# Anal Glands!



## amandanicole (May 31, 2011)

So, Franklin woke up on Tuesday with a very swollen bottom  He ended up having an abscess in/on his right anal sac and had to be put under so that a drain could be put into place. Poor little guy, he's JUST now starting to act like his normal self again. Anyhow, our current vet recommended having his glands done/emptied every 6 weeks or so and while I'm not a vet myself I don't really agree with that and probably will not do so. 

The first 4-5 months of his life he had a LOT of digestive issues, I don't think he had a single solid poo until he started eating raw, even now (7-8 months into PMR, he's 1 year tomorrow!) he needs a bit more bone than the other dogs do to keep them solid and reacts to pretty much anything processed at all. I'm thinking that overall this (continuous soft stools for a long periods of time) was probably a large contributing factor to what happened this week. 

My question is: Do any of you have dogs (with normal consistently solid stools) with problematic anal glands? If so, is there any other way of keeping the glands from becoming blocked (etc) without having the glands expressed? OR is there a way to check the glands to make sure they're working properly without expressing them? 

(Note: I have no qualms about expressing them IF that's the only way to keep this from happening again, however I would like to take the most natural approach if at all possible... I'm hoping that now that his poo is MUCH better this won't be a problem again.)


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Unfortunately its just a simple issue due to anatomy. Some dogs just have issues with anal glands, and the only way to deal with them is to express them on a regular basis. I would start with expressing them every 6 weeks and push it further and further between expressions. This may be a lifelong issue but it may not be...this may just be a fluke. 

I would also learn how to express his anal glands yourself so you don't have to pay a vet to do it. Its easy to do, even if it is gross.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

we have a pug who stress skunks....

we have tried expressing them and then we stopped expressing them and increased his bone intake.

he still skunks but not as much....and we leave his glands alone...

the more we expressed them, the more he did it....now, it's when he gets scared.


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## KC23 (Nov 17, 2010)

Hi. I have a 5 yr. old dog that I've had for over 4 yrs. now. He was showing anal gland problems right after we adopted him. My vet told me it's often allergy-related; she told me to just give him Benadryl or Claritin. I did for a short time, but stopped. I honestly think diet contributed to it because we tried several different dry foods, and it seemed like some foods had him (and my other dogs) all getting the anal gland smell. Anyhow, now I have all of them on raw. I think things are better than they used to be, but still not perfect. This dog (Buddy--the white one in my avatar) always has good, formed stools, yet still had this problem. When my other dogs have a bowel movement, you can often SEE that they are releasing their anal glands. I never notice that with Buddy. In fact, it often seems like he is trying to release them, but can't. We can smell when he needs them expressed because he starts to "leak"--and stinks up the room. Seems like he often releases them while he's relaxed/sleeping too. It's obvious that this is less frequent since changing his diet to raw, but it does still happen, and I do need to express them for him at times.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

My Chihuahua Toby had an anal gland rupture a couple of years ago and it was awful. I noticed that he wasn't quite himself one night and early the next morning he was up and wanting to go outside. After he came back in he was clearly in pain so I checked him over and saw how swollen he was on one side of his rear. It was about 7 AM and by the time the vet opened an hour later it had ruptured. He was so painful and I felt so sorry for him. 
Since then I have taken him to get them expressed by the vet on several occasions when I could tell he needed it. I do know how to do it myself but he loses his mind if he has to have it done since it ruptured. I don't really blame him but I can't express them by myself and my husband wimps out soooo, we go to the vet. And use a muzzle. He might be tiny but he has no problem letting you know he doesn't like his booty messed with!


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

you can try giving him plain canned pumpkin couple times a week, it helps to firm up runny poo.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

One of my dogs has to have her anal glands expressed regularly - it's the first dog I've ever had with this problem. The vet says it's her anatomy. I don't think the raw food diet has helped any - she just has the problem for whatever reason. 

she is permanently constipated - you would think she wouldn't have anal gland problems.


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## amandanicole (May 31, 2011)

Over on the cavalier forum I'm on it seems as though cavs tend to have more issues with the anal glands than the majority of other dogs. =/
So there's no way to check that they're functioning properly without expressing them? If that is something that ends up needing to be done frequently I will definitely be learning how to do so myself. Unosmom, he hasn't had a problem with runny poo since we've started raw, it was something we struggled with on commercial food; both kibble and premade raw. In the past I've used canned pumpkin with success in our two other dogs, but it never did seem to make a difference for Franklin. Other than raw (he stomach gets upset from cooked meat even) meat, bone and organs (as long as I don't give too much liver at once ) he really doesn't tolerate much else.


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