I have a three month old male pup. He had the side of his mouth swollen between the nose and the eye 10 days ago. He was in a lot of pain. I rushed him to the Vet thinking it was an Insect bite. The Vet thought it was a bite too and gave him steriods for the pain and allergy medicine for the swelling. He got a little better but never lost the pain totally.

This weekend he seemed quiet and sore at the jawbone.

This morning he was swollen again and in terrible pain on both sides of his face. He couldn't open his mouth but I was able to mince some Turkey that he got down and use a dropper for water. Oh he had thick drool running from the corners of his mouth. I rushed him to a Hospital with several Vets about an hour from our home.

They x-rayed him and his teeth are normal with no sign of a broken Jaw or injury or swelling. The Vet was stumped and thought it presented itself as a permanent muscle problem of the facial muscles. He said he had seen this in Cavaliar Spaniels but never in a puppy so young. He was given another steriod shot and antiobiotics just in case and sent home.

He is opening his mouth slightly this afternoon and can drink water by himself and is feeling a bit better.

Does anyone have any idea what this is or have you seen TMJ in a Labrador puppy this young before. Do you know of anything else it could be? Thank you in advance

Years ago we had a dog that exhibited similar symptoms....antibiotics & pred over & over to no avail..... Did a cat scan and in simple terms, it was an abcess behind the eye in the zygomatic arch. An incision and tubes inserted for draining plus heavy duty antibiotics made all well with the world. Go see a specialist, as what your pup has may not show up on an xray. Good luck!

Thank you! I will check to see who to go to.

I hope the outcome of you dog was a good one.

There is something called Masticatory Muscle Myositis, just do search on the subject on the forum there is thread I can't pull up right now about it , symptoms sound similar. Steroids and Abt treatment were prescribed

I would bet it's MMM as well. Not good.

Talk to your vet about MMM as mentioned above. I had a puppy diagnosed with it at 3 months, one of the earliest on record. At this young of age a lot of vets don't suspect it as it usually affects teenagers to young adults. Xray won't really show anything. Mine did not have swelling but very painful and couldn't open his mouth. Only true diagnosis is a muscle biopsy but they can also draw blood and check for elevated muscle enzymes. A dog with MMM will be put on an immunosuppressive dose of steroids. Good news is that it is recoverable with no side effects if caught early enough. If you have any questions you are more than welcome to email me. Also search the subject on here as there has been tons of conversations on it.

Thank you everyone for all of your help! I have read the threads mentioned and I will show them to the Vet. I think he did mention MMM, lets hope it's not that. There are so many things it could be, it's surprising.

The puppy did get this at 3 months and has had it 10 days. He was able to pick up his ball tonight and is drinking, eating rice and turkey and wagging his tail again but still not himself. He does have a bit of eye discharge that is thick, on the side with the swelling.

Is the vet sure it is not a tooth abscess, or an infected salivary gland? My 6 year old had something very similar and actually was so painful that she hid from the other dogs because she didn't want to get bumped. She had a swollen head/cheek located more to one side, but not real obvious to the eye. Her eye even seemed a tiny bit recessed. She could not open her mouth and would scream if she accidentally did. She would not eat or drink for a few days, but my vet assured me that she would be fine for close to a week without drinking. We did the test to rule out Masticatory Myositis. I put her on Tramadol(every 6-8 hours) and Cephalexin(250 mg 3x)for 3 weeks and it went away gradually with a full recovery. She was eating and drinking after a week on the meds. I made her rice and chicken breast(mashed like baby food) meals for the first week eating and very slowly introduced a small amount of kibble because she didn't want to crunch down on anything at first. I always wet food with warm water. Horner's Syndrome is also a possibility, but I don't think it would cause the painful jaw. I hope your puppy recovers and it is not something serious.

Has your vet considered Puppy Strangles? Maybe that was already mentioned and I missed it.

The Vet xrayed his head and his teeth. The puppy and the Adult teeth were normal. I asked him if there was any swelling or infection anywhere and he and the other Vets couldn't see anything. I couldn't see anything abnormal.

He is a little puppy perky today and not acting like an old dog. He was playing this morning and was able to open his mouth for toys. He is eating mashed turkey 25% and rice 75% with the medicine in it and a little water. I think I will soak some puppy food to add to this. He'll be on the medicine for 7 days and then a re-check. They also want to know if he gets better. If he gets worse to bring him back in for a check into his mouth under sedation and other tests.

I don't know about Strangles. I will look that up. Thank you

MMM does not initially present with a slack or swollen jaw. I had a dog misdiagnosed with MMM. He was given steroids and almost died because they suppressed the immune system so much, he couldn't fight the infection he got, either from a sting, bite or scrape. The infection went to the sheath of the Trigeminal nerve. His entire face wasted away, the eyeball was sinking in. We got him to a neurologist who on a hunch took him off the steroids and gave him a strong antibiotic. This dog who was very near death recovered within weeks and is totally fine months later. Very scary! MMM should only be diagnosed by biopsy, not by a general practioner.
This dog should go to a specialist pronto.

Sounds like Puppy Strangles. It presents itself with swelling around the head and neck.

Any updates on the pup?

The puppy was on 12.5mg Prednizone 2x a day until Monday the 15th. I also asked the Vet to prescribe Antiobiotics and he was given 200mg of Amoxicillin 2x a day until Monday the 15th.

He has done really well and has been playful again. This is a great little guy BTW. The only thing I noticed was that he seemed swollen and fat looking but that's gone down. I am waiting on pins and needles to see if it comes back but so far he is able to play and retrieve toys. I can open his mouth and the side of his nose isn't swollen anymore.

If there aren't any signs of drooling, swelling or pain by Friday or Saturday I feel he will be alright. The Prednizone seems to wear off in three days.

I'll keep you posted and will take him to an Ortho Doctor if it returns.
Thank you so much for all of your suggestions and help.

I am also thinking puppy strangles