Masticatory Muscle Myositis Progam

Our pup was diagnosed with MMM at 7 1/2 months old. We had never heard of MMM before this, so instantly started researching. I came across McDowell's and reached out and got a very helpful, encouraging response within a couple hours. We immediately ordered the MMM program. Jasper was also on prednisone, which absolutely decimated his young body. He had no energy and could not open his jaw very wide. It was heartbreaking. We started the protocol and saw improvement within five weeks. We are now at a year of his diagnosis and taking this treatment, and we have seen great improvement. He has energy like a 1 1/2 year old Golden should have and his head has filled back in. I very much recommend this protocol and am so grateful to have found it in my research. We will continue to use it and hope for a full, lifelong recovery.

Love this product. My dog is 2 yes old & cause of the MMM is unknown. She got prednisone & at same time we added McDowells MMM program with the drops and supplements. Happy to say she has recovered and we have her on a 2nd round of the drops & supplements to ensure her gut health is good and she doesn’t relapse. It is worth every cent to me to get my dog healthy again.

After only 6 weeks on the MMM Program I'm definitely very very pleased. My Blaise has always been a stoic and quiet dog, rarely making noise when in pain. So learning that he's probably been in pain with MMM has been heartbreaking... but now seeing his facial and head muscles filling back in, plus he's drooling far less and he's acting more lively and happier - let's me know he's feeling better. Then just the last couple of days Blaise started to chewing on hard treats again! That's been exciting!!! I'm grateful to have found McDowell's and Blaise's dog-sitter is already recommending your MMM program to one of her new clients after seeing such a dramatic change in Blaise.

George is receiving traditional steroid (prednisone, tapering off period) plus Azathioprine for possibly long term immuno suppression. His overall energy level at 30%, his jaw mobility at 80 %, his grip strength @ 50%. Following all nutritional guidelines closely as outlined by you and integrated vets. Dogs attitude and spirit has been wonderful thuout! Daily physical jaw strengthening exercises are an important portion of his recovery therapy. Looking forward to and appreciating your kind considerations and looking forward to your treatment recommendations. Thankyou very, very much! Dick Fischer

My Rottweiler was diagnosed with MMM back in 2018. I refused to give my dog steroids to treat it. With a lot of research I've came across Mcdowells herbal. In conjunction of changing her diet to more natural and raw ingredients along with the MMM program it worked wonders! My big girl is doing a lot better.

See review below.

I wanted to share our experience with MMM. We first took Sgt. Pepper to see an emergency vet in July of 2020. We noticed she was drooling, was not able to close her jaw all the way, or able to eat her dry dog food. This was VERY unlike her. The emergency vet put her on a round of steroids for 1 week to see if they would help. The initial diagnosis was possible TMJ. We saw some improvement in the use of Sgt.Pepper's jaw over the week but it was slow. We also noticed the muscles around her face were starting to atrophy while her jaw strength continued to improve.

We took her back to our regular vet in early August with concern over the increased muscle wasting even though her jaw strength had improved. She was able to close her mouth again. She was diagnosed with MMM at that time.

Our vet had little experience with the disease. She told us Sgt.Pepper may never regain the muscle mass around her face. We started another round of steroids and weaned her as she tolerated over the coarse of 1 month under the guidance of our vet. The muscle wasting around her face worsened. It was very alarming to say the least.

Around this time, we began to research other alternative treatments for MMM and came across McDowells. I read the reviews and testimonials from others who had similar experiences with their dogs and MMM. We were willing to try anything.

I contacted Mcdowells with my concerns and was promptly given recommendations for a 12 week treatment plan. We started incorporating a raw diet per the recommendations with her regular kibble as much as we could. We also started the supplements and herbal tinctures.

At the end of November Pepper will have completed her 12 weeks of treatment on Mcdowells protocol.

Sgt. Pepper's plan:
Ground Millet and Linseed 2 x daily
Maritime Pine Bark Extract 2 x daily
Elecampane & Liquorice 2 x daily
Conditioning Mix 2 x daily
Digestive Tummy Toner 1 x daily
Forever Young 1 x daily

Sgt. Pepper is pretty much back to her old self in the way she acts and looks. We so grateful for this. I wanted to share our experience with others so they know there are alternative treatments out there for MMM that have worked.

I plan to keep all 3 of my dogs ( a Great Dane, and Leonberger in addition to the Labradane) on the Ground Millet and Linseed, Maritime Pine Bark Extract, and Forever Young Powder for the benefits I have seen. - Kassi

I bought this program almost a year ago when my dog was diagnosed with MMM. We used in conjunction with her steroid treatment as well as to wean her off those steroids. This completely changed her quality of life and brought her back to the dog she was before. The muscles on the top her head that sunk in are 90% back and looks almost like nothing ever happened. I am buying another program right now as a line of prevention because this disease is very known to come back and I wont take any chances of going back down that road.

My 11 yo doberman, Ruby, was misdiagnosed with cancer (when it was clear that she had MMM and IBD), given 8 medications and 3 months to live (4.5 months ago). For the last month she was needing syringe feeds and weekly hospital visits for infusions - and was steadily declining. After two weeks on your herbs we've been able to take off all but 2 medications and in the last 3 days she's happily eaten a normal amount of food - no syringes! Yesterday she was able to have her favourite vegan chew despite no longer taking painkillers for the MMM. I can't express how grateful we are to see our little girl looking forward to food and gaining her energy back. She is the love of our lives and we were given no hope by the vets but you've given us more time with a very happy puppy. THANK YOU!!!!

Ditto had MMM, Masticatory Muscle myositis, and autoimmune disease where the body destroys the unique 2m muscle fibers dogs have in their and around their jaws. All scientific articles indicated an immediate start of a strong cortisone treatment, which is gradually tapered off. Indications are that normal jaw action is only recovered to an extent, depending on early diagnosis.
16Feb The herbal extracts arrived, and on 17th Feb I could start the 12 week program. We noticed more daily improvements. The listlessness started disappearing, an interest in general things started increasing. By21 Feb, just 5 days since start of extracts we were able to take her with us on an outing which included a short walk, (it was a cool day) – as seen on the pictures Ditto was now managing to open her mouth somewhat, at this stage maximum extension was as on the photo. We were thrilled, even if she never regained her full facial abilities and features again, just that she could open her mouth enough to pant and breathe better was a huge relief.
By this time I had also come into contact with the BE FREE people – a ministry that heals people through corrective diet and lifestyle changes. I was told to start the dog on a daily dose of Solgar’s Be-Taine. It stimulates gastric juices, it often happens that our bodies are unable to take up the necessary enzymes due to lack of gastric juices or damaged digestion processes. Half a table is sufficient for a dog. Up till now, Ditto always had a tremendously bad breathe. Now that things had stabilized a bit, I started her on the Be-Taine – by the second day the foul breath was gone, and has not returned again.
By mid march Ditto started barking again, somewhat muffled, but nevertheless a bark. She started having a desperate desire to chew bones, and we had to watch her carefully, as she would pick up any bones and try and chew. We had avoided giving her any bones other than softly cooked chicken necks and bone meal from the butcher, as she had no jaw muscles, no strength, and we had this idea that if the issue was forced, there was still the danger of scar tissue developing.
Things just miraculously carried on improving, I started giving her large bones, raw, which she would not be able to swallow if tempted. By this time I had managed to switch the brown rice in her food to millet, (rich in silicon and calcium, as per recommendation of Cath McDowell), and decided on cooked sweet potato as a soft carbohydrate, (rich in calcium) to add her meal. At the same time I had started decreasing the cortisone as per recommended dosage of vet X, as the conditioning mix was clearing up whatever infection, inflammation or toxicity that had possibly initiated the auto-immune disease, and the liquorice was stimulating the natural cortisol.
28/1/16 2 tablets every second day
16/2/16 reduced to 1 tablet every second day
6/3/16 reduced to ½ tablet every second day
1/4/16 reduced to ¼ table every second day
then reduced to ¼ tablet twice a week
then reduced to ¼ tablet once a week
As of first week of May, Ditto has been off the cortisone completely.
By beginning April we noticed that her head had a rounder appearance, the eyes were definitely not so deeply sunken in, and we suddenly realized that the elecampane, as per Cath McDowell, was causing the muscle fibers to regrow ! !
Her frown lines started reappearing, her peripheral vision was back, (throwing popcorn at all angles for her, she is able to see and catch them again). The muscle loss over her body due to the cortisone returned, she had lost the potbelly look, back leg and bottom muscles returned, front biceps started returning as well.
17 April, a cool day again, and Ditto joined us on the first real hike. Climbing from 500m up to 900m altitude along a gentle gradient, we walked from 9am to 3pm. Expecting her to be totally exhausted, despite stopping regularly and resting during the hike, she surprised us all and still had boundless energy on our return home. No signs of stiffness the next day.
17 May marked the end of the 12 week blood cycle. I have stopped the cortisone completely and recovery has been complete. The life and energy this dog has is that which one would expect of a 3-5 year old, certainly not 10 year old dog.