luv mini schnauzers Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Hi all, just wondering has anyones loved one (Doggy that is) had their anal glands removed? Has anyone had problems or is everthing ok. Has been suggested to us as option or ekeep expressing weekly concerned Cheers Doris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Hi all, just wondering has anyones loved one (Doggy that is) had their anal glands removed? Has anyone had problems or is everthing ok.Has been suggested to us as option or ekeep expressing weekly concerned Cheers Doris Min I know two dogs that have had it done. One is a Cocker Spaniel and the other is a large Border Collie. The ops went well but recovery was painful for the dogs. They were done after having continual problems with impaction and abcesses. Neither dog suffers from faecal incontinence which is a risk with the procedure. Both are fine now. Has the vet discussed any dietary changes with you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 From what I remember, anal gland removal is a last resort, not just to save people the trouble of expressing them :rolleyes: It is a messy op, and recovery is, as said, quite painful and uncomfortable, with risks of infection. So we can answer with a bit more accuracy, ... What else has been tried? What breed is your dog? Is it an older dog? Does it have digestive problems ?What does it eat? All these things do have an effect on how the anal glands 'work'..whether they can be emptied as nature intended, or need helping along Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laffi Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 From what I remember, anal gland removal is a last resort, not just to save people the trouble of expressing them :rolleyes: It is a messy op, and recovery is, as said, quite painful and uncomfortable, with risks of infection.So we can answer with a bit more accuracy, ... What else has been tried? What breed is your dog? Is it an older dog? Does it have digestive problems ?What does it eat? All these things do have an effect on how the anal glands 'work'..whether they can be emptied as nature intended, or need helping along Persephone, could you please suggest the diet for a dog with anal glands problems? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 (edited) Laffi, my vet recommends the dog's fibre intake be increased. Pumpkin was recommended or psyllium husks. Anal glands need to be "massaged" from the inside by fibrous food passing through the bowel. In the wild this would be fur or feather, but few dogs consume that these days. I've opted for the expression route with my girl - and lots of pumpkin. Edited August 16, 2007 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle wrangler Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 My vet also suggested Metamusil (Psyllium) for my mini poodle, but problem was only short term and I no longer use it. I check and express them at bath time, about monthly (just in case). My MIL 's dog had it done due to repeated infections and dog is OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Diets need to be for individual dogs, I think..depending on WHY the glands are not emptying. Usually it is because the matter passed is of a narrow diameter, and softish..so it doesn't "push" on the glands to squeeze them from inside. So, as said..increased fibre may help. BUT it depends on the dog and diet. I would be interested to hear if dogs eating lots of meaty bones etc have many problems? Ours never do..they get lots of meat/bone meals, with some dry... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laffi Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 (edited) Laffi, my vet recommends the dog's fibre intake be increased. Pumpkin was recommended or psyllium husks. Anal glands need to be "massaged" from the inside by fibrous food passing through the bowel. In the wild this would be fur or feather, but few dogs consume that these days.I've opted for the expression route with my girl - and lots of pumpkin. How much pumpkin do you give her per day (and how big is she btw)? I assume it's cooked pumpkin, is that right? Do you also give her psyllium husks in addition to the pumpkin? Thank you so much! ETA: the dog with this problem gets a lot of chicken necks and such. So meaty bones don't seem to solve the problem. It seems to be because "the matter passes is of a narrow diameter". It's very narrow indeed. Edited August 16, 2007 by laffi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Laffi, my vet recommends the dog's fibre intake be increased. Pumpkin was recommended or psyllium husks. Anal glands need to be "massaged" from the inside by fibrous food passing through the bowel. In the wild this would be fur or feather, but few dogs consume that these days.I've opted for the expression route with my girl - and lots of pumpkin. How much pumpkin do you give her per day (and how big is she btw)? I assume it's cooked pumpkin, is that right? Do you also give her psyllium husks in addition to the pumpkin? Thank you so much! She's a toy poodle Laffi. She only gets pumpkin every third day and it forms about 25% of her meal. It's pumpkin pulp (after going through the juicer) that I feed but boiled or baked is fine too. She loves baked pumpkin - all my dogs do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv mini schnauzers Posted August 16, 2007 Author Share Posted August 16, 2007 hi/ my girl is a mini schnauzer and have tried it all,pumpkin,wheat bran.bones chicken wings.dry food. brown rice.turkey you name it Ive tried it :rolleyes: .I express weekly ot twice a week. She gets very upset when she has a spill and takes a while to calm down.She is two yrs old and has leaked from a pup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 ah..if they are leaking, then the surgery may be the better long-term option :rolleyes:.it must feel uncomfortable for her ... best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowanbree Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Are they actually impacted or are they just leaking as these are 2 different issues. My girl Kayla had the leaking issue, normally when she was jumping on the couch or barking and it was horrible to live with. They were not infected or impacted as the stuff coming out was quite liquid. Anyhow I went to a new vet and he said he has had great success with injecting antibiotic liquid through the holes in the glands themselves. He said no real idea why it works but it does and it did. No more issues and that was years ago. It had been an ongoing issue for over a year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rappie Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 (edited) Anal sac removal is something that needs to be considered very carefully and must be something that is done only for the welfare of the dog, not for aesthetic reasons. There is a risk of faecal incontinence associated with the surgery, as well as the potential for infection, pain (lots of) and discomfort during recovery. Although every case is different, I would generally only recommend it if a dog was having regular, or chronic problems with impacting and / or abscessing anal sacs despite interventions and treatment. As someone else mentioned, one thing to try to work out is why the sacs are getting so full. The problem with highly digestible diets is sometimes the small faeces they produce - they don't have enough bulk to actually put pressure on the sacs on the way out. These cases are often helped by adding fibre (in the form of psyllium / Metamucil, pumpkin etc) to increase bulk. Some dogs have the opposite problem - soft faeces aren't solid enough to compress the sacs, so "digestible bones" like chicken necks etc can help to create firmer stools. Sometimes it's an anatomical problem with small ducts, or very mobile sacs that manage to escape any poo. Edited August 17, 2007 by Rappie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 I have had a dog who had to have one anal gland removed because it abscessed. The recovery time was long and the dog was in a degree of pain, I wouldn't have it done except as a last resort if the dog was suffering constant discomfort and all other options to alleviate the condition had failed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laffi Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 How to administer Metamucil to a 10kg dog? How much and how often? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbi Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 I agree with Miranda, I would not have this proceedure done except as a really last resort. In the instance where we took the vets advice it was on an older dog, and the dog never recovered, the pain for the dog was so excessive, and it was the most horrid and painful proceedure I have seen any animal attempt to endure. We had a very young bitch with constant anal gland problems, and the problem sourced not from the anal glands but from an infection that she had in her spinal column that had no way of escaping except through the anal glands. A HUGE and prolonged course of antibiotics resolved the problem for her. I would be wanting to ensure that this is simply an anal gland problem, especially on such a young dog. Only my comments, I wish you well for your dog, and feel much for both of you, but please, dont take this decision lightly. Best wishes, Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerJack Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 I have a small male chihuahua who has had his anal glands removed. He was getting chronic abscesses and was very ill with infections constantly. He would be on antibiotics for a month at a time, clear up the abscesses (which broke through the surface skin all the time) clear up the abscess and finish the antibiotics, but a week later I'd come home to disccover they'd broken out again. For a 3.5 kilo dog to be so ill that he got down to about 2.8 kilos was getting worrisome. he lost appetite, was miserable and it was a constant cycle. After he had been on constant antibiotics for about 8 months and getting abscesses for over a year it became apparent that this wasn't going to change and his quality of life was crap. I opted for the surgery and was told of the risk of faecal incontinence. He came through the surgery well, and has recovered fully with no after effects at all. I do think the recovery was painful but not long, a couple of weeks. He was less bothered by the pain of recovering from surgery than he had been by the constant abscesses. He is just fine now and I have no regrets about doing this surgery. Very expensive though. Surgery on that little bottom cost me about $600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devilchick Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 Hi guys, just going through some old threads to get advice. I have 2 Beagles whom both have anal glad problems. When I say problems I don't mean anything serious, they don't get absesses and they don't get infected (touch wood) but they do get full. We go to the vets every 3-4 months to get them expressed, and this doesn't bother me at all, just figured it was part and parcel of caring for my dogs. BUT! yesterday the vet raised the removal option with me. After reading the before posts I am 100% sure I am not going to get them removed.... But if anyone can help me with suggestions of limiting the regularity of manually expressing that would be great! They already have a good diet, i think anyway. They get bran, bonnie dry food and either an apple/banana/yogurt (depending on what is in the house) for brekkie. Dinner is either chicken necks or osso bocco. They also have a Greenie each night at bedtime to help with dental care. I am going to give the pumkin a go but if anyone has any other suggestions that would be great. I have also tried adding psyllium husk to their food but it didn't make any difference. Neither of the boys scoot, but when the time comes and they are full it just seems to leak out when they are relaxed and sleeping, which is usually on the couch or sometimes on our bed. Our vet doesn't understand why they aren't expressing them themselves. The liquid is always running, never a paste so it isn't a fact that the liquid is so thick that it cloggs up the opening. help please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I love dribbly dogs Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Forgive a slight hi-jack please How exactly do you 'empty' the anal sacks if they look a little big and your pup wants to scoot but can't because she's a Basset and is built funny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toohey Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Always do it either outside, or in the bath. Use a glove. If you have a feel with your thumb and index finger... either side and just below the anus, you will feel the glands... they feel like large peas if they are full. Hold the dog's tail with your other hand to steady the dog. Press upwards and inwards, gently but firmly, and the glands should squirt icky brown fluid: can be copious, so watch out. Might take a few goes to ge the hang of it, but if saves the dog having surgery and having the vet do it for you, it's worth it to learn to do it yourself. If you are not sure, ask the vet to teach you how. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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