Anal gland issues 🥴 Anyone solved?

[hamstersarse]

My little Shih tzu has a problem with his anal glands. Leaking. Abscess.

He’s had 2 lots of antibiotics so far and it’s made no difference and I’m due back at the vets tomorrow.

I’m worried this is going to turn into an endless vets bill scenario as I spoke to the vet on the phone and she was just saying “more antibiotics” then we’ll see 🤷‍♀️

Does anyone have any experience of this?

Oh gosh yes. 2 dogs, both had problems. My vet tells me that it is hard for the antibiotics to affect the anal glands as they have little blood supply, so we have had the glands flushed and packed ( under general anaesthetic). Literally flushed out then filled with some inert gloop ( forget the name). Thereafter I added fibre to the dogs diet.
It was suggested they could be removed but that has risks of faecal incontinence. I was asleep told feeding raw may help, but not possible for my dog.
My vet eventually taught me to empty them myself as necessary. It’s a horrible problem.

Thank you ☺️

I feel like he needs to go under so they can properly clean it out because he can’t let anyone touch it at the moment...it’s too painful 😖

My fears are probably right in terms of endless vets bills by the sounds of it 🤐

My spaniel had an issue with his glands a little while back - leaking the most foul, necrotic-smelling liquid (not just the regular fishy gland smell) - the previous vet was completely incompetent, ignoring my concerns that it might be an infected gland and just kept trying to express the glands over and over again. Got fed up because this vet clearly wasn't getting to the root of the problem so we took him to a different practice.

The change in care was instant. New vet diagnosed the problem instantly - it was an infected gland. He explained to us that oral antibiotics could take up to 2 or 3 weeks to work, and suggested that the glands should instead be flushed out under light sedation and have an antibiotic ointment applied directly to the infected area. He was in the very next day for the procedure and the infection (and smell!) cleared up almost overnight. The surgery was so minor that he was back to normal once the anaesthetic had worn off. So much better than waiting for antibiotics to kick in! The vet explained that gland infections can happen to any dog, regardless of diet, but is a big advocate of raw feeding. My dog usually never has issues with his glands in general (doesn't need them manually expressed) which I put down to his raw diet :D

If your current vet is not satisfactory, don't be afraid to look elsewhere if you feel they're not being proactive enough. You definitely don't want to be feeding him endless antibiotics.

Thank you 😊

I’m going to ask if he can go under to clear this out when I’m there tomorrow. Seems to be the way to go