Hi All

As you all know i have now got Robbie who is 17 weeks old and getting on brilliantly, just wondering what you would suggest is the best shampoo to use on westies,  i know they do not need to be bathed very often but when he does have a bath i would like to know what is a good quality shampoo to use, with Hamish i used to have to bath him in malaseb because of his bad skin but don't want to use this on Robbie, some people have told me johnsons baby shampoo, at first with Hamish we used to use blue pearl and found this to be really good and it smelt lovely aswell but not sure if you can still get this or not?
look forward to your replies

Helen

Hi Helen,
I was advised to use Johnsons baby shampoo when Harvey was a Puppy but I found that it really dried his skin out. The best Shampoo I have found is Epi-soothe - its very mild, moisturisingand non irritating, it works brilliantly on both my itchy boy Harvey but its also fine for Alfie who has a perfectly normal skin and coat. I buy mine from an online vetenary pharmacy and its about £7 but lasts a fair while. I dont know about Blue Pearl but I'm guessing that its a shampoo specifically for white coats - like a blue rinse for old ladies lol! Its lovely to read that Robbies doing well, you deserve some happiness. x

I don't really bath mine Helen I use chalk powder to clean the coat, or Johnstons dry foam shampoo, just spray it on and brush out when its dry. Shampooing makes the coat soft.

try evening primrose from groomers thats a really nice shampoo

Where do you get the johnstons dry foam shampoo from, i assume you must bath them before they have their coats trimmed as our groomers used to bath Hamish then cut him.

Helen

You can get the Johnston in any good pet shop, I use chalk to trim my coats as I am handstripping the pup, the older ones ive taken to a groomer that I know who can do a westie properly, as they no longer get shown.

Would it be any good me using chalk powder on Robbie's coat when i brush him? When we used the johnsons baby shampoo it seemed to make his coat very flyaway, i know his coat has grown a lot and he needs a trim, the breeder is gonna clip him for me in a few weeks time as he looks like a shaggy dog at the moment.

Helen

please be aware that Malaseb is a prescription shampoo, and as such should only be used on the aniaml for whom it was prescribed.  It can be quite harsh to normal skin.  For clarification, you should be able to find on the bottle, the three letters POM inside a box.  Thats means Prescription only medication.  An alternative, which I reccommend to many of my itchy westies is 'Allermyl' from virbac animal health.  It's not a POM, and is very soothing to the skin and helps to re-create a normal 'skin barrier'.  Hope that helps.

Although malaseb is POM the same company make a general shampoo called neutrale available from vets but not prescription , very gentle  on skin and ph balanced brill for itchy dogs

What about Camrosa, I use it on my dogs and horses!