Ace is being treated for polymyositis, also called extraocular myositis. He is the black dog in the photos. The condition is caused by an allergic reaction where the dog’s extraocular muscles in the back of the eyes swell. The whites of the eyes bulge and make the dog look really goofy as you can see in the bottom photo of the golden retriever, submitted by a reader.
I wrote about my dog’s swollen eyes a few months ago. I’ve gotten a surprising amount of search engine traffic from people desperately looking for a reason why their dog’s eyes would be swollen. I was in the same position. With polymyositis, the eyes can flare up so quickly it’s scary. When I first noticed Ace’s swollen eyes, I knew nothing about polymyositis – either did his regular veterinarian or the on-call person at our local emergency vet clinic.
The good news is polymyositis is not life threatening. I spoke with an eye specialist who reassured me that although this condition would take awhile to treat, Ace would recover just fine. It doesn’t really affect the dog much except when it’s at its worst. Before I treated Ace, his eyes were so swollen he had a hard time seeing. He was depending on one eye because it was too difficult for him to see straight when his eyes were bulging out in opposite directions.
When my dog’s eyes were totally bulged, I didn’t take any pictures. I was too worried about my dog at the time. At its worst, the whites of both eyes were swollen all the way around and under the eyelids.
All the research I’ve come across says young retrieving breeds are the most likely to develop polymyositis, which could be a reaction to anything – grass, carpet material, dust, wheat – who knows. It’s most common in female golden retrievers under 3 years old. Vets can do an allergy test to determine possible allergens once the dog is off medication. The specialist I’ve worked with said to go with a skin test because it is the most reliable and effective. A blood test can’t detect the same information.
For anyone who has a dog with swollen eyes, take your dog to a vet. You won’t find the answers you need by searching Google. I can give you answers only based on what I’ve learned, but I am not a vet. And if your vet has not heard of polymyositis or extraocular myositis (mine had not), then find a specialist who can give you the answers you need.
Here is my experience with polymyositis with my black lab mix:
Ace was diagnosed with polymyositis around October 1, 2008. He was on a heavy dose of Prednisone (80 mg daily), which decreased the swelling in his eyes dramatically after about 11 days. Two weeks later I decreased the dose by half as told, but his eyes swelled again. I repeated the process, returning to the heavy dose. His eyes went back to normal, so after another two weeks I decreased the dose again. Like the first time, his eyes swelled again.
Next, Ace was on the heavy dose (80 mg daily) for a month straight. He is now in the process of slowly being weaned off the Prednisone. By slowly, I mean slowly. Just to make sure his eyes won’t flare up again, I am cutting his daily dose in half each month over a six-month period. His eyes are not fully back to normal, but hopefully they will continue to improve with the Prednisone. The chances of the polymyositis reoccurring are much less likely the longer he stays on the Pred. Luckily, Prednisone is not an expensive drug, even without pet insurance.
Polymyositis often reoccurs two or three times per dog over several years, but the specialist I worked with said she has never seen it reoccur more than three times. The longer a dog is on Prednisone, the less likely it is for the myositis to come back.
In all cases, dogs must be weaned off Pred slowly. Prednisone is a steroid, so when a dog is on a high does, his body stops producing the natural steroid hormone called cortisone. If a dog is suddenly taken off Pred, his body won’t have enough cortisone and he will be vulnerable to infections. In extreme cases, he could go into shock or a coma.
Some of the side effects to Prednisone are nasty. My dog is a totally different dog on the drug. But the benefits of the drug are worth it in Ace’s case. Now that he’s on a lesser dose, the side effects have started to decrease already. Here are some that I noticed:
An increased appetite
This dog was ravenous. Ace is normally not food crazy. Before Prednisone, he would skip meals if he wasn’t hungry. On Prednisone, he ate his food in seconds even though I increased his meals by a cup or two a day. He stole from the counters and begged like he’d never eaten in his life. My dog ate from the catbox, raided the garbage, tried to eat all the snow in our yard and ate the pockets from my jeans and coat.
An increased thirst
My dog has always been obsessed with water. But add the drug and he’s even worse. I had to ration his water because he would literally never stop drinking. This dog was finding water in all sorts of places and drinking it – entire toilet bowls, tipping over our water glasses, licking the snow off my shoes, etc.
Increased urination
Yup, as in every hour. And this dog had to go!
Decreased energy
Some dogs actually get more energy on Pred. Ace was very mellow. He heeled better, chilled out a little during agility and was more content to just lie around the house. It was actually kinda nice.
Vulnerable to infections
Because of the way Pred works with the body’s immune system, Ace developed an infection on his stomach that probably started as something as tiny as a scratch. This required another trip to the vet and antibiotics. Because of Prednisone’s affect on the immune system, make sure your vet knows your dog is on the drug before she gives him live vaccinations.
Muscle atrophy
I first noticed Ace’s muscle mass decreasing in his back. His spine stuck out even though he was eating more and exercising less. His stomach and chest were bloated from water retention. And then his bones started to show in his head and face as he started developing “Pred head” where the muscle around his head also decrease. Dogs with Pred head have an odd shaped head with the sides sunken in and the bone sticking out on top. Ace’s head was starting to look almost triangular. It was awful because I know people were thinking, “All she does is run that dog and not feed him enough.” My dog was always starving and he looked so thin. The good thing is the dog’s body returns to normal once he’s off Pred, and Ace has already started to improve.
For some dogs, Prednisone does not take care of the polymyositis. One option is to give them a drug called Imuron (also called Azathioprine). This drug is more powerful than Pred, so make sure you understand the side effects before giving it to your dog. I decided even though Ace’s eyes are not perfect, I would rather continue with the Pred and not go with Imuran. The side effects of Imuran are not worth it in his case. If his condition were life threatening or if he were an older dog, it might be different. But he doesn’t even know his eyes are swollen and he is a 2-year-old dog with several years ahead.
Some potential side effects of Imuran include high risk of infections, nausea, vomiting, hair loss and an increased risk of developing cancerous growths.
If your dog has swollen eyes, make sure to take him to a vet and get a professional’s opinion. If you think your dog has polymyositis, feel free to send me a picture and I can tell you right away if that’s how my dog’s eyes looked. I can answer any questions based on what I’ve gone through with Ace, but for treatment and diagnosis, consult with a specialist.
Feel free to email me at Lindsay@thatmutt.com
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December 25th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Get well soon!
December 26th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Poor Ace. It sounds awful. Glad he is getting treated. Get well soon dude.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Lindsay, that was a very informative post. You definitely got all the side effects of pred covered! Let me reassure you that all of the side effects pretty much go away after the dog is off of the pred medication. The only one that Dutch still has is the begging at the table. Unfortunately, we probably were too sympathetic to him and reinforced it by feeding him scraps from the table. Maybe some day I will write you a guest post for you about Dutch’s experience with immune mediated thrombocytopenia, prednisone, and azathioprine.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Poor Ace! Gus was recently on Prednisone and you aren’t joking on the increased urination and appetite. I hope Ace is fully recovered very soon!
December 27th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I’m glad to hear that Ace is getting better. Hopefully it won’t take too long for a full recovery. Thanks for all the info. I never heard of this disease before.
December 28th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Oh My… that would be a scary thing to experience with a dog. I’m glad he is better!
December 29th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Thanks everyone!
Patti, I’m glad to hear the side effects go away. I would love if you wrote a guest post whenever you find the time.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Wow, this is scary. I’m glad you put that info out there, though, hopefully the next person will find your posts and not have to go through what you did. The prednisone sounds horrible. Give Ace an extra hug from me!
December 30th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Thanks Biggie!
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Ace’s condition was scary…I know because Princess had a similar experience. Her area around the eye was swollen and her eye bulged because of the swelling. She had had previous episodes of photo sensitivity…hid in dark corners, wouldn’t let us near her left eye. The eye specialist thinks it is myositis but isn’t sure until a CT scan or ultrsound is done of the area during an episode. Has anyone had these symptoms in his/her dog? I want to use natural immune boosters not Prdnisone, if possible. Anyone with ideas. Kathy
January 5th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
That doesn’t sound like the exact same thing Ace has. He wasn’t sensitive to light and his eyes did not seem to be in pain. I would talk to your vet about other treatments besides Prednisone. Prednisone is not so bad when the dog is getting a low dose, but I understand why you would want to consider other possibilities.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Great information! Thank you so much for sharing this. You have a beautiful dog and I do hope and pray Ace is feeling and doing much better.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Thanks Laura. Ace is on a small dose of Prednisone, but he is doing much, much better.
January 21st, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Lindsay,
My 6-month-old Golden Retriever, Addie, recently started showing similar symptoms, and I am hoping that you can give me some input. Five days ago (Friday), when I got home from work, I noticed that Addie’s eyes suddenly looked a little bit goofy (for lack of a better explanation). My husband thought that I was crazy when I suggested that her eyes appeared to be bulging out, but the next morning he really noticed a difference. I Googled some common eye problems with dogs, but nothing seemed to meet the description of Addie’s eyes. I took her to the vet on Monday, and he told me that she probably just has allergies, and he prescribed eye drops. Today is Wednesday, and I have been giving her the drops three times per day since Monday afternoon, and there has been no improvement. I had mentioned my findings of extraocular myositis to my vet, but he just brushed my comment aside, so either I am a total hypochondriac, or he has very little knowledge of this condition. Addie’s eyes are both bulging out, and the white part is extremely swollen. She is not in any pain, and she continues to be her loving, playful self. She hasn’t shown any other allergy symptoms such as sinus problems, itchiness, or swollen face, so I really have no idea what is wrong with her. Do her symptoms match Ace’s? Also, do you know if extraocular myositis is very rare? Thank you so much for your help. I hope that Ace is doing well!
January 21st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Lacey, I am not a vet but based on what you said I can almost 100 percent guarantee you that your dog has extraocular myositis (also called polymyositis)
The EXACT same thing that is happening to you with your dog and vet is what happened to Ace and I. The symptoms you describe are identical. My vet misdiagnosed Ace with plain old allergies and gave him eye drops. The drops did not help even after several days, and he was given “stronger” drops. Those did nothing. After more research, my vet learned about the myositis. She had never heard of it before and said it is extremely rare. She spoke with a dog eye specialist who I later talked to. Extraocular myositis is related to allergies. It actually is an intense allergic reaction, but eye drops will not begin to fix the problem.
If your vet does not take you seriously when you mention the myositis, then go and talk to a different vet or find a specialist. Let me know if you can’t find anyone, and I will email you the phone number of the specialist who helped me.
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Thank you so much for your advice. I took Addie back to the vet today, and he prescribed Temaril-P (which includes Prednisolone), but not because he suspected polymyositis. He basically explained that it was a mixture of medicines that can cure many different ailments. He gave me a two week supply of this “cure-all” medicine and told me to bring her back if she isn’t better by then. I am really not satisfied with his response, especially after reading your posts, and I would like a second opinion. Could you email the contact information for Ace’s eye specialist to me? I am concerned about letting this go for another two weeks. Were you able to find anything out about the longterm effects of polymyositis when left untreated? I am really worried about waiting too long to take action.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Well I can tell you my 60-pound dog needed an 80mg dose of Prednisone daily for about two months to help the swelling stay down. I don’t think you need to be too concerned about the long-term effects other than it looks bad and it might affect the dog’s vision slightly until the problem is cleared up. But again, I am not a vet. I’ll get that contact information to you. I really encourage you to get a second opinion no matter what vet it is. Your current vet shouldn’t have ignored what you were saying just because he didn’t know anything about polymyositis.
January 27th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I’m so thankful for this information. My dog was just diagnosed with extraocular polymyositis yesterday. I googled it and found this site, which gives me more information than the 20-minute real time with the specialist. (I had to go to a vet hospital to see a specialist, as my vet wasn’t sure what to make of it. My vet is great, but hadn’t seen this before.)
*My dog is a 2 1/2 year boxer/lab mix. She just started having the problem about 10 days ago. She is on a 40 mg dose of prednisone per day for 2 weeks. I’m thankful for the list of possible side effects, so I will know what to look for.
I’d be happy to send you a photo of my dog last week. Like you, I was worried about my dog and didn’t think to take a picture of her eyes when they were completely bugged out three days after the photo.
**How do I send the photo?
January 28th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Hi Cynthia,
The one thing I recommend is not to wean your dog off the Prednisone too quickly. I’d keep her on the high dose for a good four weeks. I tried weaning Ace off the medicine too soon more than once and his eyes swelled up again. When I kept him on the high dose for a good four weeks and then cut the dose in half every month after that, his eyes have remained normal.
You can send a picture to Lindsay@thatmutt.com. I’d post it on my blog if that’s OK with you. Thanks.
January 31st, 2009 at 11:02 pm
My dog’s eye suddenly started bulging out around the iris tonight. We’ve called the vet, sent her pictures, and she thinks it’s conjunctivitis. We’re picking up medicine for him. I can’t find any thing online under conjunctivitis that comes any where close to what his eye looks like. Was Ace’s eye red when it started popping out? Can I send you a pic to compare it to what Ace’s looked like in the beginning? It looks AWFUL. You can email me directly and I’ll attach the photo. Thanks
February 1st, 2009 at 7:52 am
The whites of Ace’s eyes were swollen exactly like the golden retriever’s eyes in the top picture of this blog. His eyes were not red. Send a photo to Lindsay@thatmutt.com.
If your dog’s eyes are red, there’s a good chance it’s conjunctivitis (pink eye) or cherry eye, not polymyositis. But you should have your vet see more than just photos to make sure. Or get a second opinion.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Hey guys,
I don’t want to be a downer on this thread but for all of you administering predisone at such high doses for extended periods of time, your taking years off your dogs life. Ddo a google on steriods side effects on dogs. This medicine is over-prescribed for lazy vets, and while it produces results, it isn’t curing the problem. In the mena time your slowly killing your dogs liver, thyroid, etc etc. If your dogs has an allergy, eliminate the alergin.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hi Rick, thanks for your opinion. I disagree.
No matter what drug your vet prescribes for your dog, you should do your own research or get a second opinion. If you do not trust your vet, then you need to get a new vet. Vets are not lazy. People become vets because they care about animals. It is a lot of work to become a vet, work that includes years and years of school and hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans for most.
Prednisone is a strong drug with many side effects and no one should give it to their animal or take it themselves without knowing the side effects. For polymyositis, it is the best option.
February 16th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Hi i don’t have a picture but i have a Boston Terrier that was born from my dogs litter 3 years ago. My mother decided to keep him because he couldn’t see it started when he was about 4 weeks old he wouldn’t look in the right direction when the other puppies would and then when he started to get out and about he would walk into walls. We know he can see shadows but it wasn’t until he was around 6 weeks old that we were able to tell that his eyes look in in different directions and they are really white i don’t know if they bulge because of his breed the bulging eyes look is common but when he was a puppy the vet told us that he probably had some kind of spinal injury while being born and that why he is like that but he has no problems walking or moving at all. Another thing he told us at a latter time was that it looked like he was born without the lenses in his eyes now i wonder if he really has polymyositis and not the things the vet said but since it only makes it where he can’t see and he has no other health problems i don’t know. His eyes actually look alot like that Golden Retriever dog in the picture but if it’s curable i would like to know all these years we have been led to believe it was some kind of birth defect and permanent. Do you know where i could get more information about this type of disease?
February 17th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Hi Kim, thank you for the information. If you can find a vet that specializes in allergies or eyes, he or she will know about polymyositis. Since my regular vet hadn’t heard of myositis and from what I hear from others, their vets haven’t either, don’t count on the average vet knowing what it is. There is not a lot of info out there online, which is why I wrote about it on my blog.
From what you’ve said about your dog though, it sounds like he probably has something else. Boston terriers are meant to have bulged eyes, and polymyositis is most common in retrieving breeds at about 1-2 years old. It is an allergic reaction to something and does not affect their vision except when the eyes are very bulged and pushed out in opposite directions. Then it’s hard for the dog to see straight. Mine tried to turn his head and depend on one eye at a time.
I recommend you go and talk to more than one vet if you are unhappy with what your current vet is telling you.