Westie malassezia dermititis, urgent help needed please.

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, I'm looking after my MIL's westie as she has the flue. He's had this condition for years now, and the vet just keeps prescribing anti biotics etc, Malaseb shampoo etc, but won't find out the cause of it. The westie is 10 years old and the vet says he's too old for allergy testing.
He's been scratching and biting non stop since he's been with us and has made himself bleed in a few places. This has gone on all night too. He's finally fallen asleep now.
I know there are things that need to be addressed, such as his food. My MIL feeds him a cheep dry food that's meant to have the same ingredients as a more expensive one. He has chicken with this and uses a teaspoon of butter to take his medication. He's also on daily steroids for the rest of his life.
Is there anything I can do or buy him just for now? That I can get from the high street? I'm not sure how long he'll sleep for and it's awful seeing him so distressed.
Thanks.

He's now awake and biting again. That sleep didn't last long.

Hi - a decent hypoallergenic diet might really help. Something that doesn't contain 'normal' ingredients that he may have developed a sensitivity to, like these:
burnspet.co.uk/products/burns-for-dogs/sensitive-brown-rice-dog-food.html

Take a look at this site too - it gives quite a few options:
www.whichdogfood.co.uk/

It's a very common condition in westies. I doubt your vet won't find the cause of it but rather there are so many different possibilities. Allergy testing costs a fortune and unless he is insured or money is no object most owners won't go for it.

Diet trials are usually a good way to start looking for the cause, a true hypoallergenic food such as purina HA is one of the best. You can't give anything but this though or it defeats the point.

Allergy testing is also worth it if a cause can be found however some dogs are allergic to many many things!!

Another drug I've seen success with is atopica however it is not to be used lightly and again it is expensive (I paid around 250 a month to treat my dog) but I know dogs on this long term who are much less itchy.

I don't think there is a quick fix unfortunately, I hope he feels better soon.

Thank you both. He isn't insured and my MIL wouldn't be able to afford the allergy testing, if it was expensive or the atopica.
I will look out for one of those allergy foods and try him on that. My MIL is one for feeding!! She says things like "How would you like to live on just dry food?" and "He's one of the family" etc. He's forever at the vets though and never seems to be getting any better.

For my Westie, who was insured so had the allergy testing (samples sent to Texas) the worst allergens were grass seeds and sweet potato but there were about 14 other things he was allergic to!

Wow! So does he still go for walks on grass, or do you have to keep him away from it? It would be quite tricky where we live.

Is it too late to get him insured? Would it cost a fortune now? I'm wondering if it might work out cheaper in the long run as the vets are turning into his second home!

It's worth trying a raw diet - it helps a lot of dogs with allergy/skin issues. Any chance your MIL would give it a go? She might if she made remarks about just living on dry food...

My oldgirl had Malassezia. I did a lot of reasearch online and found out that systemic Malassezia has been successfully treated with oral anti-fungals, but it's not something a lot of vets are aware of and I had to print the papers out to show my vet, who still wasn't keen to try it.

Malaseb did very little for her unfortunately and as she had it really badly in her ear canals she was constantly on steroids and having to have antibiotics for the resultant infections.

She was much better on a raw diet. Wheat/gluten definitely aggravated it, as did any commercial flavourings or colourings. She also reacted to grass, but only when it was wet for some reason.

Insuring at this stage is likely to be very expensive and the Malassezia will be excluded, as you have to declare previous medical history. My girl was insured for years, but the insurance wouldn't cover allergy testing back then and we couldn't afford it ourselves.

The one topical treatment we found that really helped was Neem oil. It stinks to high heaven, but after trying just about every natural remedy on the market with no success it definitely improved her skin and reduced her itching. In fact the hair on her feet started to grow back within a few days. We bought a Neem oil lotion - which doesn't smell too bad, but boosted it by massaging in neat Neem oil and also gave her Neem oil baths. I honestly think she was the most comfortable she'd ever been in her life on it, but sadly we only found it a couple of months before we lost her to cancer.

We bought ours from The Neem Team but have since heard good reviews of Ekoneem.

Sorry, should have said. If you Google Westie and Neem there are hundreds of hits and lots of people saying how much it helped their dogs.

The first thing to say is that even with allergy testing which can be done in the Uk in Yorkshire now we never cure the condition only control it.
All dogs have Malassezia on their skin just Westie's are susceptible to it.
I have had good experience with Atopia, but it is expensive - though in truth however, you managed these dogs it is expensive.

I no longer have the papers I mentioned on my laptop, but a quick Google brought up this which might help you understand what you're dealing with.

Our dog had desensitisation injections for around a year, then he seemed to grow out of it. He's 11 now and hasn't had any symptoms for around 6-7 years.

That's brilliant Lougle, so there is hope he'll grow out of it one day.

I know several westies that are allergic to chicken, so I would ditch that.

A westie owner feeds burns dry food with a 'slice' of lamb Arden grange wet food. Her girl dog has same combo but different meat, apparently duck is supposed to be good.

Other friend feeds oijen or Wainwrights, plus a slither if Wainwrights wet food in the plastic dish - again no chicken & no wheat.

Made a massive difference.

I'd cut out chicken based dried food & any that contain wheat.
I don't have a Westie with what yours has but one of my Yorkies has allergies to several things.
My vet advised avoiding anything with beef, lamb, chicken, wheat, even rice,even the usual "allergy" foods that contain these. He now has only duck based ones, or fish which he can tolerate, that are made with potato instead of grains. There are a few you could try, even from places like Pets at Home that don't cost much more than common kibbles, if your mum doesn't want to order online from manufacturers.
What does she use for cleaning? I found changing some floor cleaning products helped mine. I also give him Piriton if he's affected pollen etc but he isn't now on medication from the vets like your little one is.