Advice On What Premium Dry Food To Feed A Dog With Inflamed Anal Sacs

[Nekhbet]

it was designed with that idea in mind too - indigestible fibre that would help with keeping anal glands and digestion healthy.

[Squinter]

Sorry to the OP, this is going a little off track.

How do you say VAN is not a premium dog food? It is totally preservative, colour and additive free. It is a complete diet.

Because it is not a complete and balanced diet. It is a mix. You can't label a food that is not complete and balanced as a premium food. It is preservative and colour free etc, but it's still not a complete and balanced premium food. I don't think there's anything wrong with it and I have seen quite a lot of it sold so I am sure there are a lot of people who love it. It has a good reputation.

[Huntia]

Thanks to everyone for their advice.

At present (because I have just opened a new bag) I will continue with the advance adult formula, but I am adding alot more extra fibre to it in the form of cooked brown rice, oat bran and tonight he got baked pumpkin added to the mix as well as some left over steamed carrots.

Since changing his diet and finishing the course of antibiotics 1 and a half weeks ago I have noticed that at least one of the anal sacs seems to be releasing by itself. (I can see it around the anus).

I guess only time will tell if the diet change will help fix this problem. In the meantime I will further investigate changing the brand of food fed. (it is for convenience that Advance is fed living in/near a small town the local vet sells Advance, and the only other dry food available is from the supermarket or the produce store) (if anyone can recommendend one of the supermarket or produce store brands I would investigate those as well).

I will also look into taking him to a chiropractor.

My husband had a question though " if I take him once to a chiro, does he need to go for the rest of his life?" (typical question from my OH!!)

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to help me and my poor boy out :D

Edited October 12, 2011 by Huntia

[Nekhbet]

dogs go as often as they need to. If it's a severe problem then he will need to go back a couple of times but apart from that I only take mine when they show signs of uneven gait or soreness.

[OSoSwift]

Anything that increases pressure on the anal glands will assist in emptying.

You could also ask you vet to show you how to emmpty them yourself, if it is still a problem and you don't want to go ahead with the surgery.

Thanks Aussielover, I have thought of that too, and intend to ask next time we go in. I ducked in to return something at the vets at the end of last week and one of the other vets cornered me and suggested that we sedate him and inject the antibiotics straight into the anal sacs, as a treatment option.

I am really hoping that I can achieve some relief for him through the dietary angle. :D

I had a dog with the same issue.

We went down the path of emptying the anal glands and instilling Baytril(The only drug the bug was sensitive too after culture etc) directly into the glands as well as him recieving it orally. We did the empty and instill daily for around 6 days from memory and I think the antibiotics was for 6 weeks (we had tried 2 week treatments previously). Fixed it never to return :)Thank goodness!!!!

[Huntia]

Anything that increases pressure on the anal glands will assist in emptying.

You could also ask you vet to show you how to emmpty them yourself, if it is still a problem and you don't want to go ahead with the surgery.

Thanks Aussielover, I have thought of that too, and intend to ask next time we go in. I ducked in to return something at the vets at the end of last week and one of the other vets cornered me and suggested that we sedate him and inject the antibiotics straight into the anal sacs, as a treatment option.

I am really hoping that I can achieve some relief for him through the dietary angle. :D

I had a dog with the same issue.

We went down the path of emptying the anal glands and instilling Baytril(The only drug the bug was sensitive too after culture etc) directly into the glands as well as him recieving it orally. We did the empty and instill daily for around 6 days from memory and I think the antibiotics was for 6 weeks (we had tried 2 week treatments previously). Fixed it never to return :)Thank goodness!!!!

Glad to hear that you were able to get rid of the problem Ososwift. I will definitely keep this in mind when I next take him in to get checked.

[Pugmum]

Hi,

In case you are still after a quantity for the pysillium husk, I was told by the specialist my dog was seeing that she could have up to 1 tablespoon with her meal - she was 10 kg.

We also use it to control anal problems with my daughters Chi and we sprinkle about half a teaspoon on her food - she is 3 kg. Hers is less per kg of dog as she is a couch potato and therfore eats less

[Huntia]

Hi,

In case you are still after a quantity for the pysillium husk, I was told by the specialist my dog was seeing that she could have up to 1 tablespoon with her meal - she was 10 kg.

We also use it to control anal problems with my daughters Chi and we sprinkle about half a teaspoon on her food - she is 3 kg. Hers is less per kg of dog as she is a couch potato and therfore eats less

Thank you :D

[Lab_Rat]

Anything that increases pressure on the anal glands will assist in emptying.

You could also ask you vet to show you how to emmpty them yourself, if it is still a problem and you don't want to go ahead with the surgery.

Thanks Aussielover, I have thought of that too, and intend to ask next time we go in. I ducked in to return something at the vets at the end of last week and one of the other vets cornered me and suggested that we sedate him and inject the antibiotics straight into the anal sacs, as a treatment option.

I am really hoping that I can achieve some relief for him through the dietary angle. :D

I had a dog with the same issue.

We went down the path of emptying the anal glands and instilling Baytril(The only drug the bug was sensitive too after culture etc) directly into the glands as well as him recieving it orally. We did the empty and instill daily for around 6 days from memory and I think the antibiotics was for 6 weeks (we had tried 2 week treatments previously). Fixed it never to return :)Thank goodness!!!!

Hey Huntia - I have a ridgy with AG problems too :D One of hers doesnt empty so every three months or so I notice that it starts leaking at different times - play time, over excitement, total relaxation!! The last time I took her in to have them emptied the vet decided to try something. She put an anti-inflammatory directly into the anal gland, much like what Oso had done to her dog. Fingers crossed, so far, so good!!! its been a couple of months since she had it done and im hoping its worked Our vet reckons that sometime they just dont empty, doesnt matter what you feed the dog!! Which in our case would seem to be right, as one empties fine - the other NOT!!! Good luck with your pupster :D

[Huntia]

Anything that increases pressure on the anal glands will assist in emptying.

You could also ask you vet to show you how to emmpty them yourself, if it is still a problem and you don't want to go ahead with the surgery.

Thanks Aussielover, I have thought of that too, and intend to ask next time we go in. I ducked in to return something at the vets at the end of last week and one of the other vets cornered me and suggested that we sedate him and inject the antibiotics straight into the anal sacs, as a treatment option.

I am really hoping that I can achieve some relief for him through the dietary angle. :D

I had a dog with the same issue.

We went down the path of emptying the anal glands and instilling Baytril(The only drug the bug was sensitive too after culture etc) directly into the glands as well as him recieving it orally. We did the empty and instill daily for around 6 days from memory and I think the antibiotics was for 6 weeks (we had tried 2 week treatments previously). Fixed it never to return :)Thank goodness!!!!

Hey Huntia - I have a ridgy with AG problems too :D One of hers doesnt empty so every three months or so I notice that it starts leaking at different times - play time, over excitement, total relaxation!! The last time I took her in to have them emptied the vet decided to try something. She put an anti-inflammatory directly into the anal gland, much like what Oso had done to her dog. Fingers crossed, so far, so good!!! its been a couple of months since she had it done and im hoping its worked Our vet reckons that sometime they just dont empty, doesnt matter what you feed the dog!! Which in our case would seem to be right, as one empties fine - the other NOT!!! Good luck with your pupster :D

Thanks Lab Rat.

I was having a "feel" in that area today and I think we will be back to the vets soon

So I will definitely talk to the vet about that option before surgery .

[poocow]

Anything that increases pressure on the anal glands will assist in emptying.

You could also ask you vet to show you how to emmpty them yourself, if it is still a problem and you don't want to go ahead with the surgery.

Thanks Aussielover, I have thought of that too, and intend to ask next time we go in. I ducked in to return something at the vets at the end of last week and one of the other vets cornered me and suggested that we sedate him and inject the antibiotics straight into the anal sacs, as a treatment option.

I am really hoping that I can achieve some relief for him through the dietary angle. :D

I had a dog with the same issue.

We went down the path of emptying the anal glands and instilling Baytril(The only drug the bug was sensitive too after culture etc) directly into the glands as well as him recieving it orally. We did the empty and instill daily for around 6 days from memory and I think the antibiotics was for 6 weeks (we had tried 2 week treatments previously). Fixed it never to return :)Thank goodness!!!!

I had this issue with one of mine too - what my vets did was put them under, empty out the sacs, clean out thoroughly and filled the gland with panalog.

Also a take home course of antibiotics

Never had another problem!

[Akay]

The Vets All Natural Complete Mix includes ingredients that are not digested by the dog and therefore come out whole, the mix has been designed that way so those non-digested ingredients help with the anal glands. I've been feeding this for years and my dog's have never had an anal gland problem (4 dogs).

eta: I just read back and see that Nekhbet also recommended this. The mix doesn't have a ton of undigestable fibre as someone said, it has a couple of key ingredients that aren't digested and it is designed that way.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Akay

[Huntia]

Feeling a little bit depressed/sad about this issue at the moment, after a vet visit this morning.

On the plus side the diet change with extra fibre does seem to have helped his anal glands in that they weren't as imflamed, but apparrently the vet thinks that there is "fibrous scar tissue there as they don't feel normal"

The negative there is still blood in the discharge which apparently indicates there is still an infection in them.

Currently the reccomendation from the vet i saw today is for removal, as they would have to knock him out anyway to inject the sacs with antibiotics, so why not just take them out while we are at it.

I am not keen on this approach....cutting seems so drastic and are the risks worth it???

But will I end up with a huge double bill if we knock him out inject the sacs....doesn't work and than have to remove them any way????

Sorry I am rambling but I am "thinking aloud" at the moment as my OH is sick of hearing me talk about it. So I thought I would see what you guys thought about my issue.

At this stage does anyone think it would be worth while seeking a second opinion?

[OSoSwift]

My dog was sedated not GA'd and he was fine with having the stuff injected in, as in a very fine catheter placed into the anal gland and stuff squeezed in.

Surgery is a huge step up from that, not to mention they need to know what they are doing to avoid potential incontinence. I would be seeking a second opinion.

[Elise+Hudson]

The surgery to removal anal glands is a big procedure and does have risks, so definitely at least try other options before going to this.

Poor bub! I remember when I first met him Huntia, unfortunately not under the best of circumstances! :D

Usually anal glands can be brought under control with antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and regular expressing until the swelling/inflammation calms down. Then diet and possibly regular expressing can keep things under control. (expressing them when they are non-painful is usually not a big deal at all for most dogs, I have many I do on a weekly to monthly basis).

I hope you can get things sorted soon!