sciatic nerve damage

[raiders mom]

My 9 yr. old shsh-tzu Raider was hit by a car 2 weks ago.He had pelvic surgery to repair some of the damage.The vet believes he may have sciatic nerve damage.We have been expressing his bladder 2-3 times a day.He had been having bowel movements(uncontroled we think).He has no spincter response but does not like it when you mess with his anus.(Had to use suppositories on him a couple of times when he first got home)I am wondering if anyone has any excercises we could start to do with him to improve the muscle tone in his back legs? Has anyone else experienced this type of injury.Did your dog inprove?Did it ever regain any bowel or bladder function?Does it live a happy life?I am looking for some reassurance that I made the right decision when I didn't allow him to be put down after the accident. He is my babay boy and I can not stand the thought of not giving him every chance to live.He was a very active playful dog before this happened and I only hope he can have some quality of life after.PLEASE HELP!!!

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Googling now:
http://www.righthealth.com/Health/Sciat ... 2F000686-s
Now granted the human websites are often what we have to work with. Let me merck this ... hang on ...
I have sciata as well, and there are definate flares. Sometimes she hurts like the dickens, most times she doesn't.
The stickies on expressin are invaluable and for some wonderful PT hints, please visit Dianne's comprehensive work at:
http://www.handicappedpet.net/helppets/ ... =4&t=10626
and scroll down to PT which is a little more than halfway.

Man oh man, I mercked sciatic and came up with a ton of issues, pick your issue at:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp I simply put sciatic in the search box.
For help with expressing, many of the families on this board do this every single day, both #1 and #2. They should be weighing in shortly.

[Bobbie]

No bowel or bladder control won't prevent a happy life. Is he walking? The trick to the bowel issue is to get him on a diet that makes stools firm and relatively dry, and then either pick up after him or "express poop" (see Poop on Demand) on a regular schedule so that he doesn't leave unexpected gifts. You are already doing the urine expression. When you are expressing the bladder it is important to make sure you get it all and also important to make sure he is getting plenty of fluids. If he leaks between being expressed, a "male wrap" works great.