THE STORY OF AUSTIN, HARRY & FRAZER

The website is for family and friends to remember and to never forget our three boys and we would like to share our personal joy but also the heartache that other Westie owners are enduring with their dog with Pulmonary Fibrosis.

All of our boys succumbed at the end to this cruel debilitating disease, known as Westie Lung Disease. It is also known as Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Our dogs suffered from this and we have detailed on each of their pages how they lived with it, how they were affected, how we looked after them and the different course of treatments we used to help them.

It is a disease which countless West Highland White Terriers are affected by. We possess numerous books on the Westie and yet its existence is effectively swept under the carpet. Precious few mention it. It is a disease which all vets should know about, hence it’s specific well known name.

We should point out that all the information provided in this site is entirely from our experience gained over the years. We are not qualified vets, but have built up a lot of valuable information and knowledge on how to try and cope with the condition.

Some treatments work better than others, but as we found with Austin and Harry initially and then 10 years later with Frazer, whilst the sypmtoms they had were the same they each reacted very differently. At the time, we only wish the treatment that we gave to Austin was also given to Harry, as it might have helped him significantly with less of the unwanted side effects of oral steroids. That said, some of the newer treatments we gave to Frazer, might also have helped Austin & Harry.

There are other diseases which do start off with similar symptoms to Westie Lung Disease, so it is vital that you take your precious dog to a vet who has good knowledge and experience of this condition (which is not necessarily your current vet, because many are hopelessly inexperienced with this) as soon as possible to either rule it out and get treatment, or make an early start on trying to control the disease. Whilst always wanting the best for your dog, be careful of vets trying to put your dog through endless invasive procedures which can often do more harm than good, not to mention costing you the poor owner a fortune in vets fees. An X-ray should be sufficient to make a diagnosis.

Our hope is that one day there will be a cure, but in the meantime you may find our experiences useful, something that wasn’t readily available when we dearly needed it.