The West Highland White Terrier suffers from allergic skin disease called at or atopic dermatitis.
These dogs have a faulty skin barrier and are allergic to pollens, dust mites and household spores (the things that cause asthma in people).
These dogs are frustrating to treat.
As pollens and spores are difficult to keep away from the dog, the problems are recurrent.
To reduce the severity of flare-ups, the itch should be treated as soon as possible.
The itch and rash on these dogs develops on the thinly haired regions of the body that is not well protected.
These dogs typically have itchy feet, groin, ventral abdomen (tummy) and axilla (arm pits) and the concave surface of the pinna (pointy part of ear).
Immunotherapy is the only current way of curing the problem with a 70% success rate.
Allergens are determined by a blood test and a skin prick test.
This procedure is expensive and most owners of West Highland White Terriers turn to other ways of managing the condition.
Corticosteroids such as prednisolone are the cornerstone of management.
Cyclosporine also works well but the costs involved are often inhibitive.
Recent developments in understanding this terrible condition have enabled some more effective natural treatment regimes to develop that really do work.
The skin barrier is deficient in a protein called sphingosine which is part of the protective ceramides that bind the skin cells together.
Barrier protection and repair can greatly help these dogs prevent flares by blocking trigger factors.
The west Highland White Terrier is a very challenging itchy dog.