Labrador licking his bum area

[RipplePlease6]

He’s been doing this for a couple of days. Licking frantically at the area just under his tail.
Any ideas? He’s a chocolate, 5yo and very healthy.

Does he need his anal glands emptying?

Anal glands would be my guess too. They can sometimes empty them themselves - the stench is overwhelming - but usually the vet gives a squeeze to release what's inside.
Going forward you might want to consider adding something to his food to bulk up the stool and put pressure on the glands so they don't fill up again. Stoolrite is good.

My first thought was anal glands too. As a pp has said, his stools being bulky will squeeze them. Have his poos been soft recently? It can build up if they’re not being emptied naturally. Some people might think it’s a bit gross but I’ve been doing our labs anal glands at home. The vets were charging £70 and she didn’t like a stranger poking around up her bottom. There are good videos on YouTube on how to do it.

Have you taken a look to see if there’s anything obviously wrong?

My boy did this once. There was a bit of poo attached to his arse just dangling down (sorry, no nice way to put it).

Otherwise anal glands would be my guess.

Thanks all. I will give the vet a call.

Definitely get the vet to check. Hopefully it's just anal glands, but mine had an anal gland abscess that needed strong antibiotics.