first step in working out where to look and what to do next.
Pre-anaesthetic blood work came back unremarkable, aside from a Grade II heart murmur which was noted and factored into the anaesthetic plan. Otto was otherwise healthy.
The MRI: Confirming the Diagnosis
MRI is the gold standard for spinal cord assessment in dogs, and Otto's scan told a clear story.
There was a large right-sided disc extrusion at the T12-L1 level, meaning the discs material between the 12th and 13th thoracic and 1st lumbar vertebrae had ruptured and been forced into the spinal canal. The extruded material was a mixture of degenerated disc and haemorrhage, and it was causing severe compression of the spinal cord at that level.
Intervertebral disc disease, or IVDD, is one of the most common neurological emergencies in dogs. The disc - a cushion of fibrous and gelatinous material that normally sits between the vertebrae and absorbs shock - degenerates over time. In some cases it ruptures suddenly and forcefully, firing disc material into the spinal canal. When that happens at the thoracolumbar junction, the result can be rapid, severe loss of hind limb function. The speed of onset and the severity of compression both matter enormously for prognosis. In Otto's case, getting him to surgery quickly was critical.
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The Surgery: Decompressing the Spinal Cord
Otto underwent a right-sided T12-L1 double hemilaminectomy, a procedure designed to access the spinal canal and remove the material pressing on his spinal cord.
In a hemilaminectomy, a small window is created in the vertebral arch (the bony ring surrounding the spinal cord) on the affected side. This allows the surgical team to directly access the spinal canal and carefully remove the extruded disc material that is compressing the cord, without disturbing the spinal cord itself any more than necessary. A double hemilaminectomy simply means the window spans two vertebral levels, T12 and L1, to ensure full access to the affected area.
The degenerated disc material was successfully removed from the T12-L1 disc space. With the compression relieved, the spinal cord had the best possible chance to begin recovering.
Otto came round from anaesthesia smoothly and was kept in hospital for the first phase of his recovery.
Postoperative Care: The First Hours and Days
Spinal surgery in dogs requires careful, comprehensive pain management in the immediate postoperative period. Otto received methadone, a ketamine constant rate infusion through the first night, gabapentin, paracetamol, and meloxicam. This is a combination designed to address pain from multiple angles and keep him as comfortable as possible while the spinal cord began to settle.
Alongside the pain management, the nursing team provided intravenous fluid therapy, regular pain scoring, assisted repositioning to protect his skin and circulation, bladder monitoring, and early physiotherapy in the form of massage and passive range of motion exercises (gentle movements of his hind limbs to maintain joint mobility and encourage neurological stimulation from the outset).
Going Home: What Otto's Owners Were Asked to Do
Once Otto was stable enough for discharge, his owners took over a significant part of his care and that's very much by design. Recovery from spinal surgery is a long process, and what happens at home matters as much as what happens in the hospital.
His medication at home included gabapentin for 21 days, Pardale-V for 7 days, and meloxicam for 14 days. Exercise was strictly restricted to short lead walks for toileting only, using a harness and sling where needed. Running, jumping, stairs, rough play, and getting on and off furniture were all off the table for four weeks.
His owners were also asked to carry out massage and passive range of motion exercises three to four times daily. This is something many owners find gives them a meaningful and active role in their pet's recovery. Hydrotherapy and professional physiotherapy were both recommended to support the neurological rehabilitation process.
Two Weeks Later: Encouraging Signs
Otto returned for his two-week recheck and the picture was encouraging.
His owners had already noticed improvement at home. On examination, he was bright and alert, his surgical incision was healing well, and there was no pain on spinal palpation. The kyphotic posture that had marked his initial presentation was gone.
He remained non-ambulatory at that point, meaning he still couldn't walk unaided, and his postural reactions in the hind limbs were still markedly reduced. But his muscle tone was good, his spinal reflexes were normal, and the absence of pain was a meaningful indicator that the decompression had done its job.
Neurological recovery after spinal cord compression doesn't happen overnight. It follows its own timeline, and in cases like Otto's, where the compression was severe, the two-week mark is very early in that process. The fact that improvement was already visible, and that pain had resolved, pointed in the right direction.
The plan going forward was to continue physiotherapy, gradually increase controlled exercise over the following month, and arrange further neurological reassessment if progress plateaued or changed.
What This Case Teaches Us
Otto's case is a reminder of how quickly IVDD can escalate and why it should always be treated as a neurological emergency.
A few things stand out.
Speed matters. The interval between onset of signs and surgical decompression is one of the most important factors in the outcome of acute disc extrusion cases; in dogs with plegia (complete loss of movements), we should aim to treat within 24-48 hours. Otto's owners acted quickly, and so did his referring vet.
MRI is non-negotiable. You can suspect a disc extrusion from the clinical examination, but you cannot plan surgery without knowing exactly where the material is and how far it has migrated. MRI gave the team the precise localisation they needed before opening the spinal canal.
Comprehensive pain management is part of the treatment. Spinal cord injury is painful at multiple levels; tissue trauma, nerve pain, inflammation. Otto's protocol addressed all of these, which kept him comfortable and supported the early neurological recovery process.
Home care is part of the clinical plan. The passive range of motion exercises, the hydrotherapy referral, the strict rest protocol. None of this is optional add-on advice. For a dog recovering from spinal cord compression, rehabilitation is as important as the surgery itself. Otto's owners were a key part of his recovery team from the moment he went home.
"Otto's case is a good example of why we treat acute disc extrusion as an emergency. The window between onset of signs and surgical decompression is one of the most important factors in how well these dogs recover, and his owners didn't hesitate. They got him seen quickly, we had MRI findings within an hour, and we were able to decompress the spinal cord the same day. Two weeks post-surgery, his pain had completely resolved and good muscle tone and movements were present. For a dog who came in paralysed, that's a really positive early sign."
Prof. Dr. Marios Charalambous, Head of Neurology
Advanced Vetcare London
To refer a neurology case or find out more about our services, visit advancedvetcare.co.uk or call 020 3143 4444.