Muscle Tone In Senior

[Alibi]

The dog physio is getting me to do hydrotherapy with my girl to get back muscle tone, her's is alittle more complicated than just old age as she had cruciate surgery last year as well and lost so much muscle. Luckly i can swim her in the bath as she is only little. The physio also recomended a product called Traumeel, its a natural version of an anti-inflamatory so no side affects. We are also doing accupuncture as well, so far so good.

[LouiseBrooks]

My Little Miss Lillie the Pink I suddenly noticed has lost her little plump arse and now has a shrivilled bot.

The poor thing arrived skins and bones, and sans fur. She did plump up quidkly however her fur has never grone back. The specialistist said owing to long term starvation it more likely never would.

the funny thins though is we think she is over 15 years - in the last 18 months, she has nearly lost all her sight , has become slightly deaf but has become more playfull. She never dare I say showed any emotion before. Now she want to play all the time, the only one of my furkids that like to play. :rolleyes:

I did notice that in the last month of winter last year, she became a bit stiff in the left hind leg so since then I have been feeding her Sasha Blend and hope this helps with the coming winter.

I think it will be one very very cold winter here in Brisbane with all the moisture in the air I am sure there will be heavy frosts.

I have knitted her leggings as her feet are always cold I also bought tiny bootees, she is going to be such a this winter but at least she will be warm.

[dianed]

The dog physio is getting me to do hydrotherapy with my girl to get back muscle tone, her's is alittle more complicated than just old age as she had cruciate surgery last year as well and lost so much muscle. Luckly i can swim her in the bath as she is only little. The physio also recomended a product called Traumeel, its a natural version of an anti-inflamatory so no side affects. We are also doing accupuncture as well, so far so good.

I wondered about acupuncture for my girl. The anti inflammatory seems to help, she one every second day now.

[dianed]

My Little Miss Lillie the Pink I suddenly noticed has lost her little plump arse and now has a shrivilled bot.

The poor thing arrived skins and bones, and sans fur. She did plump up quidkly however her fur has never grone back. The specialistist said owing to long term starvation it more likely never would.

the funny thins though is we think she is over 15 years - in the last 18 months, she has nearly lost all her sight , has become slightly deaf but has become more playfull. She never dare I say showed any emotion before. Now she want to play all the time, the only one of my furkids that like to play.

I did notice that in the last month of winter last year, she became a bit stiff in the left hind leg so since then I have been feeding her Sasha Blend and hope this helps with the coming winter.

I think it will be one very very cold winter here in Brisbane with all the moisture in the air I am sure there will be heavy frosts.

I have knitted her leggings as her feet are always cold I also bought tiny bootees, she is going to be such a this winter but at least she will be warm.

You will have to post a photo of her all decked out for winter

[Rottifan]

Why do dogs lose muscle tone? If you were going to the gym to build muscle yourself and you only did half of the exercise would it work....No! The highly likely reason why is that your dog is out of alignment and has pinched nerves as a result. They can be out of alignment from birth (eg mum stepping on them in the litter or being dropped) or from later in life (slippery floors, rough play, running fencelines, stairs etc). They live with the pain, since their pain threshold is higher than ours, until later in life when something triggers off the pain and it becomes too much for them. We dont notice symptoms until it becomes obvious and we notice our dog is lame BUT for years preceding this point the dog changes the way they walk so they dont experience pain. They might do this by taking slightly shorter steps with their front legs or not driving back as far with their rear legs. By not stretching out and walking with full length steps (because if they do when they have pinched nerves they experience referral pain down limbs/muscle spasm) they will lose muscle tone. Get your dog adjusted by a good animal chiropractor and once in alignment and able to walk properly again your dog will tone muscles back up and toned muscles holds bones in place thus stopping the problem from reoccuring. While your dog is out of alignment and you are exercising him/her you are toning muscles to hold him/her out of alignment. More information is at www.######.com - I am one of the very lucky ones to have this man save my dog - best of luck!

[FHRP]

My dog is seen by a chiropractor every month. A pinched nerve is not why he has lost muscle tone, especially not in his head!

Edited May 24, 2011 by FHRP

[Rottifan]

Quite the opposite with my boy. My animal chiropractor found that my boy had a nerve pinched at the base of his skull. This was affecting his reach and shoulder movement. Perhaps something that happened when he walked into a glass door or hit his head some other way but it affected his movement and therefore could not build or hold muscle due to his limited movement to avoid pain. Keep an open mind, learning never stops!

[Blackdogs]

For loss of muscle tone you can't go past swimming. There are some heated pools specifically designeed for dogs with such issues. Thr only way to combat the loss is to build it back up and the only way to do that in an older dog is to find a form of exercise which is non-weight bearing.