THE STORY OF AUSTIN & HARRY

The website is for family and friends to remember and to never forget our two 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.

Our two boys both succumbed at the end to this cruel debilitating disease, known as Westie Lung Disease. It is also known as Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Both 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 prescribed to them by our vets.

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 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 last few 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, whilst the conditions they had were the same they reacted very differently. 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.

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 the vets as soon as possible to either rule it out and get treatment, or make an early start on trying to control the disease.

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.