MASTICATORY MUSCLE MYOTISIS

Question
I would appreciate any information you could offer on this illness that my 6 year old lab contracted.  I guess you could say that I am looking for a miracle cure, but would except any information that you would offer to help him recover from this illness an regain any of his 80%+ loss of muscle.  He weighs about 120lbs and is on 80mg predisone daily, but since he has been on he has lost more muscle mass but regained some jaw movement and can chew.  Should I be adding any supplements or feeding special foods to him?  Should I get him to chew as much as possible for physical therapy for his muscles?  He has been on preds since April 11th

Answer
This is a really tough disease Gale and I hope that your doctor did a complete workup to come to this diagnosis due to the extreme amount of steroids that the dog must be on.

You do not want to make him chew more than normal. With the destruction of the cells of the jaw and top of the head, making him chew more will not do anything but possibly worsen his condition.

Soft food is actually recommended. If he doesn't improve rapidly he should have a feeding tube inserted into his esophagus surgically so that you can tube feed him. There are special foods like A/D and others at the vets that will boost his nutritional needs without extra things he doesn't need, such as supplements. I don't know of any supplements that can help, but a holistic VET or a herbally-inclined veterinarian could help you that way. Do NOT use a human only herbalist as they will not know which herbs are toxic to dogs or the correct doses.

I have no information on whether or not acupuncture can help this condition or at least the immune-mediated portion of it. It might be worth looking into.
Again, only use a veterinarian that is trained in these things.

Here are some articles that might help you a bit:

http://www.petplace.com/article-printer-friendly.aspx?id=4428

and this one:

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

I will keep him in my thoughts and send him vibes of healing energy. I hope that he recovers well. Please let me know how he does.