Ziggy The Shih Tzu/Bichon & His Paralysis

This is Ziggy! Ziggy is an adorable shihtzu pup and only 3 years old. He’s full of life and wonderful faces. Only problem is Ziggy started having trouble with his back end this past winter. It would come and go where he would have episodes of dragging his hind end. The first couple of times it occurred, he was treated with steroids and those seemed to help him get back to his normal self. This last episode, however, was the worst and by far the most serious. Ziggy had almost no control of his back legs, only the slightest ability to use his right leg on carpet or grass. He was completely dragging his back end and having a great deal of trouble with bathroom breaks too. The steroid treatments that had been effective previously did nothing for him this time, in fact he seemed to be worsening. When his fur mom brought Ziggy to our mom, everyone had very high hopes, though all were concerned due to the amount of muscle mass the little guy had lost over the past few months. With diligent parents and weekly treatments, Ziggy went from dragging his back legs to running over the course of several treatments. With each one there seemed to be more improvement. A little hydrotherapy and some special socks also allowed Ziggy to build up some muscle he had lost. Ziggy is now fully functional, he walks, runs and jumps. His favorite activity is standing up on his back two legs, and his parents still cannot believe that this is the same dog they had back in May.