I was wondering if anyone else's dog has ever lost almost all the muscle on its head? This happened to one of my bitches 3 years ago, and despite tests nobody can find any cause, or cure, for it. She hasn't been ill in any way, and it doesn't stop her using her mouth or ears, but her head looks like a skull, and when she yawns her eyes completely disapppear into her head!

Luckily it doesn't bother her at all, but it does look awful. She's only 10, but looks like she's 20.

If anyone has ever come across this before, and if there's anything we can do to restore her beauty, I'd be SO pleased!! The vets are flummoxed.

What breed is she? I'll try to do some digging around on it. I can't promise any results though :(
regards,
toodles

She's a dalmatian. In herself she's fine and it doesn't bother her - but it does look so horrid! I give her loads of stuff to chew to try to build up the muscle, but to no effect. At least she enjoys the chewing! All the vets she's seen have been at a total loss.

Hi Jean...
Another thing to ask...after looking around... since dogs really don't have muscle or fat on the tops of their heads..is her 'loss' mostly around her jaw + under the eye area???

I"m not finding any references to anything other than the jaw area..for instance:
Masticatory Muscle Myositis (acute) or
Masticatory myopathy --read the first query on the page+ answer.
The second (link) case sounds more like yours than the MMM link which seems to affect puppies and younger dogs and really affects their overall health.

Let me know if I"m on the right track and I'll keep digging :)
regards,
toodles

Hello Jean

Our Apbt went like this about a year before she died, she was ten when this happened. It may just be old age. It came on very sudden. The vet would be the best to advise you.

Mick

This happened within 2 weeks when she was 7 years old. She's now just 10, and the breed average is 12....it's just that she looks ancient!

No, the loss is on top of her head - hard to explain - instead of being smooth across the entire top and between the ears, you can now see the ridge along the top of the skull and the occiput is VERY clearly defined.

Looking through all my "dog books", the best picture I can find is on p22 of "You and Your Dog" by David Taylor. If you have this book, look at the third skull down (mesocephalic). Now imagine that shape, but with skin over the top! Not pretty, eh?

I'll keep searching through other books if you haven't got that one!

Thanks ever so for the help!! I really appreciate it.

Hey toodles, this is looking promising! Looking at the links (and struggling to understand some of the jargon!) it's looking as though it could be Chronic Atrophic Myositis - now printing out the details for my vet! This is brilliant - many thanks!