Hello! I have an IVDD dog and knew nothing about the disease before this happened. We didn't crate her immediately and she ended up paralyzed last April. We did go through surgery but she did not regain control of her back legs or bladder or bowel functions. In November she had another disc issue, this time in her neck. We did 8 weeks of strict crate rest with medication and she recovered fully.
You can avoid surgery, but the number one most important thing you can do is STRICT CRATE REST with the meds. The thing with discs is that they take a long time to heal. The meds are making him feel better but he doesn't know that the disc is not better yet. Every move makes it worse. An analogy I've seen used is that it's like a cut on your knuckle. It will start to scab over and then when you move it, it will rip off a little and need to scab again. Remy's life will have to change a little even when he is better... no more stairs, jumping on furniture, or playing rough.
Please check out this website on the disease, and join their yahoo group mailing list:
Dodgerslist Home Page You can e-mail questions, concerns, and your story, and they are so willing to share information. There are thousands of members with IVDD dogs there (mostly dachsunds) and they helped me tremendously! You can also find them on Facebook.
Please let me know if you have any questions and I can answer them as best I can!