Any vets/nurses around please? (gross warning)

[MaryOnACrossss]

My dog had an appointment this morning as he anal gland was swollen.

Turns out she had an impaction with infection, it was lanced and she is on antibiotics now.

My vets is closed now but her back end is very mucky. Alot of blood, puss and gland secretions.

They didn't do anything to the lanced area, she keeps sitting on the floor, couch etc and I'm worried about her getting a secondary infection from the lancing site?!

Should I try and clean the area? It's getting all dried in now.

Not a vet

I am sure responses will be 'do wash' and 'let well alone'.

My advice - observe her behaviour: bright eyed, eating drinking etc don't do anything. Can she clean herself? Don't do anything. A lancing would be a v small wound, likely already healed. Don't worry too much about her own bacteria re-infecting - unless her immune system is compromised she will be resistant to it.

She can't reach the area, no.

It's not so much the lancing site itself but the surrounding area. ALOT of stiff came out and it is all over her tail, thighs, general bottom area. Dried blood and such.

She seems happy enough. She seemed fine prior to the appointment too, no sign of her being off apart from the physical lump itself.

She's just eaten her tea, had her medication. She seems fine in herself.

Yes, clean it gently with warm water and cotton wool. She's most unlikely to get a secondary infection; the most bacteria-laden thing in your house is your dog's bum for sure!

Oh, my dd had the same recently. I hâte to scare you but the infection was the suspected cause of a secondary infection in her spine (did it travel up? Did it get into her blood to be deposited there? They are not sure…) that rendered her practically paralyzed from the lumbar area down. Couldn’t use her back legs at all. Happily now much better after three months of strong ABs but remains stiff in the back legs and is not expected to get back to completely normal.

My takeaway is to react very fast with anything I don’t totally understand even if dd seems otherwise happy. I also learnt how to express her anal glands.

Oh no I'm so sorry.

I only saw the lump yesterday and her appointment was today. She seems absolutely fine.

How long was it between the lancing and her getting really poorly?

Can you tell me what to look out for etc?

She's my absolute baby

Not to worry about my dd, she's a very happy lady in her dotage, content with mooching around the block twice a day! She still enjoys her life one hundred percent - her definition of fun has just changed from mad frolics to cuddles on the sofa.

I left it too long to consult when she seemed to be spending too long licking herself. Looking back it was like the frog in hot water, cos it creeps up and you begin to think it's normal. I rushed her straight to the vet when one morning she was unable to use her back legs properly. She was not yet paralysed but she had no proprioception and no strength so she was walking on her knuckles and swaying a bit - she had her first x-rays then. They tentatively diagnosed a slipped disc but the next morning she was much worse and bleeding from the anus. I then drove her straight to the animal hospital where she was MRI scanned with contrast fluid and they found that although she did have a slightly damaged disk, the actual cause of her paralysis was an infection right inside the spinal cord. So then the antibiotics began!

Best of luck Mary, I totally get you with how dotty you are about your dd. It's completely normal!