[Sarah G]

My medium golden mix, Lakita, just started having issues once she turned 3 years old.
– We moved from Virginia to Md (3 hour difference) and had recently changed her diet when it started happening.
– She was originally on Rachel Ray Just Six Lamb and was changed over to Nutro Wholesome Essentials Lamb when our other dog was having sensitive stomach issues.
– Lakita does not scoot, but she will lick and chew the area constantly and she “screams” when she poops. She is a bit of a drama queen, and tends to cry very loudly when she’s unhappy or overly happy (like a stereotypical husky). The vet exclaimed that she isn’t in pain, just discomfort and is loudly letting us know this – but I do think she’s in at least some pain.
– The vet has over one year preformed tests to determine that the issue is definitely her anal glands. They have never been infected, but are constantly full. Even after expressing, Lakita will still cry when she poops.
– Fiber supplements helped a little. I changed her back to her original Rachel Ray food plus the fiber supplement and it finally went away for about 4 – 6 months.
– After the supplement ran out and I was hoping she would normalize, she began having issues again. When I started giving the supplement to her, it didn’t help.
– We’ve had her glands expressed around 4 -5 times throughout the year until she began to feel better. When it came back we did it again, but it doesn’t seem to have an actual affect.
– It would seem to be seasonal since it basically when away on its own, but she never had the issue in Virginia just 3 hours away. And she has stayed in MD here in there with family sometimes for a couple weeks without issues.

I honestly think diet is the biggest factor and I’m thinking of switching to Grain Free food – but I’m a little nervous to do so with all the recalls lately. Does anyone have suggestions? Especially ones without recall history would be most appreciated.

[anonymous]

/forums/search/anal+glands/

Consider a grain free, potato free food such as Zignature or Nutrisca as a base.

[haleycookie]

If you’re looking for a good grain free food without a recall check out Fromm. They have great grain free options and from my knowledge have never had a recall. It’s a bit hard to find though. Only available on a couple websites online (not available on chewy) and only independent petstores carry it. But usually if you go to a mom and pop and ask if they can order it then will.

[Susan]

Hi Sarah,
sounds like your dog is in pain & needs a LTD food that has just 1 meat protein & 1 carb only,
sometimes pet food companies do a recall just to be on the safe side & there was nothing wrong with their food…it will normally say they did a “Voluntry recall” …Canidae was one of these companies did voluntary recall, cause their food was being packed at the same plant as another pet food that was havinga recall but there was nothing wrong with the Canidae food they did the recall just to be safe..
I wouldn’t be worrying about recalls, alot of these recalls were done years ago & the pet food companies have never had another recall since…..Its very hard to find a dry kibble that has 1 meat protein & only 1 carb…

I would try “Natural Balance” LTD Sweet Potato & Bison or Sweet Potato & Fish or Potato & Duck formula.. or “Ziwi peak” air dried but Ziwi Peak is expensive or “Canidae Pure” Formula’s, Pure Wild, Pure Sea or Pure Sky but they have about 6-7 ingredients or Canidae’s other brand “Under The Sun” Large Breed formula..is very limited in ingredients.

Potato & Sweet Potato firms up the poo & the firm poo will express the anal glands naturally…
I can see when Patches poo has expressed Patches anal glands, I see clear fluid running down his black bum, then when we get home from our walk I use the Huggie baby wipes, I get the Coconut oil baby wipes & wipe his bum, the wipes are nice & cool on their bums..
I’ve never seen Patch ever lick his bum or his wooohoo….

Patch use to have anal gland problems, he has IBD the vet use to express every time we saw her monthly but since I found out what foods he’s sensitive too he has stopped his bum surfing on my rug…..

[Dana P]

From the research that I have read suggest that going completely grain free is the best option for dogs. You want to cut oatmeal, rice, corn, wheat, soy form their diet. Also, you want to cut white potato and tapioca. What I found on the market that meets these requirements is Nulo dog food. It’s free of all grains, potato and tapioca. A little pricey but it has helped so much.

[hOtRuNNeR L]

Hi all……I found for my dog, Havanese, in order to manage or cure his anal gland issue, since he doesn’t scoot or hasn’t figured out how to do it like my Maltese Terrier did, and since the groomer will NOT express his anal gland every six weeks when groomed, I had no their option. His anal gland has burst on its own twice now. Two months ago our vet could not see him when it happened. So we went to another vet clinic to have it looked after. Total misinformation and hungry for $$$$. It’s as if they want you to have the issue and to keep in coming back to spend $$$. The vet put him on Laxaday, boom, what a mistake. Thank goodness I tried it once to see the effect. Poop explosion 💥. I am going from bad to worse. It didn’t make his stool firm, it did the opposite. I cleaned it up, the. I put a small amount of Polysporin on the exterior skin, burst anal gland, he didn’t lick and wasn’t in any pain like the first time. He was happy that I was getting to know how to self diagnose and treat the issue without running to the vet every time and stress him out. So that’s when I went to the internet for help. We increased his diet by 100% increase in daily finer intake of his dry kibble. Then we (use to use pumpkin purée 100%) but then somehow he threw up from digesting it. Then I went to the highest form of probiotic non fat yogurt @ 1 tbsp per day…. VOILA !!! Probioticnin fat yogurt along with grain free pumpkin Cookies during the day, along with higher fiber dry kibble, seems to keep his anal gland in check. He doesn’t lick 👅 anymore like he use to endlessly during no the day. He is calm, relaxed, stools are firm and their are no bulging anal glands like before. BTW, one vet wanted me to think about removing his AG… NO WAY. Another vet wanted me to express his AG daily myself…NO WAY…(should only be done by a vet or groomer?)

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