Westie Rescue Carolinas

Sophie found her way to Carolina Westie Rescue in late January of 2013. Coming from the northern part of North Carolina, she had quite a trip down to our location in Southeastern NC, in Wilmington. Sophie belonged to an older couple who could no longer give her the care and attention that a little Westie needs. The couple mentioned they had Sophie since she was a puppy. Now, however, with their work schedules being what they were, they did not have much time to spend with her. They also revealed that Sophie was around ten years old and had a “little skin problem”, but was otherwise healthy. During the surrender, along with Sophie’s records, they also gave me some of her medication which included Prednisone, Ketoconazole, and Tramadol. I took copies of what health records they gave me and after the couple filled out a surrender form, Sophie and I were on our way.

Sophie is quite small for a Westie, but what she lacks in size, she makes up for in sweetness. She is friendly as can be and she greeted all the other Westies in my house as if they were all long lost friends. She did not seem shy at all or unhappy to be away from her old home or owners. Actually, she seemed to fit right in. Not long after she arrived though, I noticed that under her long, just groomed coat were feet that were black, swollen, bleeding and infected. Her belly was also black and she had a bit of a limp. She also appeared to have an old scar on the top of her head. She was small but slightly overweight. Her chubby appearance made her little head appear even smaller.

The next day I took Sophie to my veterinarian along with her records. My vet looked at Sophie’s past, which only dated back six months. In those records, my vet said that she had an infection in all four feet; and that her previous vet was not expecting a cure and could only hope for management with Cefpodoxine, Prednisone and medicated shampoo. My vet put Sophie back on the Ketoconazole along with Clindamycin and Pharmaseb shampoo. He took a skin scraping, a parasite screening and performed a physical exam. We noticed that Sophie’s teeth looked terrible and decided to get them cleaned at a later date. I wanted to try and get her feet on the road to healing first. My vet felt that by being more consistent and omitting the Prednisone that Sophie would start to improve. He thought that the past diagnoses of Malassezia were correct. My vet also mentioned that Sophie’s limp was from a torn ACL of her right rear leg.

After the game plan was laid out, I was very consistent with Sophie’s meds and baths. She seemed to improve for a time, but unfortunately, she then regressed. I called my veterinarian back and told him that Sophie was not getting better and he said that it would take a long time for her deep Pyoderma to heal. I knew from dealing with Westies that I should have seen some sort of improvement by now. I had been treating her for almost two months and she was not getting better. I then made another vet appointment and took Sophie back for a recheck. The vet did a senior blood work wellness profile and we made plans for a biopsy, histopathology, and culture and at the same time, he would clean and pull the teeth that were necessary. I took Sophie back ten days later to have all this work performed and poor little Sophie had to have six back teeth extracted. They were rotted at the roots. I do not think she had ever had her teeth cleaned.

Wilmington, NC isn’t a very large city. But, we are fortunate to have a canine dermatologist who visits from Raleigh twice a month. I called and made an appointment with Dr. Barbara Atlee, the dermatologist. The appointment was two weeks out. That would give us time to have the culture and biopsy results before seeing her.

Sophie’s lab reports came in a few days before our appointment to see Dr. Atlee. Her culture results stated that she had Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. This staph was also Methicillin-resistant. This meant that every antibiotic that my vet and the previous vet treated her with did absolutely nothing to stop the infection. However, we now had a list of antibiotics that would successfully treat her infection. Her antibiotic list was very short. One of the antibiotics that Sophie’s staph was sensitive to was Zeniquin and a topical antibiotic called Mupirocin. The Zeniquin proved to be hard to find and expensive, but I found it. Sophie’s biopsy stated that she also had Demodex. We put her on a course of oral Ivermectin to treat that.

Sophie - WestieMed Grant Recipient April 2013 — Sophie – WestieMed Grant Recipient

Sophie had her appointment with Dr. Atlee, the dermatologist, a short time later. Dr. Atlee examined Sophie, then looked over all of her records and labs and concurred with the diagnoses and protocol. Dr. Atlee also supplied me with a two-page “Treatment Sheet” to follow, which is always helpful. It consists of a detailed protocol to follow to get Sophie well and happy.

I believe that now little Sophie is on the road to healing. Her feet still have ulcers, but are not as swollen. She hates to take her oral medication but is always a trooper when I treat her feet with Mal-a-Ket wipes and Mupirocin ointment. I put her Ivermectin in her food and, as she always loves to eat, she wolfs it right down. Speaking of that, we now have Sophie down to a respectable weight; and her cute little face is in proportion with the rest of her body.

This year has been very hard for Carolina Westie Rescue. We took in three senior owner surrenders almost at the same time. All three had heath problems. Thankfully, two have found their forever homes. Sophie still has a long road ahead of her, but now I think we are on the right track to getting her well.

Thank you WestieMed for your offer to help with Sophie’s medical bills. The Westie community is fortunate to have an organization such as yours.

Sydney Christian
Carolina Westie Rescue
Wilmington NC

Update January 13, 2014

Sophie is doing well now and is still with us. I will soon get back with you with pictures and an update on her health.

I can never begin to express our gratitude or come close to letting WestieMed know how thankful we are that they have been there for us.

Sincerely,
Sydney Christian

Carolina Westie Rescue

Carolina Westie Rescue found Skye through Petfinder in late May. She was in the mountains of North Carolina, quite a distance from us here on the NC Coast, in Wilmington. I contacted the shelter to make sure Skye was still available and was informed that she was, so my daughter and I made the trip to the mountains to bring her home. When the shelter attendant brought Skye in she was very frightened and very skittish. She flinched every time she was touched. It was evident that she did not like being there. As Westies are normally outgoing and inquisitive terriers, we knew that she was not a happy dog. We were told that the owner brought her in because he could no longer take care of her. The shelter attendant told us that Skye had a small skin infection. Skye’s hair was very long and overgrown. She also needed a good bath before we could tell how bad her skin was. Even though the hair, however, it was clear that she had not been treated for her skin infection. We made the trip back home with Skye in my lap the entire way. When we arrived, Skye met all of the other Westies and had a good meal. She slept very well that night.

The next day it was time for me to bathe and groom her. While I was grooming Skye I noticed just how bad her skin looked underneath all that hair. I could tell that she had a very deep, nasty infection on her back. I made an appointment with a new veterinarian who is known to be rescue friendly, getting her worked in for an appointment for the very next day. The veterinarian looked at Skye and said she had a deep bacterial pyoderma skin infection. He gave her an injection of a very strong antibiotic called Convenia, and also put her on a very strong dose of Baytril. Skye also went home with a bottle of Pharmaseb spray. In addition, I had a bottle of Pharmaseb shampoo at home. Skye seemed to respond to the treatment almost immediately, for a time. I gave her baths with Pharmaseb shampoo two to three times a week and treated also her lesions with the spray.

In the middle of June, we returned to the same vet for more shampoo and spray. Skye was not progressing as quickly as I thought she should be. Four days later, seeing no real improvement, I decided to take Skye to my original vet as her condition actually seemed to be worsening. My vet, who we affectionately call Dr. K, examined Skye and put her on a regimen of 100mg of Simplicef. After a time, the Simplicef did not seem to be working either and in early July, Skye was put on Baytril again, but at a lower dose. Now, at this time, the last week in July 2011, we have discontinued the Baytril altogether, as Skye seems to be the worse for it and I am afraid she may be having a reaction to it.

Here in Wilmington, we do not have a veterinary dermatologist. However, we do have one that visits every three weeks from Cary, NC, two and a half hours away. It goes without saying that it is very difficult to make an appointment. After some difficulty involving playing a voice mail phone tag, I finally made an appointment for August 26th in Wilmington. However, I do not think that will be soon enough for Skye to see a dermatological specialist and so I called again and bumped up her appointment to August 2^nd. But, the caveat is that I will have to make the trek to her office in Cary, NC.

Skye is a two-year-old Westie. She is sweet and a very smart little girl. She was extremely shy when she came to us and was not housebroken. She learned very quickly to go outside to do her business just by watching the other Westies. She is becoming more and more social every day with the other Westies. She loves to lie at my feet when I am at the computer and she follows me everywhere I go. Her future is uncertain, but we are going to give her the chance she deserves. We all know what stubborn little fighters these Westies are, and hopefully, she will overcome this illness and live a long happy life.

Thank you WestieMed for helping Skye. Carolina Westie Rescue would not be able to continue with the right treatment for Skye without your help. We will keep you updated on Skye’s progress and let you know what the dermatologist has to say.

Sydney Christian Carolina Westie Rescue

Update August 20, 2011

I took Skye to Cary NC to see the dermatologist on the 2^nd of August. Dr. Atlee did a very thorough job. She spent about two hours with Skye and me examining Skye and explaining to me what was wrong with Skye and how to treat her condition. She explained her medication, bathes, food and the environment that would work best to get her well. The dermatologist said it could take anywhere from months to over a year to get Skye’s condition under control. It will be a very long and grueling journey for Skye and me to get her well enough to go on to her forever home.

Skye - WestieMed Grant Recipient July 2011 — Skye – WestieMed Grant Recipient

Skye has Demodicosis (Demodex mites) or what some call “The Red Mange”. It seems that all dogs have these little cigar-shaped mites on their body, but their immune system keeps them in check. At some point in time, Skye was under some type of stress and it caused her immune system to be compromised causing the little critters to multiply. Skye has the “pustular form” of Demodicosis. This can occur when the condition is advanced. Opportunistic bacteria such as Staphylococcus or Streptococcus species colonize the affected areas and the condition has spread over large portions of her body. At this stage of her disease, her skin had become greasy, red, swollen and scabby. This secondary bacterial condition had caused Skye to have itching. Her lymph nodes had become enlarged due to the systemic spread of the mites and bacteria. The mites and the bacteria can enter the bloodstream and affect her organs. If allowed to progress, Skye’s condition could become fatal due to the overwhelming sepsis. I am doing all that I can to see that Skye recovers. In the past three weeks, I have noticed how much better Skye’s condition has improved. Dr. Atlee told me to have Skye shaved and I saved her hair very close except on her face as she did not seem to have an infection on her face except under her chin and I shaved her there. Skye’s protocol is capacious, consisting of rules to keeps her hair clipped short, treating her Demodicosis, treating and preventing infection, flea control, treating her itching, environment control and ways to maintain healthy skin and hair. I am very pleased with Skye’s improvement. We will see what Dr. Atlee thinks when we return to see her for Skye’s follow up on the 26^th of August.

I want to thank WestieMed for taking care of Skye’s initial dermatology bill. If it were not for WestieMed I would not have had the financial resources to take Skye to a specialist to determine what was wrong with her and just how to treat it.

Sincerely,
Sydney Christian Carolina Westie Rescue Wilmington NC