Very strange - My dog is 9 years old, fit and well, energetic, full of life, I have noticed however all of a sudden that she has developed what I can only describe as a dent in her head. Its like the top of her head has caved in on one side, as if she has been hit hard with something (which she hasnt). Looks very odd but other than that she is fine.
Has anyone heard of this? Ive heard that it maybe muscle wasting away but wouldnt think it would appear overnight?
Its not a fracture Im sure of that.
Im taking her to the vets, but as I said she is fit, well and very happy, luckily she hasnt got a mirror!!!

How very strange??? If she's not in any obvious pain then it's poss nothing serious....your doing the right thing getting her checked.

How strange!

Please let us know how you get on :)

yes let us know , its not something I have ever experienced in my 44 years of dogowners

Good grief how weird,like you said it has to be a trip to the vets,must say in 30 years of dog owning i haven't heard anything like this.

Very strange - My dog is 9 years old, fit and well, energetic, full of life, I have noticed however all of a sudden that she has developed what I can only describe as a dent in her head. Its like the top of her head has caved in on one side, as if she has been hit hard with something (which she hasnt). Looks very odd but other than that she is fine.
Has anyone heard of this? Ive heard that it maybe muscle wasting away but wouldnt think it would appear overnight?
Its not a fracture Im sure of that.
Im taking her to the vets, but as I said she is fit, well and very happy, luckily she hasnt got a mirror!!!

Did you take your dog to the vets to have her checked out,

Did you take your dog to the vets to have her checked out,


I hope you took her , please update us ...

Without looking at her, it sounds like a wasting of the temporal muscle on that side. This muscle fills in the top of the head in dogs and carnivores, the equivalent of our temple, with is a lot smaller due to us not being hunter-killers. These muscles are massive in dogs, hence when they atrophy it can appear like a dent. This can occur if there has been damage to the nerve supply to that muscle, or due to a condition known as masticatory myositis, which is an immune mediated disease affecting various muscles on the head that deal with jaw movement. German Shepherds seem predisposed but any breed can be affected. It is however usually bilateral so i do wonder if there may be a more focal lesion affecting the nerve on that side. Steroids can help if its a myositis. See your vet.

Sounds similar to when Toby's head changed shape when he got old.

My Mum rushed him to the vets panicking "he's got a big lump on his head!"
And the vet's response was "that's his skull, madam ;)"

the muscles on the top of his head wasted away, so the shape of his skull was more prominent. It never affected his general health though :)

That seemed to happen quite suddenly too.

I have never had a dog with that. or anything simular.

Without looking at her, it sounds like a wasting of the temporal muscle on that side. This muscle fills in the top of the head in dogs and carnivores, the equivalent of our temple, with is a lot smaller due to us not being hunter-killers. These muscles are massive in dogs, hence when they atrophy it can appear like a dent. This can occur if there has been damage to the nerve supply to that muscle, or due to a condition known as masticatory myositis, which is an immune mediated disease affecting various muscles on the head that deal with jaw movement. German Shepherds seem predisposed but any breed can be affected. It is however usually bilateral so i do wonder if there may be a more focal lesion affecting the nerve on that side. Steroids can help if its a myositis. See your vet.

I guess YOU ARE a VET..lol:hihi: makes sense does all this..brilliant:thumbsup:

Sorry for delay, ive been working....Dog went the vets, nothing to worry about but hey meshuga you are spot on, its masticatory myositis, luckily its not affected her jaw so other than looking odd she shouldnt suffer any more problems however there is no cure!! Ive got her a hat for xmas though so she doesnt get lots of funny looks when out walking. She wasnt the best looking dog before, but I still love her... ahhhh

aww thats good at east you know whats wrong with her. I am sure she will love the hat lol

Hi.
I was wondering how your dog is now that it has been over a year. I have a Catahoula Leopard dog that has same symptoms as you described in your original post on this thread.

My vet did not seem especially concerned since my dog's behavior is fine and has not been affected by the sudden occurrence of her dented/caving in of side of her head near her eye.

He said that it is probably due to some kind of neurological problem there are so many muscles in their head. that lead to atrophy of muscles from non-use. Maybe she sustained an injury at some point and we did not know about it? She does not seem sensitive at all when I touch the area. My vet said that he could send me to a specialist and they could determine which muscle and may find out what is causing it... but probably would end up costing us a lot of money and not really a treatment.

I have really liked my vet in the past, but from time to time I think her head looks even more dented in... She can open her mouth. There was a time (before the appearance of her head changed... maybe a year before that) when she did seem to be having trouble opening her mouth to yawn. Now, I just really never see her yawning. She loves to catch a ball that is a rubbery kind of ball (like a kick ball that is only at the most half inflated). She opens her mouth pretty good for this.

I look forward to hearing how your dog is doing.

meshuga do u listen to meshuga too ?

JennyJenJen -- I don't understand your response. I was hoping that Tarateets would update us on how her dog is now doing...

I have a 9 year old male rottie and one day I noticed that one side of his head was "caved in". This was after he had a sore that he had been itching on the same side. The sore went away with pills and spray from the vet, but all of the sudden his head was caved in on that side. Does this have anything to do with the medicine or is this just a degenerative thing??? Can anyone help me? Thank you!

The immune mediated process of this condition is caused by auto-antibodies forming against type II M fibres found in the masticatory muscles. This antigen may be shared by some bacteria - so an infection could trigger the immune mediated attack. Alternatively the wound somehow damaged the nerve supplying that muscle, or it could just be a coincidence that a wound developed shortly before the onset if the muscle atrophy. It is unlikely that the treatment caused it.

meshuga do u listen to meshuga too ?

Ha, I do actually but its nothing to do with my forum name. The band are spelt Meshuggah :hihi: