Hi. I didn't read the entire thread, so don't know all Raustyk's symptoms, but my dog Jake has thoracic and lumbar disc disease. We did not do the MRI because we had decided that we would probably not do surgery (surgery in the thoracic area is more risky, with a possibility of paralysis, and he was still functional. Lumbar surgery is not as risky because the spinal cord is not usually involved). In any case, we have used many modalities to treat him, and almost 3 years later, he is doing pretty well (running some, walks, loves to ride in cars, etc). The thing that has worked absolutely the BEST, has been acupuncture. Jake has pain/weakness and proprioceptive defect (doesn't feel where his feet are in space) and both are helped by the acupuncture. He has been doing acupuncture for almost a year now, and goes every 2-4 weeks (weekly for the first 4-5 to see if it would help). He does well during the treatment, and it clearly makes him feel better (though you sometimes don't see the effect for a couple days. I also had acupunture for a cervical disc, and can verify that it helps the pain tremendously. He is also on glucosamine and metacam (with famotadine so his stomach doesn't get upset).

Good luck.

Jake's mom