Health & WellbeingWhy is my senior dog's jaw stiff, head sunken, with a face lump?
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
Updated on September 24th, 2025