Dog with anal gland problems

[ohshititscollapsed]

My 15 month old dog has had her anal glands drained by the vet twice in the past 6-8 weeks.

We have taken her off all wet food (previously Forthglade) and is now fed Pooch & Mutt Health and Digestion kibble with added
Pro-Fibre as recommended by the vet. She gets one scoop added to her food per day and does eat it. I add veg to her meals too - usually raw courgette, peppers, cauliflower or similar.

Treats are Soopa dry coconut as this is very high fibre and she loves it.

Her stools are bulky/firm and I thought we had made good progress but she is back to scooting again. She's never really had an issue with her stools but they are definitely more bulky now.

I know some dogs are just prone to gland problems (thankfully she doesn't smell with it!) but just wondering if there is anything else I can try??

Our vet recommended a dried Weetabix sprinkled over the food (for fibre), as well as the veg you are already doing (peas being our dogs favourite). Still have to visit the vet, just not as frequently as before.

My dog had problems with his glands when he was younger, and his were so smelly!! We were recommended to try weetabix like another poster but the only thing that really helped was switching his food to a cold pressed food. We initially switched him to Gentle but he's now on Markus Muhle which we get from zooplus. It's cheaper than Gentle. Since switching about 3 years ago (maybe more) we've not had to go to the vets once.

Our god has bran flakes. Definitely improved things!!!

Should say dog...

Have you tried increasing her exercise to see if that helps stimulate her bowels? If she opens her bowels on walks, I would try increasing the length/amount of times that I take her for a walk, and let her sniff as much as she wants, to see if that helps. I wouldn’t use toy play (e.g., fetch) to try and stimulate them because dogs are sometimes so focused on the toy they hold it in/forget to go.

Happenchance we currently walk her for 45mins in the morning, 1.5hrs at lunchtime and 45mins at night. She is a very playful and well exercised dog with high energy (cockapoo).

She weighs 13.5kg and we can feel ribs with a thin layer of fat. Vet says weight is spot on.

The Pro-Fibre (psyllium husk) is definitely working and she opens her bowels 3/4 times daily on walks.

Think she might just be prone to full glands...

Raw carrots to gnaw on are good for this.
Do you empty the glands yourself? It isn’t difficult once you know the technique & saves visits to the vet.

Oddly my WCS tends to have anal gland problems if he has been getting too little or too much exercise than normal. No idea why but if I have to change his exercise requirements then he tends to start scooting.

My cockapoo is the same, seems to need her glands doing regularly. I feed her all bran with her kibble, treat with carrots, give her left over veg, as suggested by the vet but it still happens.

I haven’t noticed an association with more/less exercise but mine needs them doing irregularly, sometimes 3 months, sometimes sooner.

The YouTube videos are a bit scary but actually, learning how to express the glands isn’t difficult so that’s what I do. Start when your dog has just been groomed and the area is easy to see. And keep your mouth closed.

My dog suffered for essentially the first year of his life. It resulted in a lengthy course of antibiotics and an anal gland flush. The only thing that worked for us was changing him to raw. It's been 8 months and no issues since...

@Theoscargoesto keep your mouth closed. Top tip right there!
Our dog suffers. She came to us with an anal gland infection (rescue) but a flush and a course of antibiotics sorted that. Every now and then we hear crys of "the dog has had a bum leak!" and I grab my latex gloves and wipes. And close my mouth.
She has allergies although to what we are still figuring out. Chicken, eggs, tripe and no doubt other things too. When this is under control her anal glands seem to be good too.