Loss of muscle above eye - Page 1

My 7 year old female GSD has some muscle wastage above her left eye and her eye is sinking back into the skull, she has also had some type of fainting spells where she almost looses balance during these spells she always leans to the left side. 

Apart from her visible problem she is still very active, loves her daily walk and play time, eats well and has no weight loss.

She has been seen by a vet who's only suggestion was possible MRI and even if I did this he felt that there would be very little  that could  be done  about her problem. 

I was just wondering if anyone out on this site had seen or heard of anything like this before. I have spoken to her breeder who has not seen this before.

As she has been bred 3 times producing 13 pups of which 4 are still family members, my concern is could it be genetic ?

I have heard of a Muscle Degeneration that is rare but does affect GSD's.

Thank you for any info.

There is a condition called masticatory muscle myositis - you want to be really sure that your vet does the appropriate testing for - I do not think it is as rare as you think it might be - certainly worth testing for as it is a severe condtion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masticatory_muscle_myositis

Another possibilitye - this happened to a friends dogs, was a deep infection behind the eye.  Symptoms were identical to the disease but forunately, a good round of antibiotics took care of it.

Nancy

Thank you for that link, my vet did check and her jaw and said that I should check it regulary for tightness, pain or drooling, she has so far had no problems with that.

Here is a photo of my girl.