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Anal Glands! Yuck! Help, suggestions!?


mbc1963
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I pre-apologize to any squeamish posters; if you're easily disgusted, please skip this post.

 

My dog is quite small: about 20 or 21 pounds. She has anal gland issues like I've never seen in any larger dog I've owned. In the past month, I've had to have the glands expressed every 2 weeks, and even today after one week she's starting to "scoot" again. I took her to the vet to look for infections or imp actions, and she said everything was OK, but that it's likely an anatomical issue that means the glands just don't get pressure on normal elimination. (When I got her, she appeared to have borne a litter, though the vet said sometimes just a normal heat cycle can make the nipples swell like that.)

 

Sometimes when very scared, the glands will partially express themselves. (Once on me!) Sometimes in the middle of the night they express a bit in my bed. You can imagine how this causes dismay! I'm at the point of considering the surgery... which can apparently cause rare complications.

 

When I first got the dog in June, she was VERY smelly. I gave her a bath after 12 hours. I'm guessing that was an indication that the problem was previously existing. But it wasn't anything I had to manage until December. All summer, she would spend long minutes in the back yard rolling around on her back. (I'm wondering if she was managing the issue then?) Since it got colder, the ground is frozen AND she started eating frozen poop she finds in the woods. My neighbor actually saw her scarfing down a mouse corpse a few weeks ago. I had her checked for worms; she's clear.

 

What I've tried:

 

I've switched foods two times to no avail and just bought a new bag of the food I fed all summer (Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream).

 

I bought a bottle of Glandex, which is a fiber supplement in beef liver. It does help firm the stools, though they are typically softer than my old dog's. No apparent effect on the gland issue, though.

 

I've added pumpkin. Same as the Glandex.

 

I'm thinking about adding some raw meaty bones; some people online swear by this remedy. (Starting another thread for advice on that!).

 

She is very trim; when she takes a deep breath her ribs are clearly visible. She hovers at just about exactly the same weight all the time... and I feed her as much food as I fed my 45-pound border collie, plus random treats and leftovers. I'm wondering if putting a few pounds on her might help?

 

I'm looking for any and all help and suggestions from experienced folks. Thanks in advance, and sorry for the disgusting topic. (I'd rather not have to think about it, too!)

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Putting weight on may actually makes thing worse. It's common for overweight dogs to have anal gland issues.

 

When you switched foods, how different were the foods? Some dogs over produce if they are having food sensitivity issues.

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I understand your situation only too well. Anal gland problems are more common in smaller dogs according to my vet. My cattle dog had the same issues that your dog has. I was expressing the glands every couple of weeks and I did the diet thing. Adding pumpkin, psillium husks, bran etc and she is already on a largely raw diet and has plenty of bones. None of it helped. I too was spooked by surgery but I decided to go ahead with it. I don't think putting on weight will be helpful.

 

One side was fine, the other had complications and the vet had to go in again. So far seems okay but according to a specialist friend of mine, sometimes a little bit of sac gets left behind and it will continue to cause problems and it may need a specialist to find it.

 

The complications I was most afraid about was permanent fecal incontinence if the nerves are severed during surgery. I think this is pretty rare. I would advise finding a surgeon who has done many successful anal gland surgeries if you choose that route. I had not much choice because of where I live but I like my vet and she is experienced and had done successful surgeries before. My first choice would have been for a specialist but it wasn't really an option.

 

Certainly apart from the first few weeks where there was a bit of fecal incontinence, a bit of infection so a second round of antibiotics and a second surgery the quality of life of my dog has improved. Keeping my fingers crossed that things are good so far. It is no fun during the whole process. I have friends with small dogs that have had successful surgeries, I was just a little bit unlucky. I suspect the dissolving stitches they used didn't dissolve properly as I was pulling them out when they surfaced in puss and this caused the problems I think.

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Hi, I work as a Vet Tech and we recommend adding Fiber One or All Bran to your dog's food. The dosage is one teaspoon per 10 pounds of body weight. You can express her anal glands yourself at home. It's gross but there are videos online to show you how. I recommend either doing it outside or in the bathtub. Do it weekly and see how things go, if they aren't very full I'd stretch it out to every two weeks, then possibly every three weeks. I'd be hesitant about the surgery unless they have been infected. Also, I'd try to find a dog food that has higher fiber content. Good luck!!!

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Yes I spent a year trying everything that my vet suggested. In the end I opted for surgery and to be honest looking back I am glad I did. Quality of life for both of us is much improved. I seemed to always have my finger up her bum and there were many times she just looked plain uncomfortable, so they were clearly irritating her.

 

It was still a scary decision and I didn't make it lightly

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Yes, the surgery does scare me - though I completely understand when people resort to it. This is a really unappealing problem.

 

I am lucky and live in an area densely populated with good veterinary surgeons, but I will give the problem a good year or so to exhaust all non-surgical options. I gave Cricket chicken the other day and it did NOT agree with her digestive system, so I'm wondering if maybe chicken in the kibble I've been feeding her could be irritating her? Both brands I've tried recently have chicken of some sort in them. I'm considering trying one of the limited-ingredient foods they sell, thought I wish I had a clue which ingredients to choose!

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I was speaking to a specialist certified surgeon friend of mine and she said that techniques have improved and you would need to be a bit of a butcher for things to go really wrong. I think these days it is fairly routine surgery but you need to find a vet that has a good track record and if in doubt get a referral to a board certified surgeon.

 

If an option other than surgery can work well that is always good!

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Thanks so much, Herdcentral! That makes me feel much better about possibly needing to go the surgery route. I don't understand how this could have gotten to be such a problem so fast. It went from 6 weeks to 2.5 weeks to 1 week between her having issues. I'm hoping maybe it's been a dietary thing, and will go look at LID foods without chicken. Maybe even try rice and hamburger for a week. She is SO prone to diarrhea, too.

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Thanks so much, Herdcentral! That makes me feel much better about possibly needing to go the surgery route. I don't understand how this could have gotten to be such a problem so fast. It went from 6 weeks to 2.5 weeks to 1 week between her having issues. I'm hoping maybe it's been a dietary thing, and will go look at LID foods without chicken. Maybe even try rice and hamburger for a week. She is SO prone to diarrhea, too.

Yeah my dog went much the same way, I couldn't understand it either. There was no infection or anything she just couldn't seem to express the glands naturally. The added fibre to the diet I think did help as it spaced things back out a bit but for my dog surgery was inevitable really. I always seemed to have latex gloves and a tube of KY Jelly in my bags when I went trialing or visiting friends for a weekend.

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I'll share a little background with our pup Finley. He had loose stool often from the time we got him at 6 weeks, not constantly but he would have a good stool followed by a semi-soft followed by a good one... and so on. A couple of times we had to resort to metronidazole to get him back on track. Then anal glands started bothering him and we had the Vet express them 3 times in less than 3 months. He too had expressed his glands during excitement on the carpet... not fun! We had done the 'hunt' for the right food, grain free, not grain free, fish based, different meat ingredients, pumpkin, fiber...you get the picture.

 

In October I reluctantly gave in to the Vet's suggestion of trying Science Diet I/D mixed with his kibble and I stumbled on a supplement called Perfect Form from The Honest Kitchen. World of difference for us. Initially I did the I/D and kibble 50/50 with the Perfect Form, but have been using less of both and have had no anal gland issues and no more soft stools at all. I actually use both the canned and dry I/D, couple tablespoons of the canned mixed with a little bit of homemade broth dissolves the Perfect Form powder easily.

 

With all of that being said, I have never been a fan of Science Diet and was very skeptical of the supplement, but it worked for Finley. He is a healthy weight and coat looks great, poops are regular and firm and glands are fine. I know not everything works for every dog but it may be worth a shot. Good Luck, we know the constant gland and stool issues aren't fun!

 

Heidi

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