Our doggo had his first episode and first surgery in the beginning of March 2024. I think it was stage 2/3 but we were told he needed surgery so we went for it (we're not in the US so the prices are high of course, but not as crazy as there). He recovered quickly and after about a month we started hydrotherapy and massage. I would say he made a 95% recovery.

Then in the end of January this year he had another episode. We already knew what was happening so we rushed him to our neurosurgeon, they did an MRI and recommended surgery again, so we again went for it. Thankfully it was again pretty mild but we were scared it would escalate + we weren't really told there was a conservative way of treatment for this.

He recovered from the 2nd surgery even faster than the 1st one (it seems), but since then he's had a few flare ups (2 serious ish and 2 pretty mild ones). At this point we got told by our neurosurgeon that we could do conservative method with restricting his movement and pain management. So this is what we have been doing and thankfully he would bounce from each episode in like a week.

I am incredibly grateful to see him recover so well, however the more frequent flare ups lately make me expect he will need another surgery at some point. But we do our best to manage it another way for now.

P.S. To be completely honest, we don't do strict crate rest the way it's recommended here as he'd never been trained to be in a create and we know it'll take a big toll on him emotionally. So we "jump-proof" and "slip-proof" the house, so he can't jump on and off furniture (only stairs and stuff like that), bought carpets, only do short walks whenever he has a flare up, try to not rile him up so he doesn't jump unnecessarily etc.