Anyone on this forum have a dog with or know of Masticatory Muscle Myositis or MMM?

[animallover4727]

I have written a short explanation of what MMM is at the end of my post

About 2 years ago, My 7 year old mastiff's head caved in on the left side of his face only.

I took him to the vet and we did the antibody blood test which confirms if a dog has Masticatory Muscle Myositis (or MMM for short). My dog's test came back negative. My vet said since he was opening his mouth and acting normal- to just keep an eye on it incase the other side starts to cave in and just leave it at that.

Now, 2 years later, I see a very SMALL difference in the right side of his head which scares me into thinking his other side is getting ready to cave in.

I have a vet appt and a specialist appt BUT my main reason for posting on this forum is the following:

If anyone has dealt with MMM (which i truly believe my dog has because i read online that the test can come back negative) has the prednisone helped or worsened your dog's MMM?

Also if my dog does lose all the muscles on his face, will he ever be able to open and close his mouth or will i need to seriously consider a feeding tube?

Im also obviously going to talk to my vet and specialist about this, but it would be nice if anyone who has experienced this awful illness could weigh in on the matter as well

Thank you!


**MMM is a disease where the immune system in a dog will start attacking the muscle fibers in his/her head because the body starts to think the fibers are bad. (put as plainly as possible). This causes the dog to lose the muscles that help him/her open his/her mouth. Prednisone is the only known cure from standard vets (Ive never looked into homeopathic or alternative medicines) and if the prednisone doesn't help open up the jaw, the dog will usually be on a feeding tube for life.