# Dogs anal glands.....?



## 02SVT (Jan 15, 2011)

Heres the scene: Both my dogs will be laying on the couch...all of a sudden one will act a little jumpy....followed by a foul smell (rotting fish?).....follwed by the other one instantly licking the others anus.

After a little research, it appears their anal glands are seeping out a bit. I watched a video on how to do it, doesn't look too complicated. When this started, it seemed like it was happening once a week. Now we are up to at least once a day. Does anyone do this on a to thier dogs on a regular basis? If so, how much does it help?

Also I'v been reading about adding fiber to your dogs diet to firm things up a bit. Is soft stool the leading contributing factor to this problem?


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

I used to have them expressed at the vet. It wasn't enough and about a year ago my dog had one rupture . It was horrible. I do think soft stools are a major contributor because then they aren't being expressed naturally. When I switched Sophie to a raw diet it firmed up her stools and she no longer has anal gland problems *knock on wood*. But sometimes dogs just have anal gland problems for seemingly no reason and certain breeds (usually small dogs) are more prone to problems.

If it's really happening once a day, I would get them expressed asap. I wouldn't want you to have to deal with what I had to.


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## nortknee (May 5, 2011)

swolek said:


> I used to have them expressed at the vet. It wasn't enough and about a year ago my dog had one rupture . It was horrible. I do think soft stools are a major contributor because then they aren't being expressed naturally. When I switched Sophie to a raw diet it firmed up her stools and she no longer has anal gland problems *knock on wood*. But sometimes dogs just have anal gland problems for seemingly no reason and certain breeds (usually small dogs) are more prone to problems.
> 
> If it's really happening once a day, I would get them expressed asap. I wouldn't want you to have to deal with what I had to.


I hate to be crass, but...what exactly happened? :\


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## mischiefgrrl (Oct 28, 2010)

They say soft stools are a contributing factor. My Aussie actually needs his expressed sometimes and he works pretty good to get his poop out on the raw diet. I had a groomer show me how to do it so now both dogs get an extra squeeze in the bum when they get their baths.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

something we learned, too...is the more they are manually expressed, the more they express on their own...

for whatever reason, malia was scooting the floor and we thought she had worms...this was years ago...so we took her to the vet and she didn't have worm....vet expressed her anal glands....and got hit in the eye with all that stuff coming out.

so we had our groomer do it every time they were groomed...

i think it was on this forum and forgive me for not remembering who said it...might have been jayjayisme....
..but once our dogs went on raw...their stools changed....so bubba, who skunks every time he gets scared....doesn't do it nearly as often, since
1. we stopped having it done for him
2. we feed him a little more bone than usual to keep his stools firm.


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

When her gland ruptured she was bleeding and in a ton of pain, I felt so bad (and the smell was not pleasant either). I had to clean the wound multiple times a day and the stuff I was given for that stung her. She's normally a totally obedient and sweet dog but started to actually run away from me because I was hurting her . My mom had to hold her while I sprayed the stuff and cleaned her. I had to do this for two weeks and there was also a lot of clean-up involved because of leaking.


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Yep, my poor little boy Puck has had anal gland issues since he was around 4 years old. We have him expressed at the vet when it's serious, by serious I mean he'll be freaking out about his butt for a couple of days and then we decide we have to help him out. The raw diet has really helped me control the problem, instead of going in every other week he goes in maybe once every two months or so. He just needs a fair amount of bone to keep his stools hard so he can express his anal glands himself. Unfortunately, I've heard that the more you have to manually express the glands the less capable the dog is of doing it on their own.

My other dogs express when they are scared but we never have to take them to the vet to have them expressed.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Keep in mind that if you keep expressing them regularly it will only get worse, not to be too graphic, but basically the muscles around the anus become accustomed to manual expression and stop doing it on their own. 
The best thing to do is find a food that will give your dog firm stool. I've been having this issue with my parents dachshund, his glands became infected because the food he was on (totw) made his stool very soft, right now he's doing better on NV instinct, but I still had to express them last night, last time I did it was about 5 weeks ago, which is an improvement. Some dogs, especially smal ones are more prone to it. 

You could also try adding some unflavored fiber supplement to the food. 
Also watch this video:
YouTube - Your Pet's Anal Glands


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## nortknee (May 5, 2011)

Wow. I have NEVER heard this as being part of dog ownership, lol.
Guess they don't tell you the nasty parts!

Expressing it out of fear? Is that the equivalent to crapping your pants?

Are some breeds more prone to it than others? Is it painful for them?


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## KC23 (Nov 17, 2010)

My dog, Buddy, has had this problem since I got him 4 yrs. ago. I had NO idea what was wrong with him at first because my first dog of 14 yrs. never had that problem. My vet told me it's often "allergy-related". She told me to give him allergy pills. Not sure that they really helped when I did.

It didn't matter what dry food he was on--he always had the problems. I think ingredients from some foods made it worse. The thing is--he has always had good stools. Now on raw, I find him to have the problem much less, but he still has it. His stools are always very firm and formed. Sometimes when he's going, it looks as though he's struggling to empty the glands. 

It's pretty obvious when he needs them emptied. We can smell him, and I lift his tail up--sure enough, I have to clean up what leaked out, which isn't much. The groomer will take care of this if I take him in, but I learned how to do it myself. It's a gross job, but I do it every now and then. 

And in the past--I've added the fiber, added the pumpkin, etc. If it "helped" at all, I don't know, but it didn't solve the problem for this particular dog.


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## 02SVT (Jan 15, 2011)

I think the food might be suspect as well. When I had them both on Acana...the problem was minimal. Not that it DIDN'T happen, but it was a once, maybe twice a week thing. Their stools were, for the most part, rock solid as well. We are trying then on Fromm Surf n Turf now, and while their stools are still firm, they are not like they were on Acana.

Now, when they do take a dump, there is always a few drops of some type of liquid discharge when they are about finished. Is that to say, some is being pushed out, but not enough? My girlfriend is picking me up some rubber gloves on her way home. I'm going to give this a shot, just to see if it makes it any better.

I'll make sure to throw on some safety glasses.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

Rocky is my only dog that expresses them whenever he is scared or upset. On rare occasions he will do his 'butt slam' on the carpet but stops once he finally does his thing outside. He is soooo picky about where he does his business and what other dogs are around that he tends to hold it too long.

I've never expressed any of my dogs glands. Back when I was working at the vets, they used to express the glands of any dogs that came in. I never saw the reasoning behind that but that was the vets policy.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

I use to have the vet do this with my first Basset because she had problems ever so often. I did it myself with my next two, one had to be done more than the other. I just did it when I saw them start to scoot. Used paper towels, worked good, I just stood over the top of them. My rescue Basset I have done a couple of times, she's not as good at letting me so I had to have my husband help. She seems to be fine now that I have been feeding her PMR.

I think if you can learn to do it yourself it will be allot easier for you.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

02SVT said:


> My girlfriend is picking me up some rubber gloves on her way home. I'm going to give this a shot, just to see if it makes it any better.
> 
> I'll make sure to throw on some safety glasses.


And, keep your mouth shut!!!

(our vet tech was telling me about the time she took a dose of it down the gob! Yuuukkkkk!!)


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## nortknee (May 5, 2011)

MollyWoppy said:


> And, keep your mouth shut!!!
> 
> (our vet tech was telling me about the time she took a dose of it down the gob! Yuuukkkkk!!)


...
.....

uke:


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## Savage Destiny (Mar 16, 2011)

chowder said:


> I've never expressed any of my dogs glands. Back when I was working at the vets, they used to express the glands of any dogs that came in. I never saw the reasoning behind that but that was the vets policy.


We do it on every dog we groom unless the owners ask us not to. You'd be surprised how many people don't know they exist, and we go a fair amount of dogs who really NEEDED their glands done. Plus right before a bath is a good time to do it!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

what i've since read about this, unosmom and cavepaws......is what you're saying about anal glands....

bubba still does it on occasion, but it's when he's scared..and it hasn't been that long since we stopped...

it was one of those things i just didn't think about....but it never occurred to me that malia was scooting because her butt itched...who would have thought LOL

we stopped our groomer from doing it, increased bone by a little, and i'm sure the muscels around the anus will regain their ability to express appropriately....

thanks for the explanations...


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

unless you have smelled what comes out firsthand, you have no idea how nasty MollyWh's story is above. The thought of ingesting this stuff is just too much to handle. My god. Yuck.:twitch::becky:


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

kevin bradley said:


> unless you have smelled what comes out firsthand, you have no idea how nasty MollyWh's story is above. The thought of ingesting this stuff is just too much to handle. My god. Yuck.:twitch::becky:


it certainly has a smell like no other....

love your quote, kevin. hope you're well...


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Yeah Hi Kevin. Missed seeing your little face round here, glad you're back....


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

oh, I've been around, guys. This one got me laughing. I do Itty's(Itty Bitty) anal glands from time to time. I've gotten a keen nose for the smell and it is downright nnnnnaasty. Its hard to even smell. The thought of INGESTING it had me reeling 

Hope you all are well too. Florida and Seattle?... I could think of worse places to be. I bet you're both doing ok  take care.


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## KittyKat (Feb 11, 2011)

My female cat does it..... around me. Only me. She gets excited and BAM... stinky. I didn't know what it was for the longest time... until I actually saw it. 

My male cat does it outside. He just lets it rip....

I've only seen this with cats though. =/


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