Hi, new here. I was unable to search the forums for CMO as it told me my search term was too short. Does anyone know of an existing thread or have knowledge/experience with this rare disease in their pup?
Hi Arya's Mum, Welcome to the forum. I can't recall this having come up in a thread before I'm afraid. Is this something your dog is suffering from? Hopefully one of the members might have some experience or information they can share.
Hi, yes my 3.5 month lab/boxer mix woke up on Wednesday unable to fully open her mouth and in clear pain. She didn’t want to eat or drink or play. She even ignored the cat that she loves to chase. I could tell she had a fever. The vet did an x-ray and didn’t see any breaks or dislocation. Assumed soft tissue damage and prescribed an antibiotic and Rimadyl. They injected her in the office with an anti inflammatory/pain reliever and as soon as we got home I noticed a change. She wanted to eat so I gave her some baby food. It was gone in seconds so I gave her another jar of baby food mixed with some rice. She can open just enough to get the soft food in but I can tell drinking water is significantly harder for her. It’s painful to her if you touch her lower jaw, cheeks, or around her eyes. She showed some interest in the cat so I was relieved. However after a few hours and when the pain relief had worn off it was back to lethargy and no interest. Because I know nothing happened to damage her soft tissue I started researching. She has every marker for craniomandibular osteopathy. I called the vet and left a message to ask her to look into it. Most of the personal stories I could find were on Westies. They treated with aggressive steroids. The bone growth for them stops around a year old and most saw regression. So I was just looking for someone with a larger breed who may have experienced the same thing and how it turned out for them.
I'm so sorry to hear that, it sounds really worrying. Did you hear back from the vet in the end? I do hope someone comes along who has experience of the same thing with a positive outcome. Very best wishes to you both, Lucy
She seems to be feeling a lot better and she is opening her mouth a little further everyday. If it IS in fact cmo she will likely have another episode in a week or so when the skull goes through another growth spurt. The vet basically said when you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras. So if we don’t see a recurrence then we’ll just assume she got hurt somehow when no one was looking. I do hope that’s the case but I have my doubts.
