Bess has had problems with anal glands as I've mentioned on other posts.  However, despite giving her bran in her food etc she's now been diagnosed with having infected glands.  She went to the vets this morning and had a steroid injection.  The vet then recomends that she has them packed which means an operation and then if that doesn't work have them removed.  I've got two questions really, will having them packed mean that it will be an end to the problem or just a case of treating the infection?  The other question is if she does have them removed, I don't really know much about the after care, the vet mentioned that she will be be incontinent for a few days and in rare cases permanently, does anyone have any experience of this?  How long does it last for, I know Bess health comes first and would not let this stop me from having them removed but for practical reasons (I have carpets) I just want to know how bad this is.  Also does having them packed  and or removed mean that it will be a day case or an overnight stay?   She's my first dog and have no experience of what dogs are like after operations.

 

Hi there, my staffie x has problems with his anal glands. He regulary gets them expressed and has also had them flushed and antibiotics put in (packed). It is personal preference but I would prefer to manage it through having them expressed regulary as opposed to having them removed.
I have seen a couple of dogs through my job as a vet receptionist that have had them removed and it is quite painful for the dog. They can become incontinent and can have sloppy diarhoea which can spray everywhere for a couple of days. What you have to decide is whether this outweighs the problems associated with your dog having anal gland problems.
One of our clients was very upset at the trauma involved of the op but very pleased once it had all settled. All dogs are individuals and cope differently. It is very hard to say how long they will be incontinent for and how much pain they will be in, some dogs are more stoic than others aswell. Personally my dog doesnt cope very well with anaesthetic and being away from home so I prefer to keep having them expressed.

We had a collie x who had his removed when he was 7 - we had to have newspaper down for a few days, but he recovered well and was perfectly continent for the remaining 10 years of his life :-) He didn't have to stay at the vet's overnight, but they are normally quite drowsy after a GA so will need a quiet place to recover and bland food (eg chicken and rice) for a couple of days.

My dog had his removed a few years ago. The first few days were awful afterwards but that was to do with the diet we were giving him. After the op the vet suggested we gave him chicken/fish and rice. Well the poor chap had really bad diarrhea (spelling ?) which following an op like that was terrible. We had to bath his poor bottom every couple of hours which of course made it sore. However once this was sorted out he healed up so quickly, maybe three days of 'doorbell incontinence' (when somebody came to the door he'd bark and a tiny bumble would pop out !) and that was that.
The difference in his character was dramatic - until it was done we didn't realise just how sad he had been - suddenly we had this almost smiling dog back with us !. No more straining when he went to the loo - the vet said it would have been stinging him before and making it uncomfortable to push. He was a much happier dog.

Anyway - what I was going to say  - following a test for a skin allergy it was discovered that chicken is one of the worst things he can have, it goes straight through him. If we'd have kept to his normal diet following the op he would have been fine and the whole process would have been over and done with in just a few days. So much for a bland diet following his op !.

The only thing I would be careful of is that if this isn't caused by an allergy,as this can often cause anal gland problems; and you remove the glands then the problem could move somewhere else in the body.  A client went through a similar thing and the dog after tests proved to be allergic to a lot of stuff, much of it controlable, the dog also had immunotherapy injections (doesn't work for all dogs) and she is a lot better now and no more impacted and infected anal glands.

Obviously you are best going with what your vet advises, but might be worth asking him about if he's not already mentioned it :-)

My dog had his anal glands removed last year aged 11.  Although I had read about possible incontinence the vet assured me it was all down to the skill and experience of the vet performing the op.
Thankfully there were no problems whatsoever and it turned out to be the best course of action.

I've had 2 dogs that had bad anal gland problems and we tried having them packed but it didn't work and they were soon in discomfort again, so they both had them removed.
It was the best thing I ever done for them and i wish I had gone down that route earlier.  We had no incontinence at all from either afterwards, in fact the recovery was as easy as any other op to recover from, very straightforward.
Just be sure the vet doing the op is skilled at it as things only go wrong when you have a vet that is not experienced in this op.

I've arranged for Bess to have her glands packed and am covered by the insurance.  However, I've never claimed on insurance before, so if any help would be appreciated.  I know that I need to pay for the op and then claim the money back.  I've been told by the insurance company that I need to pay the £75 excess plus £50 voluntary contribution.  How does this work if she needs to then go on and have them removed?  Do I need to pay these amounts again or are they a one off payment? 

Hi,

Stitch had his anal glands removed in November at age 5 and I can safely say that for us, it's one of the best things we've ever done! that's not to say it's the best solution for everyone, but we've had problems with his glands since pretty much day 1, and they just got worse & worse to the point we were in & out of the vets several times a wekk, plus the associated costs & Stitch was quickly developing a serious fear of traveling as it meant a trip to the vets for a lot of unpleasantness.

We had about 24 hours of sloppy poos and a bit of swelling. He also suffers from sensitive skin so although we were lucky in that he didn't get an infection in the wound (quite common apparently) his skin was very sore for a while and he had to wear his lampshade for some time until it had all calmed down.

3 1/2 months on though, he is a different dog, he's much more settled, no scooting & back end chewing and a bottom like a baboon :-D

I'm not familiar with the process of having them 'packed', we decided that removal was the only opton for us as he was almost constantly infected and in discomfort.

HTH

Claire

Just got back from the vets Whistler was due his two year check and Kennel cough I mentioned he smells and could he check his anal glands, he has an infection so we have had an injection back in two weeks for his Kennel cough and booster, and Im £72 lighter than when I went in. We spent £96 on Jake's limp and some flea treatments last night so i pleased its a short month!!

Try Dorwest Garlic and Fenugreek tablets. They will advise the dose for you. Worked perfectly on my Golden Retriever who had massive problem, also flushed and packed which didn't work. I didn't expect the herbal tablets tp work, but they did. No, I don't work for Dorwest!

Thank you DAncer I'll do my usual goggle and get some, Im fed up of his "Stench" nickname!!!

My GSD had anal furunculosis and had his anal glands removed at about age 4  My Vet referred me to another Vet who was an expert in these operations.    He told me that there would be no incontinence and if there was then in his opinion it was a botched operation.
When I first saw amount of stitches after surgery I was horrified but my dog made a fantastic recovery and lived to be 13.  This was many years ago and my lovely dog went to Rainbow Bridge some 5 years ago.  Hope everything goes well for your dog.

My gsd had furunculosis aged 8, his op was also done by an expert (which vet did you use Uisneach?).  I too was shocked by the "end result" but he had no incontinence and lived until 4 days off his 11th birthday with no recurrence.  Good luck with the op.

> I know that I need to pay for the op and then claim the money back.  I've been told by the insurance company that I need to pay the £75 excess plus £50 voluntary contribution.  How does this work if she needs to then go on and have them removed?  Do I need to pay these amounts again or are they a one off payment? 

My vets claim straight from the insurance company, less the excess, which I pay directly.

As far as the excess goes, you pay an excess for each claim, and as the gland removal would be classed as part of the same condition (continuing treatment) you wouldn't have to pay the excess again.