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New diagnosis - anyone heard of it??

sramirez

Well-known member
My Sasha has gone to the closest vet teaching school in Kansas - I took her down yesterday. They are doing diagnostic procedures today & tomorrow. The preliminary diagnosis may be Masticatory Myositis - anyone ever heard of it? Unfortunately, it doesn't really have anything to do with her vomiting/throwing up, so we have yet to see what can be done.

Treatment for the above condition is steroids to loosen the jaw (which tightens up with this disorder). I have pureed her food for so long it might be why we haven't caught it before now. I wasn't too pleased today when my vet said "yea, I've heard of that" but didn't offer any other words of support - I wanted to say, "well, you didn't even slightly suggest it with Sasha". Just my edgy nerves in general I guess this week.

Wish us luck - my little girl is mighty sick right now and lost quite a bit of weight. Last night was so lonely w/out her....

Sheri
 
Dear Sheri, so sorry Sasha isn't well. I'm glad she is at the teaching hospital. Hopefully they will solve her health problems quickly. :flwr:
 
Sheri....My heart goes out to you. It is so stressful to have a sick pet, cause they are so helpless. I am saying prayers for you and little Sasha. Hugz to you both. Lily and I will be thinking of yo both :l*v:
 
{{{{{{{{Sheri and Sasha}}}}}}}} hope the treatment works quickly and poor little Sasha recovers quickly and gains some weight. Take care of yourself too Sheri :hug:
 
I just adore our vet school here at Ohio State University. They are always up-to-date.

My fil is a vet in Utah (and he's getting up there in years, sorry dad) BUT he always manages to stay up on the times and such.

It is sad your vet just shrugged it off, maybe he was having a bad day. I would throw more questions his way, if he sees that you aren't backing down until you get some support he may be more receptive...

Good luck and keep us all posted!
 
Yes, I have heard of this on a couple of the lists for cavaliers. It can be mild to quite serious is all I recall -- often it can be easily managed. I don't know much else about it. You must be relieved to have a diagnosis and hopefully you will have an easy case to look after too. :flwr: Let us know what the doctors say as you learn more.
 
Hope all goes with - and that they find a quick and safe way of getting Sasha will again, hugs coming over and licks from the boys..
 
Masticatory Muscle Myositis (MMM) is an immune mediated disease where the body starts attacking the specific muslces of mastication (chewing). They're of a different embryologic origin than other muscles, which is why only these muscles are affected and not all muscles.

From my internal medicine book:
In the acute form, hypertrophy of the temporal and masseter muscles is observed with myalgia (painful eating, i think). The animal is reluctant to open its mouth. It has difficult eating and may dribble saliva. Sometimes the jaw remains open because complete closing is impossible. Fever, inflammation of tthe tonsils, and local adenitis may also be found. In most cases myositis of the masticatory muslces is a chronic condition with severe, progressive muscle atrophy accompanied by fibrosis, resulting in a reduced ability to open the mouth and trismus (lockjaw).
The disorder is generally bilateral. Exopthalmos (bulging eye) linked to enlargement of the temporal muscles sometimes can be the cause of an optic neuritis and can result in vision disoders. Biochemical examinations are not specific, but the serum CK level may b be increased and leukocytosis (high white blood cell count) is sometimes found. Electromyography (EMG) reveals abnormal spontaneous activity. Muscle biopsy shows sites of necrosis (death) and phagocytosis (inflammatory cells eating them up) of type 2M fibers (the type particular to these muscles), with perivascular infiltration of mononucleate cells (meaning, white blood cells are coming out of the vessels to attack the 2M fibers because the body is recognizing them as foreign).
Adminstration of immunosuppressive doses of corticosteroids is the only advisable therapy. Clinical recovery and usually rapid and complete if treatment is begun early. Should a relapse occur, the maximum dose should be administered again. Sometimes a prolonged course of treatment is required, with small doses administered on alternate days. Therapy is ineffective if administered to an animal that has already experienced several inflammatory episodes that have resulted in extensive fibrosis.

Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Ettinger and Feldman


How's Sasha doing?? Hope she's feeling better!
 
Sheri - I've been swamped this week and just now caught this thread. I am so sorry little Sasha is ill. Hopefully now that there is a preliminary diagnosis treatment can begin and she'll feel better soon. :flwr:
 
Thanx to all of you regarding the great materials you've posted.

Sasha had very bad throat ulcerations for a start, that could only be seen by scope due to the limited motion of her jaw opening. She was started on the pink liquid amoxicillian and she is doing much better in that arena.

We are awaiting the titer blood test results from California regarding the MM - there is only one lab that does the titer testing. Meanwhile, she has been started on 10 mg daily of prednisone, which at this time is the only medication for MM. However, there is a new, yet unofficial surgery removing some of the back cheek bones which has seemed to help dogs. It is only in the preliminary stages, but Sasha's doctor has a colleague at another teaching vet hospital he may discuss the case with if she gets worse. At least it might be another option should she the jaw become much more limited.

Sigh.... just another cavalier disorder that needs more light shed on it. Since my daughter was diagnosed with a very rare seizure disorder when she was 10, it just stands to reason that Sasha's would be rare too!!

Sheri
 
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