Why are my dog's cheeks sunken but he still has a good appetite?

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.

If the temporal and parietal muscles has been like that since you had him then I would not be worried about it as it may be due to congenital conformation. If otherwise you noticed a deterioration in the last month or so, then a check up would be ideal as lack of innervation (trigeminal nerve inflammation, or miositis of the masticatory muscles may be present).

It appears that Hunter is losing his temporal muscles, which is giving that caved-in head appearance. Considering he is also sensitive to the area, I am suscipicious of a condition known as masticatory myositis https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/masticatory-myositis-in-dogs However, this could be due to general muscle wasting. It's expected that some muscle wasting will occur as they age, but if he seems to be losing a lot of muscle, then this could indicate a chronic disease from an infection or cancer. I don't want you to worry about Hunter having a terrible disease, but it's best to have him evaluated by a veterinarian. They will be able to tell if there are any potential major problems and can help narrow-down the cause of this. I hope that helps and Hunter gets better soon.

It is possible that something else could be happening that is causing her face to look thinner, but without seeing Kia in person, I can't say for certain. There is an autoimmune disease called masticatory muscle myositis in which the muscles of the face atrophy causing a thinner looking face and eventually pain while eating. I would bring Kia into another vet for a second opinion, as if she did have masticatory muscle myositis she would need steroids to treat it.

There are a couple of things that come to mind when you mention Shrek's symptoms, and I have personal experience with it. Last year, my 12 year old Golden started having trouble opening her jaw, and the muscles around her head and skull atrophied (shrunken and wasted away). She had an inflammatory disorder called masticatory myositis (MM). This is when the immune system attacks the masticatory muscles, leading to pain with opening the mouth and wastage of the muscles of the head. It is a disease that mainly affects large breed dogs. It can be treated with a course of steroids, but prognosis depends on the severity of the disease. In my dog's case, the steroids helped, but it turned out she had cancer as well, and a large lump grew on the back of her head. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do for her, so I had to let her go peacefully. When you mentioned the growth on Shrek's face, my immediate thought was that he may have a cancerous growth as well as MM. This is a hard decision to make, whether to let him go or not, but my advice would be to have the lump diagnosed first. If it is cancerous, that will help your decision. I would have an appointment made with your vet for Shrek first thing tomorrow so you can discuss the chances he has MM and have the lump diagnosed. The vet can perform a test called a fine needle aspirate on it. To do this, the vet sticks a small needle into the lump to get a sample of it's cells, and examines the cells on a slide under a microscope. It's usually painless to the animal, and relatively quick to perform. I would be glad to consult with you further on this issue. I work for a home euthanasia service, and face these types of decisions all the time. In addition, having had personal experience with similar symptoms in my dog, I may be able to help you further beyond this answer. If you'd like to consult with me, simply click on the "consult online" button under my answer. I'm sorry Shrek is so sick and you have such a tough decision in front of you :-(

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.

There is a condition in older dogs called masticatory myositis. It is an auto immune disease where, for some reason, the immune system attacks the muscles of the cheek. In the early stages, it hurts when the muscles of the cheeks move, and it is pain that stops the mouth from opening. Over time, ongoing damage causes scar tissue to from that stops the muscle from stretching. It could be that Brody has this condition, and it is treatable with high doses of steroids. I can't say for certain this is what is causing him pain when he opens his mouth, but you could speak to your vet to see if this could be a cause.