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Sorry. No advice but bumping for you in the hope someone can help you!

We take our beagle (6 years old) every 4-6 weeks and have done since he was a puppy. You can learn to do it yourself and it's apparently easy, but I'd rathe pay someone to do it.

I should add. We were advised to put a bit of Metamucil in his food, and to try him on grain free biscuits. But neither of those made a difference.

My dog is in for a dental tmrw and the vet asked me if we wanted them to do ana glands, she said once they start doing them they are more likely to need to do them again, so we agreed not to include it. He's 12.5 and no problems so she said don't start on them. Apart from that, I don't know anything, sorry...

Thanks for the replies. superbeagle what makes you know your dog needs them to be evacuated? Does he have any particular behaviour or symptoms?

It sounds expensive to need this!

Raw carrots help. A groomer may be able to do them for you. Typically if not licking or scooting bum on floor we leave our spaniel's alone.

She doesn't like carrots! I'm not sure if she needs them to be drained. Is this squirting because they are too full and she can't sort them out herself, or just a thing that some dogs do?

It's worth tinkering with diet and supplements before getting into a routine of having them evacuated. It might not work but sometimes it does and it's preferable to avoid doing them manually if you can.

DDog2 has anal glands which are prone to leakage and we've sorted it by putting her on Protexin Pro-Fibre. She gets one scoop with her breakfast, a 500g pot lasts about six weeks and she's not leaked once since she's been on it.

Not sure about the actual squirting,would possibly indicate they need draining. But then I would think she would be licking and they would be annoying for her if that was the case?!
Try adding some fibre to her diet if carrots are a no go! You can also buy natural tonic which my brother gets from an online store called "Fenland Forager" (Darren Gallagher is the chap),he says that's helped and his cocker hasn't had them manually drained since she started on it.

Adding fibre may help. Some dogs are more prone. The vet can show you how to manually empty them internally. Groomers do it externally. The glands can be damaged so be gentle and if you're not sure, get the groomer/vet to do it.

Most dogs empty their glands naturally when pooing, having to do it for my dog has been an education.

Search for this on You Tube and watch. Save yourself some money at the vet or dog groomer and do it yourself for your dog when you give them a wash in the bath or shower. It'll keep your dog healthy. The smell is normal and my last three dogs excretions have all been slightly different, even if they are the same breed. (setters)

Thanks for the replies. superbeagle what makes you know your dog needs them to be evacuated? Does he have any particular behaviour or symptoms?

Just the liquid coming out every now and then. He never scoots or anything, but we notice he seems to be bothered by his butt (trying to scratch it), and that's when we take him in.

We've discussed with the vet the possibility of having the glands removed, but he's very apprehensive to do that if there's no infection, because removal can cause incontinence.

He's our only dog who's ever had this issue, and as far as we're aware, it's just a problem that can occur randomly in dogs. We've tried everything with his diet to no avail, so we've just accepted that this is our reality.

Definitely try to add fibre to his diet first and see how you get on with that! Our dog loves pumpkin, so we boil that and then mix it in with his food. It's also good for keeping his weight down (as a beagle, he's prone to catching a case of the lard!)

We had a terrier whose anal glands never emptied properly on their own and nothing we did diet wise etc.. helped. I used to do them for him every month. It is easy once you get the hang of it. I made this video, which should help. An op should be the very last resort. It can have complications.

As you can see, a popular topic.... over a million views

youtu.be/310fqYnN5Nk