any advice for a westie who has consatnt skin problems. similar to excema . dog is scratching  and skin inflamed . tried various vetinary remedies but still a long term problem. any advice would be welcome

It could well be caused by an allergy, so treating it will not cure it, you need to find what is causing the allergy.
First thing, if you haven't already done so,  is to take the dog to the Vet for an expert opinion, no one can diagnose properly without seeing the dog.
For various ideas on skin problems, type allergy into the search facility on this forum - you should find plenty of info.
Register & you can ask any questions you like.

The cause could be any number of things. But by far the most common is the one that is almost always overlooked - that of overheating. Generally people buy a West Highland White Terrier (not Westie), feed overheating food, give it a lovely bed, with lots of vetbed/blankets and place the bed in a centrally heated room, often right  next to a radiator. Result: dog overheats (just as you would with a thick wooly jumper on in all this bedding and heat), heat makes dog itch, dog scratches itch, scratching increases the itching, dog scratches more and more, scratching breaks skin, bacteria infects lesion = skin trouble.

If you want more info/help mail me your phone number and I'll call you.

We had the same problem with our yorkshire terrier.the vet tried many things but nothing worked, in the end the vet put him on a course of steroids (cant stop on these as they can cause kidney problems)and several courses of piriton(which i always  have in my cuboard now from the vets) and we now give him dried food.
veterinary science plan
sensitive skin.(this is the name of the food we use)
sometimes it still flares up but not very often.it is best to try and find out what causes the problem but in our case we couldnt and the above works really well.
hope this helps.
sandra.

I have a westie with a skin problem I feed her Wafcol Gluten Free. In the summer she needs an injection from the vet if it becomes really itchy.

Jean

Sounds like this is an ongoing problem, & you need to find the cause, before you can get a cure.

You need your vet to refer you to a skin specialist / dermatologist, who can assess your dog, they'd need to get a lot of background info from you & history about the dog. ie bedding / diet etc.

If nec they can do a work up on your dog & run a thorough skin test, this involves shaving the dog & injecting the dog with lots of different things to see what the dog reacts to, but usually prior to this more basic tests are done. Including food trials. This would mean feeding the dog on a strict diet for a few weeks - but no other food at all is to be given during this time. If things improve, problem solved & it's a food related problem.

Unfortunately westies are prone to skin problems / allergies.

Sorry but you are wrong. West Highland Whites are no more prone than any other breed. The general public have been conditioned to think this by vets who refer to it as "Westie Skin". I have owned this breed for over 30 years and never had a problem. The main causes are parasitic infestation, which is easily diagnosed and cured,  and overheating as outlined in my previous mail.

I haven't been conditioned to anything - thanks.
But I have studied atopy in dogs.
Maybe you should too.

Unfortunately vets work on the pareto principle ie that they will see 20% of problems 80% of the time; also unfortunately they tend to treat animals this way too!  Constant skin problems and digestive problems are the two most common reasons owners take their animals to see their vets.

If you search on allergies and skin problems on this site you will see any amount of suggestions BUT unless your dog has been correctly diagnosed then all it will be is guesswork.  You need to eliminate possible causes by testing for them.  The vet can take a sample of blood and send it off to Yorktest who will be able to identify if your dog has an allergy to protein; if so it is a simple matter to remove the offending items from the diet.  Dogs, like us, can be allergic/intolerant to a variety of products.

If this is ruled out then your dog may be allergic to environmental factors such as house mites, grass pollen etc etc; this can also be tested for however the prognosis is not so good.  Dogs may be helped by desensitising injections however many dogs are helped by homoeopathic remedies and there are anumber of homeopathic vets all over the country and they are on the net if you do a search.

The most common thing for vets to reach for are steroids and antihistamines which treat the symptoms not the cause and prescribe incredibly expensive diets!

If both these are ruled out then you would need to look at other triggers such as overheating etc etc.