Apparently my dog has anal glands?!!

[PacificDogwod]

Well, I knew he had anal glands, I was just hoping he could keep that fact discretely to himself rather than allow them to become all swollen and red and needing to be licked (by him, not me!!

My (female) cat had problems with her anal glands. I told the new vet this, and as she was saying "It's very unlikely for a cat to have anal gland problems" whilst squeezing them, the impacted contents sprayed across the table and hit the wall! The stench was overpowering.

I'd let all treatment take place within the confines of the vet's consulting room :-D

leadpipe

My friends a dog groomer and does the anal gland and nail clipping in with the price. Much cheaper than the vet. Get a good dog groomer.

There's a wiki page on how to express a cats anal glands and no I'm not linking to it!

my cat would rip my hand to shreds if I tried the above!

Groomers are no longer allowed to do it neither are vet nurses. It has been decided that to empty them involves putting a finger up a dogs bum it classes as veterinary surgery. When my dog had hers emptied a lot of vets say it's because their stools aren't hard enough but the vet said she thinks some must be the placement in the body as her dog is on special food and her stool is ultra firm and she still has problems.

Wait for the smell and try to make sure she doesn't touch you afterwards no one will come near you

Our last dog lived to 17, always ate top quality dry food ( and little treats of course) never had the dreaded anal gland issue, so might be a food or a breed issue. He was a lurcher btw.

It has been decided that to empty them involves putting a finger up a dogs bum it classes as veterinary surgery.

Well as I have recently watched YouTube videos on this very subject I can attest to the fact that there is a "milking from the outside" method that doesn't require finger up the bum.

I know that however it doesn't always work. I just know that my vet has to waste appointments to do it when previously a vet nurse could do it in a couple of minutes.

My mums dog needed hers emptied regularly until they were removed at the same time as her spaying so I know the process I'm just saying groomers aren't supposed to do it anymore.

Our spaniels are done at the vet every 6 months. It smells worse than hell.
Changing the diet to grain free helped a lot.
Dog empties his own as well now and it bloody stinks

Thank you I think for sharing your interesting experiences with this kinda thing

The anal glands are supposed to empty when they poo which in turn is supposed to stop them filling right up.

Problems can sometimes be sorted with diet. If your dog doesn't have properly firm poos it can result in the anal glands not emptying properly when they go, causing them to fill up and need emptying manually.

DDog2 has slightly shonky bum conformation meaning that however "good" her poo is it's not quite enough to properly work the glands when she goes. In her case this has been pretty much sorted with a fibre supplement to bulk everything out a bit.

Ah, yes, softish/loosish poos are a bit of a problem, but has been from since when we got him 20 months ago
And actually they are better than they were - he's now fed on Millie Wolfheart and that has clearly helped. And he loves it too - he is not a very enthusiastic eater.

I forgot to say, the vet found him to have an actual peri-anal abscess, arising from his anal glands but beyond 'just' the glands being the problem IYKWIM.
Hence the antibiotics etc.

Ooo that sound very painful Pacific no wonder he cried.

- for Pacifichound

Depressingly familiar. Our girl had a badly impacted anal gland that was fibrous. So bad that the vet initially thought it was cancerous. Had to have that one removed, biopsied etc. The vet took margins due to cancer concern so it was very nasty op for her.
Lo and behold the other side then flared up a matter of months later and abscessed. We were advised to use Burns to firm up her poos, which it did but she still needed that one out. Dark, dark times (not to mention expensive!). Good luck!

Oh, Spare, that sounds horrendous!

I am taking steps to firm up his poos - we shall see...

He has now had 3 days worth of antibiotics and seems a bit less obsessed with licking his tail end. He had a good run yesterday and seemed more his normal self (when he was really sore he was reluctant to go full pelt which is NOT normal for a greyhound ).