As a result of the “injury”, the body tries to protect itself by developing stiff scar tissue in the place of elasticated or stretchy cells.

One theory is that it is a result of repeated injury by a variety of unknown agents, maybe microscopic organisms, pollutants and infectious bodies in the air which are inhaled. Our advice purely from experience to anyone getting a new Westie puppy would be to get your vet to listen to their lungs very closely at the very least every 6 months once they reach about 6 years of age, so that you give yourself the best opportunity to help your precious pet.Īs mentioned above, there is no known cause. Vets can certainly give you an overview of the condition but they don’t live with the pets they treat and often can’t provide you with the vital practical assistance to help you on a day to day basis. There are plenty of people out there going through the very same experiences as you. There is no cure for this disease and the hard facts are that your precious Westie will succumb to the condition and your only hope is that you can catch the disease as early as you can to delay the onset of the symptoms so that you can spend as much quality time with your pet.Ī lot is known about what the disease actually is but there is precious little information out there as to how you help your dog live and try to cope with it 24/7 and so we hope that reading Austin and Harry’s story will help you feel that you’re certainly not on your own. Nothing has seemingly been proven for sure. Research is ongoing but some sources suggest there are links between the fibrosis, the immune system and allergies. Whilst the disease has no known cause, hence the name Idiopathic, it is commonly found in Westies, suggesting that it may have a genetic background and therefore could be reduced with careful and better breeding. There are several sites on the internet providing very detailed scientific information but this link below we found to be a good general over-view:Īnother very good site has been developed by Professor Cécile Clercx (small animal internal medicine) and her team at the University of Liège in Belgium and they are highly concerned with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. She is the coordinator of a European project to better understand this disease they have several veterinary partners in the UK also (Dr Sheena Warman from Bristol University is the local coordinator). Their website can be found by pointing your browser at: It is as if the author felt the need to flag it up, but didn’t want to draw attention to it. In the one book it is mentioned, it is given a short paragraph but merely mentions it in passing, focusing more on the above issues.

They only mention the standard complaints that most dogs suffer from.

In all but one book, the disease is completely ignored. We possess countless books on Westies, some very general books but most are detailed insights into the breed covering all aspects of bringing up your puppy, feeding it, training, grooming, common ailments etc. In so doing the heart has to work harder, to get the oxygen around the body putting extra strain on the heart & lungs. What this means is that the lungs have to work harder and harder to take in oxygen that the body desperately needs, compared to healthy lungs.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis otherwise known as Westie Lung Disease, to put in simple terms, is a disease which slowly over a period of 12 – 18 months increasingly prevents the lungs from functioning as they should, restricting their movement and therefore their ability to absorb oxygen into the body.

Crackle lung sounds in dogs