Jo's Seymour 5/10 conservative; GRAD 7/5

[Original subject line:Seymour's conservative treatment, no neuro symptoms ]  

Hi, our Seymour initially started with reluctance to walk and intermittently sitting on walks, but on May 8 he yelped when being towel dried after a bath. He had an X-ray on May 10 and was put on strict cage rest, gabapentin and meloxicam until his referral appointment with a specialist on May 31. IVDD was confirmed by the MRI (mildly compressive, left ventrolateral intervertebral disc extrusion at L2-L3 and multifocal intervertebral disc degeneration). No neurological symptoms were present and Seymour responded positively to conservative management and rest, so we were advised to continue the strict crate rest and analgesia for at least 4-6 weeks prior to re-introduction of slow, controlled exercise. Seymour is currently happy, showing no signs of pain or discomfort, and enjoying 5-10 minutes of controlled walking a day. However, I worry that he will start showing reluctance to walk again once we increase his exercise back to a normal amount.

Our questions are:

- How do we know whether the disk has healed properly? Is there any way to know? Despite our best efforts, Seymour has managed to get a few jumps in over the past months (he LOVES jumping and will seize ANY opportunity). We were very strict about the crate rest for the first 8 weeks, but Seymour simply won't poo without taking some time to sniff around and find a spot, so he was having some minutes of very slow controlled walking even during the strict crate rest period (which the vet said was ok). He also gets extremely wriggly when he's excited or happy, which is difficult to control. I should note that I suspect (in hindsight) that he'd been living with some sort of mild disk issue for about a year before the proper episode - but really don't understand what this means in terms of the possibility or probability of the disk healing completely.

- Should we revisit or extend his crate rest beyond what the vet recommended, due to the above? We told the vet about it, who wasn't concerned as long as Seymour didn't show any signs of pain or deterioration afterwards, but I worry that this will have kept the disk from healing properly.

- If we finish the conservative treatment program and he's basically the same as before his episode (generally happy to walk and run, but occasionally will walk slowly and pant when off leash and unstimulated; never showing any signs of pain at home), would you recommend trying another 8 weeks of strict crate rest before considering surgery? Or since he's generally happy, do we just accept that he's not going to walk as much as he used to and pop him in his stroller whenever he shows a reluctance to walk? Our insurance would cover the surgery, so we have no problem getting it for him if it's required - we just don't want him to go through it if it's not necessary.

Thank you!!
Jo & Chris

1 pain? No
2 How much does your dog weigh? 9.6kg Age? 6 years (ish)
A.. No meds since end of June, but previously on 100mg Gabapentin (3x per day, then reduced to 2 after a few weeks) and 10ml Metacam (1x per day)
3 stomach damage. None
4  Unknown mixed (possibly Jack Russel & Corgi) Your dog’s name? Seymour Your name? Jo
5 Was the diagnosis IVDD (aka: a disc problem, a disc herniation, a bulging disc, slipped disc)? Yes, diagnosed by neurology specialist
6 X-ray on May 10, and MRI on May 31
7 bladder control? Yes
8 He never had any problems walking or wobbliness