Can you help with some research into recovery from IVDD (back disease)?

Professor John Innes and Dr Mark Lowrie are developing a client-reported outcomes measure tool for dogs with spinal cord injuries. Such tools are common in human medicine and some exist in veterinary medicine - for example, one for dogs with osteoarthritis is now used widely used.

Veterinary neurologists have typically taken the dichotomous view of 'success'/'failure' in spinal cord injury as "walking" or "not walking". However, it is much more complex than that and many walking dogs will have residual deficits.

This survey is for owners of Dachshunds that have suffered a previous episode of intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) at least 6 months previously and recovered, but with residual deficits.

The aim is to produce a standardised tool for vets to use to assess the extent of recovery from IVDD. This is important so that the efficacy of different treatment options can be compared in the future. The data from this survey will inform the first stage of development of such a tool.

The survey does not ask for any data about you, just your dog.

Inclusion criteria are:

1. A serious intervertebral disc episode (causing neurological deficits) at least 6 months ago

2. Dogs with residual (remaining) functional impairment at whatever degree - even very minor is fine