Masticatory Myositis

  Welcome to the forum; I'm sorry your dog was diagnosed with this disease. As large as this forum is, there's a chance someone will come along who's had experience with this condition, but here's some links that should be helpful;

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_masticatory_myositis.html

http://medicine.ucsd.edu/vet_neuromuscular/cases/1999/may99.html

http://www.michvet.com/library/neurology_masticatory_myositis.asp

  Sorry I can't be more helpful; I'll be sending lots of healing thoughts though.
 

  Hi folks two  of my 5 Jack Russel dogs  last summer had  a fit / convulsion  after eating a cooked pigs trotter  one  11 years of age  second his off spring 5 years. They rushed to me making what I could call a loud cry of pain and rolling around the ground .. My first reaction was a bone was logged in their throat. They both allowed me to place my finger into the throat  it was what I thought very swollen. After 10-20  minutes they calmed down I removed any uneaten food.. Now 6 months later the older dog is showing the sunken  skull syndrome  as described on this forum. The dog finds it hard to swallow so we feed him on soft food as advised. My only observation post the condition appearing is they have had attacks by Ticks in all the dogs. we check them  every day. However as the article stated the dogs immune system attacks a virus in muscle tissue. The older male dog had the most ticks with one in the ear which we missed.. The village we reside in is on a small hill however down on the Cambridgeshire Fen the area is known as Tick Fen. Another  attack had such huge ticks with puss coming out of the skull of the dogs . The local farmers use a hot needle to kill the Ticks on the fields.  I realize this is a bit worrying for some however they have had these working dogs for well over 100 years old habits die hard. The 4 other dogs  have  not had any signs of the disease.The vet said as well as a previous article on the Forum there is little that can be done. The disease is not showing on other male dog in my pack the matriarch of the Pack is 12 shes is very healthy . My guess is  the food didn't have any thing to do with the attack for me more its  the tick problem. Lately on a bitch  dog she had a large tick on the edge of her ear it left a large part of the ear missing when I used a tick comb to remove it.I still feed the dogs cooked bones. Please don't use the Farmers method of tick removal rural traditions in the UK  some who smoke use a cigarette to kill the ticks.if needed a quick solution. My  others dogs in the pack share his living space drinking  bowl and no signs of transferring this condition. Their immune system must be able to cope with what attached the old boy dog. He has had a good life we walk him every day even with though he is slow. PS we first noticed something strange  he lost confidence on a walk at the end of summer  he would stop and not move we had to carry him home. My good guess is the Ticks carry the virus. Cheers for those lucky enough to have Russel dogs Regards  Tony 

 Many thanks for your kind words Cheers