how fast do muscles atrophy?

[krysten]

we have been keeping maggie very quiet these past few days because of her hip.
today, i am SO glad to report, she is about 99% back to her normal, goofy, zoomy self.

however, yesterday morning i was looking at her hip when she stands with her side facing you and noticed that her leg/thigh muscle definition looked... different. i only noticed it because i've been googling pictures of hip dysplasia and have noticed the pictures of these dogs with severe dysplasia have some pretty sad/atrophied thigh muscles. i sort of thought it was maybe just a trick of the light though.. she has such a shiny black coat and the light refelcts oddly sometimes.

i didn't think much more of it until my husband asked me if i thought her leg looked different tonight. that got me panicking.

it's by no means drastic... it's subtle... but it's there. i went back and looked at a picture from last year that had her facing the same way and her leg definitely looks a little more toned. the right looks better than the left (the vet did say she only had some mild dysplasia on the left) the vet didn't say anything regarding her tone so i'm SURE it wasn't like that monday morning. is that crazy?? the vet ddn't even suspect dysplasia and we only did x rays to rule it OUT, not really confirm. has she lost definition in 4+ days?? it has been a really really quiet 4 days. she's basically been going out to pee and that's it since sunday. she couldnt even do stairs on monday after being manipulated for the x rays, tuesday she was still miserable and exhausted from the sedation, and yesterday she was starting to rally but i was hesitant to let her be more active since she still seemed sensitive.
this morning we took a short walk and given how good she seems today we're planning on an (easy) walk tonight. i certainly dont want her to lose definition since it's especially important with the dysplasia!

can 4 days of limping/bed rest make that much of a difference? we did also have a very lazy winter since the weather was just so brutal, and have not gotten back into being as active as we were. but we've been hiking/going to parks on weekends and doing walks during the week.

she has a f/u on sunday and i will deifnitely mention it then. but i didn't know if you guys had any experience with muscle loss after surgeries/injury etc?

[shellbell]

I don't think this would be enough to cause atrophy. Could you get an ortho consult? I think it might make you feel better. I did this with Tux when my regular vet took xrays and diagnosed HD. The ortho was very helpful, and had a much different opinion than my primary vet.

[janedoe]

We did with Zo but her recovery time was two months. We took her in to physical therapy to bring her back. As I recall, the doc said that atrophy starts occurring almost immediately but I think that four days is a little extreme. Let us know what yours tells you. I hope all is well.

[Snowco Labradors]

It depends on the dog, the length of time they are inactive and the amount of protein you feed. Protein feeds/builds muscle. I don't see 4 days causing that much atrophy. She will bounce back, give her time and feed at least 26% protein or higher.

[Polly Pipkin]

I have read that our muscles can begin to atrophy within 24 hours, so if we're ill with the flu and just resting, after 4 days we would be quite weak. It seems a little drastic, but if we have an operation, they do get us up and walking as soon as possible, so hard to say.

I would think the better indicator would be how active Maggie was before. I'm no medical person, but it seems to me if she's ready to be zooming around in her happy way, she is feeling much better and if she has lost any muscle tone, she can soon get it back. Can you take her swimming? That is good exercise with low impact.

Good luck on your follow up visit!

[Snowco Labradors]

Always remember "muscle has memory". As a personal trainer and past bodybuilder I know this to be true. If you used to work out and slacked off for a bit and start up again, the muscle comes back quite quickly.

I would think its the same in dogs.

[krysten]

thanks everyone! turns out i'm basically crazy...
i got myself so worked up yesterday that i ended up texting my friend Jess who is a vet tech. i texted her a picture and she wrote back "dude. all i see are bulging muscles." LOL. it is seriously hard to be this crazy. it's like a work out all in itself. i should be a triathlete by now.

she has her follow up on sunday with the vet so i will get some additional reassurance from the vet.

it's hard to be crazy.

[Doreen Davis]

But we love you for it:-)

[indybindy]

I recommend taking her to a rehab vet, vs a GP or even an ortho (unless you are considering surgery). Indy has a pretty involved exercise plan to keep him strong/muscled. Plus, involving a rehab person gives you concrete info about whether she is improving or not. They will measure muscle mass, range of motion, joint angulation, etc. Keeping track of that kind of stuff really helps catch problems before they go down hill.

[Snowshoe]

Maybe related. A study on competitive cross country skiers showed older skiers ( 50+) recuperated and regained strength faster than younger ones after a layoff for whatever reason. Very surprising results. A point was made that the level of conditionning attained beforehand was not factored in and it was wondered if the younger ones were faster, stronger, had more endurance to start with and thus had more to lose? Or at least that part was not dealt with in the article I read, maybe they were all competing in 10 km or 20 km, I don't remember it saying. Still, surprising.