I know Westies are prone to skin conditions and my Westie has always been OK up till now. He has a number of patches on his lower back and back legs that are red and have flakey skin on them, also the fur comes out quite easily on these places. I'm not sure what to do, does anyone have any experience with this Westie condition? Its not parasitic as he is treated with drops at the vets every three months.

It could be diet related. I know someone that changed her Westies' diet over to raw and also fed Natural Choice Wholebake and from what I can gather she no longer has a problem - just an idea.

In a Westie the most likely cause of skin allergies is from flea bites, mites, grass or pollen.   Even if you use a good flea product, like Frontline, the flea can still bite before it dies.  You can try adding garlic to his food to help with flea control.  

I would take him to the vet to make sure it is not something like mange.  I assume the "drops" every three months you are talking about are for worms rather than parasites that actually live on the skin.

I have Cairns, who are also prone to allergies.  One of the best ways to control them is to strip the coat rather than to clip it.  The reason is that the hard outer coat will not fall out easily be itself.   Unless it is stripped out it will stay longer than it should, prevent a new coat from growing in, and effectively clog the pores in the skin.  Opening up the pores by stripping seems to help in allergy control. 

Stacey

My mum had a westie, and in all the time she was working,(my dad was home all day with her) she had skin problems, her skin was itchy and she would bite herself untill she bled, her abck and feet, her skin went black and like elephant skin, she tryed all sorts of lotions and dips, steriods, when she stopped work the skin started to clear and we found out that my mum had been treating jilly with betnovate scalp loition that was prescribed for her psoriosis (sp) within 2 months jilly was clear, the vet but it down to stress and prescribed a similar lotion to betnovate that kept her clear untill she died at the age of 17, if nothing else works and tests for other things are clear it may be a last chance thing but ask your vet about it, it may help if nothing else does

Some dogs can be alergic to dust. Carpeted houses can be a nightmare for dogs like this.

The hardest thing is finding out what the dog is alergic to sadly.

BFN Pam

I am having just the same problem with our Bichon male who is only 6 months old.  We have been to the vet 3 times with his skin/ear problems.  There has been a little improvement since he was treated with anti-biotics and Pred steroid/anti-inflammatory but he still scratches several times a day and I feel so sorry for him.  He seems happy enough but I wish I could stop him.  It just seems that there are so many things it could be (grass, food etc) that its hard to know where to start.  I changed his food two weeks ago to Royal Canin junior dried food but have been advised since that there are a lot of things in it that he could be allergic to so I am going to get the James Wellbeloved puppy food and leave him on that whether he likes it or not.  I have put tea-tree oil on him but it made him all sticky and he hated the smell, it was quite strong.  He has evening primrose oil capsules every day.  He has lost hair off his legs, flank,tummy and bottom and he looks a bit of a sight because he looks like a dalmation underneath.  I have read that someone tried athletes foot powder and that worked but I haven't tried that yet.

It is so frustrating and upsetting isn't it and someone who used to work for a vet said that they never seem to find out what the dog is allergic to even after doing all the tests (which are quite expensive I have heard)  I wouldn't mind him having the tests if they could find out for sure what they are allergic to but if they still don't know then what is the point of the tests, other than spending hundreds of pounds.

Let me know if you find anything that works please.

Can be so many things causing this. 

This type of weather is when the fleas are out and about more I think.

Wash the area with Hibiscrub regularly ( as per the instructions)  don't use anything but mild shampoos any other time.

It may be worth looking at his diet and trying to introduce a more natural one.

my westie has exema could it be this.