hi all, im worried about pippa our 3yr old westie her hair has started coming out in a couple of places ,on the bottom of her back, witch looks pinkie coloured , we had her to the vets a couple of weeks ago with a weepy sore on her front leg and the fur had come away, she gave her antibiotics, her groomer says its exema , and that her coat is a bad coat proberly from her stock. could this cause this to happen...help please

Hi, she could have an allergy, if she has she may be chewing her fair, causing her to lose it.

If the dog hasn't been handstripped then more than likely its the clipping that has made to coat bad!  Unfortunately Westies do suffer with skin problems and I'm sure that the clipping that is done to them doesn't help.

I wonder if there's anyway that it could be looked into about which dogs suffer with these ailments either clipped or handstripped ones.  I bet that the outcome will be interesting!

no as far as i know she has only been clipped, had her to vets today, he says she hasn,t got any infection on the affected area, its a little red, she hasn,t got fleas or mites that he can see. he gave her steroids and told us to keep using the shampoo, were rellatively new with pets, we got her from a breeder who had no more use for her.

I never can understand why vets give steriods right away. It affects the immune system which is already struggling.  It is better to find the reason and try to deal with it , and only use steriods as a last resort. The steriod appears to make huge improvements but I believe from my reading it is short lived.

Spanishwaterdog I personally feel your onto something, everyone I have spoken with has sad when they have had there dog handstripped they have notice a huge improvement on skin and coat conditions. That is why I will not allow my pup to be clipped only handstripped or thinning scissors.

It sounds like an allergy to me (but I'm no expert) but I do agree with Blue giving steroids does effect the immune system and cause a lot of long term problems.

I would attempt to find out what maybe causing the problem by doing food elimination to see if itching or redness calms down, if you're insured your insurance company should pay for a food allergy/ dust mite's tests this could be a quicker route to follow I would personally do this first.

I have used many shampoos for my pup's skin condition and I have found Epi-smooth does help calm the skin when it's hot and pink/red. You lather it into the skin and leave on for 10 minutes you can also get a spray leave on version when they have a bad flair up. My pup luvs his baths and feels so much better after if ur going to do this be prepared as your gonna feel like you had a bath urself afterwards LOL. Introducing omega 6 & 3 into your dog's diet can help with skin problems along with garlic that has natural healing properties.
I hope your dogs skin condition heals up real soon :)