Your Purebred Puppy, Honest Advice About Dogs and Dog Breeds

Sensible advice for raising your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppy so he lives a long healthy life and seldom needs to visit the vet. Learn about the most common health problems and issues in Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers, the best dog food diet for feeding Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppies and adult dogs, the truth about vaccinations, spaying and neutering, and natural health care.

How To Raise a Healthy Dog

The Best Dog Food For Feeding Your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier

The Second-Best Dog Food

Vaccinations and Booster Shots: Are They Needed?

The Type of Veterinarian I Recommend

Spaying and Neutering: Pros and Cons


11 Things You Must Do Right To Keep Your Dog Healthy and Happy, my best-selling dog health book

Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier dog breed

Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Health Problems and Raising a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Puppy to be Healthy

By Michele Welton. Copyright © 2000-2011

How To Raise a Healthy Dog
Feeding the Best Dog Foods
Vaccinations: Needed or Not?
Spaying and Neutering: Pros and Cons

The most common health problems in Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers:

These four health problems are life-threatening:

  • A severe form of colitis (protein-losing enteropathy, or PLE), results in essential proteins being "lost" through the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. All Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers should be tested every year for PLE, because it's essential to diagnose and treat it early.
  • An inherited kidney disease (protein-losing nephropathy, or PLN) results in essential proteins being lost through the kidneys. All Wheatens should be tested every year for PLN.
  • A different kidney disease, renal dysplasia, can kill Wheaten Terriers at 6-12 months old. Fortunately, a simple DNA test is available for renal dysplasia. So you don't need to wait with bated breath for symptoms to appear. You can have your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppy tested in your vet's office to find out whether he has inherited renal dyplasia or not.
  • Finally, a serious endocrine system disorder called Addison's disease occurs in Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers.

Allergies are not a life-threatening health problem, but they are a chronic nuisance that can make life miserable for your Wheaten and frustrating for you. Allergies cause terribly itchy skin and often lead to bacterial skin infections (pyoderma). Ear infections are common due to profuse hair in the ear canals.

Tumorous growths (especially basal cell tumors and hair follicle tumors) are quite common in Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers, as are non-tumorous growths.

The most serious eye diseases in Wheatens are progressive retinal atrophy (PRA), cataracts, and retinal dysplasia.

Orthopedic diseases include luxating patella (loose knees), hip dysplasia, and elbow dysplasia. The Orthopedic Foundation of America evaluated the hip X-rays of 4900 Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers and found 4% dysplastic. That's not too bad, but elbows were worse – nearly 8% of 65 elbow X-rays were evaluated as dysplastic.

Other health issues in Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers include hypothyroidism, heart disease, and deafness inherited deafness.


Can you prevent health problems from happening to YOUR Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier?

Yes, often you can.

  1. Some health problems are genetic, which means inherited from parents. Genetic health issues are common in Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers today because of unwise breeding practices. My book, Dog Quest: Find The Dog Of Your Dreams, shows you how to find a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppy who is genetically healthy.
  2. Other health problems are environmental – caused by the way you raise your dog. My best-selling dog health book, 11 Things You Must Do Right To Keep Your Dog Healthy and Happy shows you how to prevent environmental health problems by raising your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppy (or adult dog) in all the right ways.

Here are my dog health tips for raising a healthy Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppy or adult dog:

Obedience instructor and author Michele Welton How To Raise a Healthy Dog – My Philosophies
Read my advice on sensible feeding and health care so that your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier lives a long, healthy life and seldom needs to see the vet. An excellent goal, yes?


Real homemade dog food The Best Dog Food For Feeding Your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
The best diet for feeding your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier is real food. Real chicken, turkey, beef, bison, venison, fish....This is not "people food" and I'll tell you why.


Natural dog foods for your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. The Second-Best Dog Food For Your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
If you can't (or won't) feed what your Wheaten Terrier really needs, the best I can do is to point out what to look for – and look out for – when choosing a brand of kibble or canned dog food.


Information on booster shots for your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. Vaccinations and Booster Shots: Needed or Not?
How many vaccinations does your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppy really need? Does your adult Wheaten Terrier need yearly booster shots? The vaccination guidelines have changed. Find out what many vets aren't telling you.


Information on choosing the best vet for your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. The Type of Veterinarian I Recommend
Does your veterinarian belong to the AVMA or the AHVMA? They're not the same at all, and which one you choose can make a world of difference to the future health of your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier.


Information on spaying or neutering your Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. Spaying and Neutering: Pros and Cons
Advantages and disadvantages of spaying your female Wheaten Terrier or neutering your male.