Hi All

Well as you know robbie has had blocked recurring anal gland issues now for just over 1 yr with no success of improvement, i changed him onto a barf diet and his pooh's have firmed up but the glands are still blocking every 2 weeks and he is going to the vets to have them cleared as i haven't got the hang of expressing them myself and it just seems to cause him more discomfort which i don't think is fair.
The vet has suggested seriously thinking of removal as he said having them done every 2 weeks for the rest of his life being that he is only 2 years old is something to consider long term, my concerns are that he will be left incontinent after the op as i know this is something that can happen, the homeopathic vet said to make sure the vet that does it if we do decide to go down that route has done a lot in the past and has experience but i am not sure if a specialist would be better, i just want whats best for him in the long run and i would feel awful making that decision and then him being worse off.
I would be grateful to hear from anybody who has had this done and whether it was a success or whether they have regretted it as i want to do whats best for my little lad in the longrun.

Helen

Hi Helen,

You will probably remember that my dog Henry had similar issues a while ago.  He had his anal glands removed around about 7 weeks ago.  I can honestley say i dont regret it he is a completly different dog now, as before he was permenatly smelly, uncomfortable, itchy, and fed up of having his bum squeezed!.  I know you said robbie also has some skin issues and i have found that Henry hardly itches at all now (before he could scratch his arm pitts raw).  He was sore for the 1st 4-5 days after surgery but he coped well with Tramadol and Metacam as pain killers.  He had no incontenance at all, although it took him a while to squat and pass faeces.  I found that also getting him used to having a buster collar on was a great help as he did try to lick at it a little. 

After surgery he slept for around 12hrs, i just made sure he had a comfy bed and a puupy pad under his bum incase he was incontenant.

I agree that you should pick a surgeon that does them on a regular basis.  Henry had the method where the anal sacs are filled with a gel that sets, this then makes them easier to find and makes the surgey less traumatic.

feel free to ask any questions im think hard as to what i did lol

My dog had his removed about 5 years ago. The op was a great success - unfortunately rather than sticking to his normal diet after the op I did as the vet suggested and gave him rice and chicken. Well the poor boy had such a reaction to it which gave him an upset tummy......not ideal following such a big operation. We've since discovered that he can't tolerate chicken - it goes right through him. So we had a bad few days but I don't regret having them removed at all. From this experience I would only suggest that if your dog is hungry afterwards, stick to what he's used to as it isn't worth the upset of giving him a bad tummy.

I would recomend since he is still young- Have never had them done and now Tiva has always had problems with hers- they are very thick and pasty and hard to empty and almost feel like a hard pee in there when trying to empty and sometimes ends up absessing- not fun on her part or mine But being 12 years old they said the surgery would be very hard on her to recover so now if I can't empty them I run her off to the vet and get it done- may get them flushed next time to help clean them out- had them emptied this time when we had sticthes out (she had her eye removed) cause figured I am there all ready mise well, so she is good for a bit :-) She's my baby Girl...

I have had two dogs that have had to have them removed they were around 18 months - 2years old.. It was the best thing I ever done for them and they healed quickly and had no incontinence or other problems. 
It is important to get  a vet to do it who is experienced as there are a lot of nerves in that area. 
If you can afford to have a specialist do it then I would go down that route.  My vets actually had someone who was very experienced come in especiallyto do those ops.
If I had another dog suffer like that with thier anal glands I wouldn't hesitate to have the op done, thier quality of life is 100% improved, they have no more discomfort and you have no more worry and regular expense having them emptied.

I had my border collie glands removed about 4 years ago. Was very worried at the time but other then an issue with him cleaning his bottom on the walls resulting in poo smeared wallpaper for a few days no major problems and don't regret having it done. He is much better, no visits to the vet every few weeks to get them emptied but the best thing, that horrible smell has gone.

I have mentioned before that I had this problem with my Golden, I didn't want to put him through another operation after flushing and packing did not work. I started him on 'Garlick and Fenugreek' from Dorwest and he never had another problem. Well worth it, he also liked them.

i do use the garlic and fenugreek tablets from dorwest for robbie but they dont seem to be helping much, do you give yours whole or crush them?

i used the garlic and fenugreek tablets but didnt find they helped.

I used the tablets whole, they are sugar coated and even my fussy Golden ate them. After 'flushing and packing' my dog had infected anal glands withing four weeks, they were squeezed and I started him immediately on the recommended TREATMENT dose for a dog of his size. I followed guidelines given by Dorwest and reduced this to MAINTENANCE dose and he never had a problem again. Maybe he was lucky but it really worked for him, I followed the guidelines carefully and was so pleased he did not need another operation. I can't remember exactly how old he was when all this happened, but I guess he was about 4ish, he lived a normal, healthy life in to old age.

Garlic and fenugreek tablets how do they actually work with the anal glands? Was wondering if this would work on my girl cause hers are so thick and pasty.
Do you just buy them from your vet, and is it something the vet recomends? My vet has never mentioned this to us and I have had problems for awhile with her anal glands :-( Absessing not nice.

Dollface they aren't prescribed by the vet, you can purchase them from their website here

http://www.dorwest.com/

Following our success story, our vet mow stocks Dorwest products (but cheaper direct from Dorwest).

Thank you :-)

Any decision yet? I used the Dorwest tablets but they didnt really work.

I'm really surprised that switching to BARF hasn't helped.  I had 2 dogs that have had anal gland trouble, one that was needing expressed every couple of months, the other who had twice had impacted glands, and since switching to BARF 4 years ago we've never had a rpoblem.  Our 2 youngest who have always been on BARF have never had a problem either.  Sorry that probably wasn't much help !

No thats interesting to know actually, i am feeding the natural instinct barf diet which is meat fruit and veg the chicken variety, do you feed just raw meat or do you mix anything with yours, and i assume that you do it yourself or do you buy it already done?

natural instinct barf diet
Does this contain bone or is it just raw meat?

It does contain bone and is classed as "complete". Details can be found here: http://www.naturalinstinct.com

IMO it is a very expensive way of feeding a natural diet, but obviously gives people confidence that the balance is correct.

Thanks for that.:)  I'm very surprised then that it hasn't sorted the gland problem. :(

Could it be because he has been on ab's as i have found his motion is still like putty even though he is only having this diet with NO other treats at all during the day, his motion isn't diarrohea but it is still softish when you pick it up. I thought having this diet his motion would have hardened off as they told me as soon as i switched to barf i would see a huge improvement, it did firm off for a while but now seems putty again.
I too thought the anal glands would have corrected by now but guess i was wrong, thing is i only want to go down the removal route as the very last resort, a lot of people have been saying that i shouldn't keep taking him to the vets to get them emptied as this will in turn make the glands more lazy but then again when they smell like crazy can you leave him like it as i find he then starts licking his feet and nibbling up his front legs in turn which then causes more skin infections!!!!

Yes we make it up ourselves:  Tesco Value mince (Beef & Pork) & Bio Yog for breakfast (or sometimes raw egg or cottage cheese), then turkey wings or mince with whizzed up veg/fruit/offal or raw trout or salmon for tea.  No strict routine, mostly the turkey but every couple of days have the mince/veg/offal or the fish instead.  Sometimes throw in chicken wings, or lamb breast, rabbit, pheasant, venison or something.    They don't get much in the way of big raw meaty bones but we find the turkey wings and chicken wings provide enough bone.  All dogs seem to have different requirements for bone, you just got to keep trying and find a balance for your dog.  Ours have thrived on this and have really solid poos.  We once gave them Natures diet as a substitute when we went away in the caravan (for ease) but found that gave them all the runs.  It's worth giving something like this a try before deciding to have them removed...can cause problems with incontinence as it can damage the sphincter if not very careful.  Hope this helps.

Well Robbie had his glands expressed at the vets last friday and they were not infected just watery with some gritty bits came out, problem we have had ever since is he is constantly scooting at times and when he starts he doesn't stop he just goes round and round in circles, they are not smelling or leaking so cannot work out why he is doing this, some people have advised me to not get them emptied any more and leave them to settle down as keep having them expressed makes them more irritated and sort which in turn will make him scoot but i just don't know i am at a loss as to what is best for him. The homeopathic vet this week who i spoke to has said not to go down the removal route as he feels we will regret it but robbie certainly cannot go on like this its not fair to him.
He is also having a lick at his back foot only 1 but most mornings overnight he has given it a good old lick, his motion has firmed up a lot since he came off the ab's at the weekend and he is passing small hard bits of motion so it cannot be because his motion is soft.
Is it a case the more they are emptied the itchier they get? Any ideas as to what could help soothe his itchy bum?

some people have advised me to not get them emptied any more and leave them to settle down as keep having them expressed makes them more irritated

That's very true which is why I was taught as a groomer, only to express anal glands if there was a problem not as a matter of routine.

Is there anything i could put on his bottom to maybe take the itch away, they are not smelling so thats why i am a bit against having them done again, i have just spoken to the vets and they said to take him back to get them checked but i feel possibly them fiddling around with the area could in turn make him even worse instead of better, they suggested having a steroid injection to take the itch away but the trouble is when that wears off he will be back doing it again.