[Naturella]

Hey, all!

So… Today Bruno had his anal glands expressed for the first time. He had been kind of licking at and trying to get to his butt for about a week so I figured, it must be a routine thing, right, so I took him in to have them expressed. Well, afterwards he kept his tail down for a bit and after he pooped he scooted twice on the ground and once at home on the carpet. No traces or anything, anus looks good, no straining while pooping, he is his usual self. Tail is up again. But the scooting. He was not doing it before, he would just suddenly sit and try to lick his butt during walks, or he would turn and try to get to it that way… And now he is… 🙁

Should I not have had his glands expressed? Is scooting on the day of expression normal? Did I ruin it for him? Of course, post factum I saw a youtube video saying that if “it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” referring to anal glands, and that once they are expressed for the first time, you always have to do it every few weeks… Did I read the “signs” wrong? Will he be ok?

[Naturella]

His stool is usually perfectly normal – formed, firm, but not stone-hard; but he did have diarrhea last week Thursday through Tuesday of this week… Cause he won’t stop eating stuff off the ground, and also grass… But he’s all good now… He’s always been on pretty good food I think – right now we are transitioning to Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural from a mix of Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch-Holistic Health Extension Original-Victor Salmon. In case that matters.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 11 months ago by Naturella.

[DogFoodie]

I’ve never had my dogs anal glands expressed.

When Sam, my Golden with food intolerance issues, has a reaction to a food he’s eaten, his anal glands will start to smell strongly and sometimes he’ll have some loose stool. He’s even scooted a couple of times. Even with that, once the offending food is removed, the situation seems to correct itself fairly quickly.

My guess is that the diarrhea caused the anal glands to become a bit inflamed and probably would’ve resolved fairly quickly on their own when the stool returned to normal. I would probably add a little bulk to his stool with some chia seed or pumpkin or try some THK Perfect Form or Firm Up! You could also try some raw meaty bones; ie: a chicken wing for dinner. The inclusion of some bone usual helps stool firm up, too.

Are you certain the diarrhea was caused by something he ate off of the ground?

[Naturella]

Betsy,

Dang it, I knew I should’ve checked here first! I hope he will be fine with the expression… Hope it didn’t additionally hurt him… 🙁

I do have some pumpkin, I can give him that. And I have lots of chicken backs in the freezer! I guess he’ll have one for breakfast/dinner tomorrow.

Also, yes, I am about 98% sure – we were visiting a coworker of my husband and he has a dog too, and a yard. Well, we let them play together, they were in and out of the house, and Bruno did inspect his floors (seriously, how do I positively teach him not to pick stuff up?). Diarrhea started the day after that. So I am pretty sure it was something he ate over there, off of the coworker’s floor/yard.

[DogFoodie]

They’re probably just irritated from the expression.

Just to be safe, I might check with your friend to be sure that there’s nothing going on with their dog as well. Three days of diarrhea from one small dietary indiscretion seems like sort of a long time for a dog with an otherwise healthy gut.

I really doubt having his anal glands expressed will hurt anything long term. He’ll be just fine in no time.

[Naturella]

Betsy,

Yeah, it was his longest diarrhea yet… 4-5 days. He did eat little on Friday, and not at all on Saturday of last week – he may have not felt very good… After that I added plain brown rice with some boiled fish meat – no help. I tried bread (pita is what I had available) and it helped! He had bread for 2-3 days (not JUST bread except for his first feeding – the next were his kibble mixed with THK as a topper and bread). Those helped him keep it all down and not go as often, and gradually firmed up his stool. He has been good since Tuesday, off bread, and on his normal food.

And yeah, we can call and ask the guy, but I doubt he would have noticed… He is not as intuitive with his dog it seems and is kind of like “well, he’s a dog, dogs smell and eat whatever and are fine”… Plus he feeds Pedigree (yuck), no wonder his dog smells… But we could try… I’m just happy he’s over it!

And oh, I really hope his glands don’t get inflamed from the expression and scooting or something, and I hope it is just cause it was a new procedure/feeling for him.

Would you or anyone know WHEN is it a real time/need to get your dog’s anal glands expressed?

[Melissaandcrew]

Some dogs just have chronic problems with their anal glands and require regular expression, Some have a problem once, they get expressed and all is right in their world forever. If he was scooting, expressing them was the right thing to do. If left untreated, there is the potential for them to completely impact and then “explode”-they basically abcess and then drain. Nasty for the dog. My doxie had the problem once in her life when I fed her raw for three days straight without sweet potato for fiber. Vet drained them, she did the licking thing, caused her butt to get red and puffy, so the vet rxd gentamycin spray. Problem done and over in 24 hrs. Don’t sweat the small (smelly) things, lol 😉

[Naturella]

Melissa,

Thank you so much for the reassuring response! He wasn’t actually scooting before the expression – he was licking at his butt – he scooted 3 times AFTER the expression (after he pooped), that’s why I was a little worried, but I hope he is just weirded out at how his behind feels after the procedure and that’s why he’s scooting… Hope all will be well with him. 🙂

[Author]

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