Hi all, today has been a horrible day. For about 3 weeks Tio has been having problems with his jaw, he had what seemed to be an abscess with a lot of swelling and was put on anti inflammatorys and antibiotics by the vet. After a while the swelling went down but his jaw was still a little locked. It seemed to get a bit better then got much worse last week so back to the vet. Today he has been diagnosed with canine masticatory myositis, his jaw is locked so that he can't open it more than about a cm and a half. I can't believe how quick this has been. He has been prescribed prednisolone to try and prevent it getting any worse, if it does he'll be unable to eat or drink and we will have to have him PTS.

He is totally fine and happy in himself, he is eating and drinking (slowly but getting there), playful, walking, cuddling as usual and has not lost condition except around his face where the muscles suddenly disappeared.

Has anyone any experience of dogs living with this condition? Any advise or tips to help him would be gratefully received. I would also love some help with managing the impact of his much narrower jaw- for example can anyone suggest foods that are suitable for a giant breed but have small kibbles? He is still eating ok but I would like to change his diet (obviously very slowly) to something smaller and more comfortable for him to eat.

Similarly has anyone any tips on dogs living with taking steroids? I know all the listed side effects but first hand accounts would be useful on managing the side effects. I want to be prepared for anything this throws at us so that I can do my absolute best for him. That for me includes having a reasonable expectation about his quality of life so that I don't put him through any needless pain or discomfort.

At work we treated a GBGV for this condition; she was quite poorly for a while and is still having some sort of medication (I can't remember offhand but will try to remember to check), but she was diagnosed three or four years ago and when she comes into to see us you really wouldn't know anything was wrong. She's very cheerful and gives us huge gaping-mouth grins which when she was bad would have been impossible. So don't give up hope yet. :-)

It may be a good thing for readers to acquaint themselves with the symptoms of this awful disease because.....
early diagnosis and the use of high doses of steroids can reduce the severity of the condition.
I know of a Rottweiler bitch who suffered from this for many years, meds improved it enough for her to lead a long life.she lost a great deal of muscle all over her head but the jaw slackened enough to eat and drink normally.

Ah that's good to hear. There is a chance of him being happy and fine still. The vet didn't sound very positive yesterday so as you can imagine we've been in bits. Tio is currently scoffing his breakfast full of steroids, taking him a bit longer than it might ordinarily but with no lack of enthusiasm thanks to some sardines!

that is great tooolz, it makes a difference hearing about dogs who were ok. I just can't believe how quickly this came on. Within 3 weeks from walking about with half a cow leg in his mouth to not opening his jaw more than an inch.

Any thoughts on small kibbles? He is managing his current one ok but he does seem to be working hard to eat and if I can make it easier for him I would like to. I think I am going to switch from 2 meals a day to 3 as well so he doesn't tire himself out eating.

Would a wet food be better for him, or raw? Hope he improves. x

hi pedlee, if I put him on raw he would need to be able to chew bone which he won't manage. He doesn't really enjoy wet food and I would be worried about his teeth if he was just on wet as I can't get in to brush them

Google CIMDA, I'm sure I've read posts from people with dogs suffering with the same condition x

The Rottie I knew was from an immune compromised family. There was a lot of problems in the early 90s with Rotts not responding to vaccines and studies were undertaken. This bitch was from one of those families in the study. Her son also went on to suffer from MMM and he too live a long life with it.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">hi pedlee, if I put him on raw he would need to be able to chew bone which he won't manage.

A lot of the raw mince has bones in it already so you wouldn't need to feed extra bone as it's minced up finely with the meat. You can also add calcium to the diet if necessary by feeding ground up egg shell. There is a specific ratio of eggshell to mince but I can find the details for you if you go down the raw route. Liver etc can also be minced as can most meats.

I hope his condition can be managed and that he improves.

> if I put him on raw he would need to be able to chew bone which he won't manage.

There are quite a lot of complete raw diets around now, so no bones need be chewed to get a balanced diet. Off the top of my head there are Nutriment, Natural Instinct, WolfTucker.....

Has the Vet given you a Gastro-protectant for him.....this should always be given with steroids to prevent stomach ulcers   There is one called Zantac which is the one usually used and can be bought from any chemist

Also give him Milk Thistle from a Health Shop...this helps to support Liver Function while he is on steroids

He may get urine infections fairly often on steroids ...so keep an eye out for this ..Anti-biotics will clear it up

jan x

This is really strange as my Myka (age 7) has this.  She is a 20kg bitch.

She had an ear infection for which we had AB's and she looked tense and drawn.

It was only when my daughter had been away a few days that she noticed that the top of her head looked more bony.

I googled and found this, but everything talked about the jaw being affected and locking.

We went to the vet who took blood samples, and it turned out that it was this, but in her case fortunately it ahs only affected the Temporal muscles (the ones between the ears and the forehead).

She was given Prednidale 5mg  steroids, 8 a day for the first week, then 4 a day second week, now 2  a day, then 1 a day from Thursday, and then 1 every other day for a week and stop.

This was to prevent Fibrosis of the muscles (which is, the vet said,  what causes the locking).

She is bright as a button now, (the ear infection cured) normal exercise normal eating etc.

That's very interesting, Barbara, because both Clover and her son Piglet developed the same muscle loss on the head at age 7 or 8. Neither of them had been ill at all as far as we could see, but the head muscles just wasted away. It didn't affect their ability to open their mouths at all, ever. The vet, after a lot of research, put it down as 'idiopathic trigeminal myopathy' which loosely translates to 'the muscles served by the trigeminal nerve have wasted away due to an unknown cause'. Basically, we're baffled! Clover died at 14 and Piglet's 14 now, and neither had any lifestyle probems with it. It's just unsightly and spoils their beauty.

Could we have a misdiagnosis here then, but the blood samples did find elevated enzymes, which is indicative of MMM?

So I';m going to Google 'idiopathic trigeminal myopathy'

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Has the Vet given you a Gastro-protectant for him.....this should always be given with steroids to prevent stomach ulcers   There is one called Zantac which is the one usually used and can be bought from any chemist <br /><br />Also give him Milk Thistle from a Health Shop...this helps to support Liver Function while he is on steroids <br /><br />He may get urine infections fairly often on steroids ...so keep an eye out for this ..Anti-biotics will clear it up

thanks jan, I wasn't aware of these. I'll raise with the vet when we see him.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><br />It was only when my daughter had been away a few days that she noticed that the top of her head looked more bony.

it is the top of Tio's head where it shows most. He looks very gaunt in the face, i'm sure you can imagine it is a big difference in a bullmastiff.

Btw Tio seems to be doing a bit better. Managed to take a (slim) carrot from me last night though didn't eat much of it. He is managing his meals fine now he has worked out and angle he can go in at and is drinking fine so feeling rather more hopeful and positive. Thank you all so much for the support and suggestions, you have really helped sooth my anxiety about this.

Hi, I have experience of living with MMM and seeing my girl come out the other end fit and well. PM if you want
Diane

Did any of the muscle return.  Myka is on one Steroid tablet a day this week and then we are to go to 1 every other day after Thursday for a  week and stop.