My senior dog can't walk after surgery. Will her leg muscles recover?

If your dog hasn't been using his legs as much due to recovery from the amputation it is possible he has lost some muscle tone. it is best to get into contact with your vet to see if it is now safe to start a rehab or exercise program to help get him back in shape. Some illnesses can also cause muscle wasting or loss of muscle tone, so if you are seeing other symptoms in addition to this, or if it is happening very rapidly it is best to schedule a vet appointment for a complete exam, especially if he seems painful.

At this age dogs usually suffer from painful arthritis of the hips. The pain makes them use their hind legs less and therefore the muscles atrophy. You should take Ryder to your vet for an exam, and mention the weakness in the hind legs. Your vet can prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication which will help with pain and should make Ryder more happy to get up and exercise. This will train his leg muscles and it will be much easier for him to get up and walk.

Neurologic issues can take time. It is great that she is up and bearing weight on her own, dogs are so amazing. Hopefully she had xrays to look for a spinal/pelvic fracture, collapsed disc space, etc. as these would be important to rule out as well. You will need to give her potentially even months to know what her new normal with be. Hopefully she will at some point be deficit free or only have a mild deficit but it is too soon to tell. Keep working with her. Hopefully your vet has recommended a physical therapy/rehab plan for her. If not, you could request referral to a rehab therapist. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

I am very sorry that Manny is having a hard time after his birthday celebrations. It sounds to me for what you are describing there could potentially be an osteoarthritis component to his issues. It is possible that he has muscle weakness, thought as you are noting, it is less likely to appear so quickly. Whereas, osteoarthritis flare-ups can appear immediately following a walk. I would advise the following for you and Manny; Shorter walks more frequently to prevent flare-ups and build up lean muscle mass Cool compresses after a walk on his hips for a few minutes every few hours for the first 24 hours After first 24 hours, switch to warm compresses Adding a joint supplement to Manny's diet such as this one; http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=29218 If he does not return to himself within 48 hours, and really start to improve in the first 24 hours, I would advise taking him into his veterinarian to ensure he doesn't need any changes to his medication, or perhaps adding a long term medication for osteoarthritis.

This presentation could be due to a neurological lesion affecting nerves innervating the legs (please tell us which leg you think is affected to have more specific answers). I would recommend a neurological examination and eventually further investigations (EMG and MRI/CT might be needed). Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

I would tend to think that anesthesia is playing a major role causing the signs you are describing. This can be quite common, especially in older dogs. I would recommend to monitor him for the next 8 hours and if no improvement is seen by then another check up would be required. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

The most common reason that we will see symptoms like you are describing of a loss of muscle in all legs, but being more affected on one side would be a problem in the nervous system. Most commonly, we will see problems in the neck that affect one side more than the other. I would start with having your veterinarian examine Trick again and perform a full neurological examination. Depending on their findings, the next step may be a consultation with a neurologist. If Trick is only 4 years old, then it is certainly worth doing additional testing to determine what is doing on and if additional treatment could help prevent further muscle loss. Although we can certainly see muscle loss from arthritis, it rarely involves all 4 legs and is not often so asymmetrical that you can tell that one side of the body is worse, so I think it is worth consulting with a neurologist. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.