
I am not going to get into a huge debate about this but :-) , statements like that are I am sorry, nothing but sweeping gross generalisations and are so unfounded infact worse than that just not true . As a breed enthusiast I have to reply.
I am sorry your dog had skin trouble from such a young age but that is very rare at such a young age. I would also be suprised at a vet starting a young one on drugs also so early. Diet and shampoo can control these things quite often. Someone has to keep the vet in a job though ;-)
Yes westies can suffer from skin trouble.. just like labs can have hip troubled and so ,many other breeds have their troubles BUT I can 100% assure you that the percentage is very low considering the amount registered and bred every year.
We don't see every lab owner jumping on tha bandwagon and shouting Hip dysplasia when someone posts and says their dog is limping :-))) do we? :-) it almost sounds ridiculous so why do it with a westie??
I have been showing mine for a few years now, own/owned 10 dogs, been grooming them for a couple years now ( and I have to point out it is the ONLY breed I groom so I do see a few ), I have been around them all my life and I have to say I have yet to actually own or personally came in contact with one who had skin trouble. I tell a lie there was one at a seminar I went to and someone brought a poorly one along to show some of the problems. It came from a well known puppy farmer in Scotland.
Generally ( I am not saying all ) but generally it is the poorly bred ones that will have troubles if any are going to have it in my experience.
I have also heard through various groups I am part of that changing the diet alone can help the dog.. so in that case is it the breed at fault of the Junk that some companies distribute as food..?? People run their dogs on grass etc with weed killer etc which can tigger things off.. is this the breed or is it the weed killer and environment??
VEts are often quick to criticise breeds but bare in mind they only see the sick ones..
I have westies that a several years old and apart from vaccines as puppies have never seen the vet again.
BFN Pam
PS forgot to say IF EVERY OWNER or nearly every owner you pass has or had skin troubles then I would say that there is an evironmental issue in that particular area because that almost defies logical statistics..:-)