Anybody ever dealt with this in their dog? Pup is having a possible biopsy today if a thorough exam and X-ray under sedation doesn’t reveal any other source of his recent jaw/mouth pain.
I have seen it in dogs at work. Once they stop the progression, it doesn’t heal, but dogs do cope and move on. I have seen happy dogs living with it on special slurry type diets. They were happy and pretty normal.
We have seen several in the past few months, which is strange because usually we only see a few cases a year. All but one have been large dogs, Rotti’s, Mastiffs etc. One was a bichon or poodle cross kind of dog.
We CT them all (skip the radiographs, a CT of the skull is cheaper and generally better for diagnosis of TMJ and bulla areas), then procede to muscle biopsy if the CT is normal.
Some respond well to medications and can go on to live a pretty regular life as far as eating/drinking goes. Others need “stretching” under anesthetics to allow the mouth to open even an inch. Usually these cases have been going on a long time before treatment is sought out. Some of the really bad ones have to live on slurries or have feeding tubes placed, however the majority do not.
Jingles for your dog and hope that you have a very positive outcome!
My old Standard Poodle had it. It resolved with pred. He had, I think, one recurrence, but was otherwise fine. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. It was a number of years ago, and he passed away over 5 years ago, not from that.
Thanks so much!
Still no results yet from the bio. I’m not thrilled with how he’s handling the prednisone so far. Not so much an issue with the drinking and peeing, but he just seems rather lethargic and not himself. He is however using his jaw almost 100% normally again with yawning and last night was even interested in playing with his glow in the dark ball that he adores and demands play time with every night. So that was encouraging. Either the prednisone is working on the possible MMM or he had a simple strain that is resolving on its own or with some help from the pred.
