i feed my dogs a raw diet, their stools are firm and easily evacuated by both. however, i have just had the bitch at the vet to have her anal glands
emptied....... i dont understand why they were full, i understood that firm stools assist with emptying the glands. the vet said to add fibre, and then
said that some old breeds are prone to this problem no matter what the diet.
so, is there a fibre supplement i can add, i did think of psyillium (i know there is p in there somewhere) husks, but heard the long term effects can be harmful, flax doesnt breakdown too well, something to do with omegas (may have those wrong way round, my head is full at present). i dont want her to have soft stools that was what
turned me to raw feeding.
By suejaw
Date 20.07.11 21:42 UTC
My Bernese has recently had a few issues with his anal glands too. They get worse on a raw food diet. I've just got some info from AG and i'm going to try and add Profibre to his diet and see how that pans out. He is currently on a complete diet which is gluten free, this free, that free etc and I add in the odd bit of raw every now and then, however nothing makes any difference and I just don't know what to do next.
AG did say that once you start with the emptying of the glands then its something you should expect to keep up for the life of the dog, however my boy needed doing and there was no way I was going to leave him not being done..
If that doesn't work i'm trying him on the AG sensitive diet to see if that does the trick otherwise its going to be a case to see if he is actually allergic to some ingredients which can have an affect on their bowel movements and as such the glands.