Weekly Interview

Think your puppy has the right stuff? Submit a request for an interview of the week.

01 April 2007: This week's interview: Sasha Bear - Masticular Myositis

SB: Please, call me Sasha.

BW: First of all, can you please tell us why you are called "Bear?"

SB: Yes; when I was a puppy, I actually looked a little furry teddy bear. My humans felt that it should be a part of my name. Also, most Americans think that Sasha is a girl's name; actually I am named Alexander in Russian, for which the "friendly" name is Sasha. Added up, Sahsa and Bear went pretty good together.

BW: Woof (approval). But you come here to tell us something else today; you have an interesting message for us, Nyet?

SB: Yes, something quite serious, actually. It's called Masticular Myositis, and I have been suffering with it for over a year and a half, now.

BW: Please, go on.

SB: Woof (thanks). After dinner one night, I had this wicked pain in the right side of my head. I tried shaking my head, and scratching, and I couldn't make it stop.

The next day, it hurt so much, I couldn't eat anything. It hurt too much to even chew.

Eventually, I couldn't stand up; I was too weak. because it was Sunday that day, my humans took me to the emergency ward, but no one there could help me (except by giving me an I.V.).

Finally, they took me to my favorite doctor, Dr. Berry, in Plaistow. After a long, long discussion, Dr. Berry said she remembered something. It was Masticular Myositis. Sure enough, she was right.

BW: Please descibe it for our readers.

SB: Certainly. It is a rare and usually incurable condition, considered an "immune-mediated disease". An immune-mediated disease is a malfunction of the body's immune defense mechanism in which the immune system is turned against the body rather than its normal function of protecting the body. The immune system actually attacks part of the body, in this case, the muscles - for me, the muscles in my jaw and face.

My eyes were starting to pop out of my head! Fortunately for me, Dr. Berry recognized what it was, and after giving me a blood test that helps to identify it, gave me a special steroid (prednisone). It makes me pee a lot, so my human had to find the right balance for me - I take a quarter of a pill every other day. Some dogs need more; some need less. It took a lot of work to get it right.

BW: What is known about the disease?

SB: Not a whole heck of a lot. Well, in some ways it can at first appear similar to Lupus. Unfortunately, not enough is known about that, either. Anyhow, for a good article on it, you may want to read An Extreme Case of Masticular Myositis. It's a little complicated, but if you skip the big words, you'll get the idea. Plus, the dog in the story (Lucy), like me, so far has had a happy ending. I still have some days when my head hurts a little, but I'm doing a lot better now.

BW: Thank you so much for your interview, Sasha Bear. We wish you the very best in you continued recovery.

SB: Please scratch my tummy.