What's the best treatment for dog MMM and facial weight loss?

This is most likely the prednisone causing this. Prednisone causes muscle-wasting, which will make her a bit more week and give her a more sunken-head appearance. The muscles that surround the side of the head are quite prominent, so when they shrink, it will make the head look more caved-in. Prednisone will also change their behavior. They will often seem more dopy and not quite as responsive as they were. You are seeing this just now, because this drug takes a while to accumulate in the body before it starts having its max effect. That is one of the reasons for tapering it down, because once the levels are adequate in the blood, it does not take as much to keep the drug at the optimum level in the body. Luckily, all of these things are reversible when the prednisone is stopped. I know it can be difficult to see them go through these changes, but they actually tend to feel much better when they are on the prednisone. If she is otherwise doing OK, then I would not worry too much. If she is not eating, or showing signs of pain, then I would take her back to the vet for an evaluation. I hope that helps and Karrma gets better soon.

Poor Marley! It sounds like he may be suffering from an autoimmune disease called masticatory muscle myositis (MMM). This inflammatory disease affects the chewing muscles in the dog, and causes the muscle around the mouth to atrophy. It becomes painful for the dog to open their mouth. This can be treated with high dose steroids, which can be prescribed by your vet. This condition can cause dogs to not eat and lose weight, so I would take Marley into your vet as soon as you can.

Hello. I am so sorry that Sully is not well. Unfortunately, you may need to be some additional diagnostics to find out if & how all these symptoms are related. The temporal muscle atrophy, & difficulty opening the mouth may be due to a nerve sheath tumor, or masticatory myositis. And, it is concerning that an ear infection is taking several weeks to clear up. If you can consider a MRI, that would definitely show what is going on in that part of Sully's head. Until you know this, it will be very hard to improve things. Antibiotics & steroids are appropriate therapy, but we just cannot recommend much more without more information. Good luck with Sully & thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Those are definitely the side-effects; increased appetite and thirst, change in behavior, panting more and weight gain. For more information about the side-effects, I recommend you read the article at the link below. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/steroid-treatment-long-term-effects-in-dogs I assume the nose condition you described was diagnosed as an autoimmune disease (i.e. lupus, pemphigus). The mainstay treatment for this condition is prednisone. However, there are other possible treatments, so it's worth scheduling a recheck appointment with your veterinarian. It's quite common for some owners not to like the side-effects of steroids, so they should understand and be able to suggest other options. I hope that helps and Kenzie gets better soon.

Hi and thank you for your post on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Uveodermatolgic syndrome is very common in Akitas. In fact 80% of dogs that develop uveodermatoligic syndrome are Akitas. Very common signs of this autoimmune disease are inflammation of the eyes which may lead to blindness and loss of pigmentation of the skin especially around the nose, kips, and footpads. From looking at the picture you posted, she appears to exhibit the loss of pigmentation around her muzzle and her eyes have clouded which may indicate she has lost her vision. The medications your veterinarian has prescribed for Kitta are 100% appropriate for this autoimmune disease. The best advice I can give you is to stay on her current medications. There have been no other therapies for uveodermatoligic syndrome that have proven to be been successful other than the medications she is on currently. Best of luck and best wishes to you.

I recommend to work with your veterinarian to find the lowest effective dose of the prednisone and to discuss any other alternatives such as pain medication, surgery to correct the jaw pain if possible or diet modification to help negate the weight gain. Have Mary Shiloh examined by her veterinarian at least every few weeks to keep any eye on her heart and weight. I hope this helps.

For lupus, the typical treatment involves suppressing the immune system with steroids or other immunosuppressant drugs in addition to vitamins, antibiotics and topical therapy. It would be best to discuss further options with the diagnosing veterinarian or seek a specialists advice with a veterinary dermatologist for further recommendations on treatment. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions / concerns and I would be happy to help!