High Fibre Diet For An English Cocker Spaniel

[Stitch]

Just a suggestion - feed 1/3rd to 1/2 LESS food than you normally do each day for 2 weeks.

During this period give NO SNACKS, NO TREATS - then see if she will eat the food with pumpkin, psyllium or whatever added.

Then gradually increase the amount you feed, if she rejects food then feed less next time until you find the right level.

This tends to convert princesses to well adjusted doggy citizens!!

Surgical removal of the anal glands may seem like the easy option BUT it really should be thought of as the last resort.

There are 3 alternatives to this - #1 you keep expressing the anal glands yourself, #2 you get the dog to eat a diet that will express the anal glands without you having to do so, #3 you feed the diet and also express the anal glands.

I know which one I would choose!

Edited August 26, 2010 by STITCH

[claireybell]

Thanks guys!

We're off to the vet tomorrow so that I can be shown how to express, yuk!

Tonight she will be given her normal dinner. If she doesn't eat it all (its never a huge bowl anyway) then she will receive less tomorrow.

I'm also off to Robbo's Pet Barn after work to buy a kilo bag of the Vet's All Natural, at only $12.50 a bag I'm willing to give it a go!

Wish me luck!!!!!!!

[spottychick]

Good luck clairey! When I feed the VAN stuff I usually put about a third of a cup (depending on how many dogs and how big etc) in a cup, top with water to just over two thirds of the cup and let that ferment and soak for 24 hours. They get it mixed with raw meat the next night and I just make up another third cup with water when I feed them to soak over the next 24 hours for tomorrow nights dinner.

Hope that helps

[fbaudry]

and while you're at PetBarn, you can grab some frozen bones: roo tail, sheep neck, lamb flaps....

Archie gets one a day and produces small super firm tools (almost crumbly), and he has to strain to eliminate!

[jazawayaya]

I had to laugh at the 'coppery' smell!

banjos smell more like a whole lake full of dead decaying fish lol

[sezling]

My dog recently had that coppery smell which I detested more than the fishy smell he had in the past. He was also licking at his bottom and stools were loose. I reintroduced kibble into his fresh food diet and the issue's resolved!! he was allergic (reactively itchy) to something in the VAN complete mix so a near full bag is still sitting in our cupboard D: i'd be happy to give it away to someone~

[poocow]

Learning to express is easy, at her worst I was doing Moo twice a day.

A change in diet didn't help her, what I opted for was to put her under and have her glands emptied and examined and filled with panalog. She was also put on a course of ABs. Since that day her anal glands have been fine and I've not had a wiff of them!

Removal IMO is the last option if you find it's an ongoing problem with infections.

Does she have unclean ears? Yeasty? It often goes hand on hand with anal gland issues.

[CrazyCresties]

Just keep offering her bones and raw foods until she eats. Sounds like the princess idea is still sticking in your mind. If she's not hungry then she's not hungry, no food or snacks until she eats whats offered to her. Fibre is fine but raw diet boney poos are the best at anal gland expressing

My Daisy is on a raw diet and produces 'lovely' firm boney poos but she just can't empty her anal glands herself, so unfortunately bones doesn't work all the time. The vet showed me how to do Daisy's and it's pretty simple really - I have to do hers about every 6-8 weeks.

Louis occasionally gets the fishy smell, but only for a day, so I assume he then empties them himself