Hello,

My niece is getting a female 1.5 yr old westie tomorrow.

It has been neglected and is slightly underweight with unkept fur :(

She hasn't seen it but is willing to take it on as she doesnt care what condition its in as long as it gets looked after until It can be rehomed properly or if it settles in she will probably keep it. Either way from tomorrow it will have warmth and food and company, poor little thing :(.

She doesnt know much about westies and im guessing the owner wont bring any food or anything! She has dry bakers in her house, wet chappie & wet pedigree so hopefully it will like something. Then she will be booking it in at the groomers for a groom, to hopefully make it feel a bit better.

She has too dogs, so main concern is that it gets on with them, not sure if it will. She also has cats and doesnt know how the dog is with cats.

Mind you even if she has to rehome it in a few weeks at least it will be cared for until a forever home can be found.

Can anyone offer advice on westie food? grooming? or who to contact to find a forever home for this little girl if she doesnt settle?

thanks

the first place to contact if she's planning to rehome is probably westie rescue. I don't have a number for them but if they're not listed on www.rainrescue.co.uk, then googling should find them easily

The dog will almost certainly prefer the wet food, but if it hasn't been eating this up to now you can expect an upset stomach from it, so it's best not to feed that unless it's just a spoonfull to encourage eating the dry food

Westies have big personalities. If it isn't used to cats, you can expect some chasing, but install a baby gate to allow the cat a safe escape route, keep the dog on a lead for the first few days, and you shouldn't have too much trouble

A crate is always useful for introducing new dogs to a home which already has pets - for the safety of all those being introduced

Hello,

Yes she has a baby gate as her two dogs arent allowed in the front room, this rule will be enforced with this new dog aswel. She also has a crate which the dog will go in when people arent around to ensure her safety just incase she isnt getting on with the 2 bigger dogs. Thats the part she is worried about most but only time will tell i suppose. Apparently this dog has been in the back garden all day today! jesus its ssooo cold!

Also she isnt spayed so she will need to get that done. Her heart is in the right place but her walet isnt lol.

She is getting her tonight so I will keep you posted.

Good Luck hun , I hope she settles in really well, we took a dog in like this a few years ago all went fine .

On the grooming side. Westies are usually professionally groomed every 8 weeks, if you wish to keep them looking like a traditional westie. You can let the hair grow longer if you wish and professionally groom less often, but this will mean more work for the owner, as they get matted easily.

I charge £21 for a Westie groom including bath, clip, nails, anal glands, ear pluck and clean if needed, just to give you an idea on prices, expect to pay around this every 8 weeks.

They are also prone to skin problems and a good diet can help alleviate this. I recommend feeding a dry food such as Burns Dry which is completely natural and hypoallergenic, as wet food sticks to teeth causing tartar build up, unless you can manage to brush them that is. If you do use a wet food then Naturediet is also a good natural hypoallergenic food.

She feeds her two dogs wet food, Baker,s which apparently isnt great for westies, she has some wet food called chappie which is recommended as it is bland and natural. So she will probably put her on that for a few days until she can coax her onto dried food :)

we fed our's chappie - but it sticks on their chops and stinks to high heaven :gag: :hihi:

it's supposed to be good for the skin conditions westies are prone to too

I see lindseyw has been online this evening - pm her - she's involved in westie rescue in this area. If your neice is going to struggle financially taking this on it would be better to do it with the help of a rescue charity

I know she is in touch with Jackie from Rain Rescue who will help her with any rehoming and any advice, jackie is really good and will help her :) Thanks for all the advice :)

A westie will cope much better with a wet food such as Hi Life - better meat content.
If you look at the content on some of them you will see the meat is really low & made of derivitives, a westie needs meat ! Hi Life is really good.
Try throwing in some dried as a kibble to keep the teeth good.


I have had westies for years & years & have spent many years orking with Westie Rescue. They are a funny little breed & 100% terrier !!!

Also I can recomend Gemima as a groomer, she has done my 3 to an excellent standard.

Right................Sally is in her new home. Perfect with the dogs. But barks and barks and barks at the cats!!! The cats are terrified, which is suprising seeing as her other 2 dogs are perfect with the cats. Guess its just cos she isnt used to cats :(

She hasnt got any high life in chick, is chappie ok for a couple of days?

It certainly can't do much harm - it didn't do ours any harm anyway ;)

barking can be a particular 'feature' of the breed btw - some research into managing the new dog so she feels less responsible for guarding 'her' family from strange beings such as cats would be useful :thumbsup:

Hi OrchidJam,

Just ensure there is somewhere for the cats to retreat to where Sally can't get so that they can have some quiet time away from her if they need to. Our cats don't like our dogs (although our dogs don't particularly bother them, Takara's a bit too playful for their liking but neither of them have a problem with cats) so they tend to stay upstairs and we have a babygate at the bottom of the stairs that the cats can get through but the dogs can't (if I had more time and could be bothered, I'd train the dogs not to go upstairs but I don't and can't be bothered so we use a babygate instead ;) )

Royal Canin do a dry food specifically designed for Westies which is designed to meet all the nutritional requirements of westies specifically as well as helping prevent problems with their skin. Otherwise there are also several hypo allergenic foods which wouldn't cause irritation to the skin and are easier to digest than many other foods and the people that make these hypoallergenic foods have begun doing wet foods too now (because to be perfectly honest, most wet foods are total rubbish!).

She is crying alot and wont settle apparently and keeps weeing everywhere but obviously its all strange surroundings so hopefully tomorrow she will be better.

Make sure the cats have somewhere to go. She will wee, she will be unsure of her surroundings, speak to Lotti about that - she's good with that kind of thing !
The food you have in will be just fine, it's not going to hurt her. Lotti says most wet foods are rubbish, and I couldn't agree more, except for the Hi Life, take a look yourself at meat contents.

the best thing to encourage a dog to settle is to not fuss and confine the dog to a small space

the weeing is often to do with scent marking (yes bitches do it too), which is related to the stress of having a large space to look after

throw a blanket over her crate, shut her in, give her some space, and ignore her for a while. Dogs will settle much better if they don't have to stress over interaction, but if you let them train you to fuss over them when they eg bark, the barking won't stop ;)

Tried to pm you back lotti but your inbox thingy in full. thanks.

Emptied :)

She has fitted in so well in my niece house and gets on with her dogs like she as always been there! My niece and her husband really love her already and have already booked her into the groomers for a clean up, they would like to train her to get along with their cats. but now they are in a dilema because their old neighbours want her (they are a retired old couple). So they are wondering if she would have a better life with them or not. I told her she would have a happy life with either them or their neighbour. My niece works all day and has 2 dogs, who really get on with this new addition and as she is small doesnt seem to make that much difference. Although she works her mother in-law comes in twice a day and lets them out for a wee and plays with them for a while. She has figured out a way round the cats and is letting them use the front door so they can avoid the new dog.
However her neighbours are in all day and their westie died 2 years ago so she knows if she lets her go to them she will have someone with her all day.
She thinks she is being selfish by keeping her when she has 2 dogs already, but she already loves her and so does her husband.
I told her if the other couple want a westie so bad they could go to the rescue centre some called Lyndsay has mentioned on here and get one.

She is in a dilema and doesnt want to keep her if these people can offer her a better life where so wont be on her own all day, but she wont be on her own because she has 2 dogs and her mother in law popping in. but my niece is having a argument with her self i think lol and wants the best. but her dogs are so well looked after i think she is being hard on herself! she took her in after all. she does think she is stopping an old couple having a loyal companion with a breed they love, but like i said they could get o0ne from somewhere else.

Sorry to ramble on but she has been at my house um-ing and ar-ing all day lol. So I thought I would bend your ear on her behalf lol.

Thanks, you lot seem a friendly bunch.

jayne

one way of looking at it is that this couple are prepared to offer THIS dog a home, and if your niece lets this dog go, she can foster for westie rescue if she has the space and patience

Arguably, if this dog has had a hard time, constant human companionship will be of benefit

It's her call though - only she can decide ;)

Yep I know, I think she has a perfect home where she is, she has fited in so quick, my niece works 5 hours a day and during that time her mother in law goes in twice. I thinkmy niece is being hard on herself. My other thought is if these people all of a sudden want a dog why havent they got one sooner? If I wanted a specific breed I woul have looked into it, not just thought 'oh theres one, i will have it' it worries me. Where as my niece didnt even know what breed it was until the day before it arrived!
I dont know, it will have a nice home either way.
Thanks strix.
I live in rotherham so i cant pop in so easy lol.

Just spoke with her strix, and the only reason she is considering letting this old couple have her is because a) she knows they are good owners. but more important in her mind b) she thinks she is deprieving an old couple of a companion.

Where as my thoughts are surely this old couple can go and get a westie from somewhere else.

many people go through a grieving process after the loss of a dog and say they couldn't have another, or think that you should always have a dog from being a pup as rescue dogs are always psychologically damaged or bite people or something, but when they meet 'the right' dog, they fall in love - and who can blame them?

I always say 'the right dog finds you' - so if a great little dog has turned up next door to them, possibly looking for a home...

Just spoke with her strix, and the only reason she is considering letting this old couple have her is because a) she knows they are good owners. but more important in her mind b) she thinks she is deprieving an old couple of a companion.

Where as my thoughts are surely this old couple can go and get a westie from somewhere else.
I'd step back and let her make her own decision - then any regrets are her own ;)

yeah I know. But i just know my niece will regret it if she lets her go.
Its not that this dog has turned up on their door step and 'found them' my niece went out of her way to rescue it, so really the og found my niece if anything. Not like the dog found them at all. They have only seen it through the gate and laready said they want it. Just seems odd, i just feel like they want her because its the same breed as their old one, nothing to do with getting to know the dog iteself. If you get what i mean.

well, it looks like you've made your decision :D

I hope it all comes right in the wash :)

yeah buts its not my decision to make lol. Im sure her and her husband will decide whats best for them. At least my niece has got her out of the mistreated home that she was in which is brilliant an such a nice thing to do! :)

Well my niece took her to the vets this morning for a health check and to be microchipped.
She is in general good health however she is underweight, she also has a mild ear infection but this is apparently mainly caused by the fur growing in her ears.
My niece has just gone and dropped her off ad groomers, while she shops for a nice new collar for her! :)
So far I think she has cost her £75 today! Oh well, she is cute. Just hope she can get help training her not to chase her cats because theya re special to my niece aswell :)

that all sounds like pretty positive news :)

Yes strix it is. I have to laugh, she just texted me a picture of her after she has been to the groomers and she looks like a rat lol.