Dacshund paralyzed no muscle in butt

[pattyd7]

Hi,
My little girl early last year blew a disk. She had surgery & didn't recover from the paralysis. She fought me on therapy and the therapist . So, she's happy just scooting around. Hates the wheels. Long story short. She's lost muscle tone in her bottom. She weighs 13 #. She eats , she's content as long on the couch.. She plays w/ the other dogs all things fine.. I'm just concerned about the muscle loss , her little boney butt , and I don't want her to lose anymore weight. I feel terrible. Should I force her on the exercises bc of the muscle loss or just let her be happy as she is?
Thanks..

[CarolC]

May I ask what kind of exercises they had you doing? Could you perhaps do just part of them? For example, if they gave you 4 or 5 exercises to do and she didn't hate one of them but resisted all the others, I would at least do that. She might have an individual quirk about hating exercise, but it seems a little unusual.

Did you try water therapy, like swimming in a pool? That is one of the best exercises.

Having boney hindquarters is not exactly a problem by itself, but you do need to be more careful about abrasions from dragging or lying on hard surfaces. If you start to notice any skin breakdown, there are a couple of good options. One is to let her wear a diaper, because the padding gives protection to the hips. Another option is a drag bag.

[pattyd7]

Hi Carol C;
Good to hear from you again. Yes, when she first got paralyzed we did the exercises and took her to a Dr. who performs pt , got her laser therapy, water therapy.. you name it. The Dr. was awesome . She got to where she didn't want to do anything for her either. She's happy. The only thing she cares for is being on the couch. That's all she wanted before the accident. It just took me by surprise to see the muscle loss. Weird that I had not seen it before. Thank you for the reassurance . I love her dearly. We just want her to be healthy and happy.

[critters]

Atrophy is typical in the situation. Personally, I'd be most concerned about preventing skin breakdown, contractures, etc.