Does anyone have any knowledge / experience of this?
Friends dog is currently waiting on a diagnosis. 10 days ago the dogs head started to look swollen, but at the time the dog had conjunctivitis and problems with her teeth, so owner thought it was probably that.
She took the dog to the vets this morning and the vet (who is also a personal friend) has now suggested MMM as a possibility. Dog is still at the vets and they are waiting test results.
The vet is starting on steroids straight away, but my friend is understandably beside herself looking at worst case scenarios on the WWW. Vet was also really upset.
Dog is a 2 (ish) year old Rottie that my friend took on (rescue) after losing her other 2 rotties in a horrible 2 month period before Xmas. Friend has only had her for 8 weeks and she is already gone through so much (dog was never walked, likely beaten, scared of everything, previous owners claimed she had bitten so needed to be PTS but thankfully the vet called bullshit and called in my friend).
I suppose what I am after is some good news stories. Friend is lovely and a crazy rescue lady 
. She always takes on the waifs and strays and problem children, and I think its going to kill her if she loses this dog on top of losing the others 
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
Masticatory Muscle Myositis - Muscle Wasting Disease in dogs head
LtEveDallas · 22/04/2013 14:42
I am so sorry for your friend. Not a good news story I am afraid, sorry. My nine year old black lab had a swollen head, he was diagnosed with lymphatic sarcoma and passed away 6 weeks later
Oh I'm so sorry Lil. That must have been very hard I do hope it's better news for my friend. Latest update is that vet has had to 'crack open' dogs mouth... Sounds awful.
Hi,
My little dog had this in 2009 and I am delighted to say that she has since made a full recovery!
Luckily we had a great vet that suspected it straight away so she was booked in for test surgery within days. The surgeons had to cut away a lot of the damaged muscle at the top if her head/jaw and she was on incredibly high dose steroidal medication for about 9 months but she made it through and is (almost) as good as new 
On the downside, which I think it's important to be prepared for, she was extremely poorly throughout the treatment and she put on quite a lot if weight (which became bulk muscle that hasn't all gone away). Also, even though she has a long, fluffy coat her head still feels a bit 'bonier' than it did before but we have gotten used to it. If she was short haired she may have looked a bit different afterwards.
We are also lucky that she was insured otherwise the vet bill would have been difficult to pay - at almost £2k all in.
So, it's a good news story from us.
Incidentally she was a dogs trust rescue dog (cross bread terrier) and has had plenty of other medical issues.
If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them
Cheers
Cleas
Hi Cleas, thank you so much for that . Good to hear.
Dog is very thin at the moment and lots of muscle wastage from never being walked by previous owners . Maybe the steroids will help with that too?
I'm going to speak to my friend soon, hoping for an update. Ill see if she has any questions - thank you so much.
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