Hi everyone, our 4 year old border terrier suffers from leaking anal glands,  tends to happen when he's very relaxed and comfy on the sofa. He is fed kibble ( been down the raw route, not going there again) He is on James Wellbeloved Grain free which suits him and his dodgy tummy.  Is there anything I can give him to help with this problem? Apart from this he's a healthy, happy boy, he just looks so sad when he's leaked while being cuddled.

Max Stewart:> leaking anal glands,

I haven't had a lot of experience regarding breeds with anal gland problems other than my Farm Working Collies. I identified it when there was a 'fishy/tinny' smell from them and chose the 'prevention is better than cure' option the minute that smell was detected. Not sure diet is the issue if he is thriving in every other way but looking out for that familiar smell and a vet visit to
have the anal glands emptied before they reach the point of leaking might help?

Thank you for your reply

Your welcome and hope you find a solution !

My Poodle is like this. She leaks from her anal glands in our bed at times -not very nice! With her I've found that it only happens when they are very full and need emptying. She'd been doing it for a few days so I emptied them this evening and they were very full.

Yes, seems to be when our dog is warm and comfy that it happens. A call to the vets is obviously needed and maybe a look at YouTube for a video of how to empty them myself? Thanks for your reply.

If they are leaking, I'd get my vet involved.  If they are working correctly, they should never need manual draining because of impaction.  And for sure, the more you mess around with them, the more they can be irritated.   I always look to the diet and the 'quality' of the stool as during periods of abnormal stool passing, they can become clogged and infected.  They are never meant to be empty however so if manually drained, they will refil and the original problem may recur.  In the worst cases, complete removal may be considered, but it's a nasty surgery/recovery and to be avoided if possible.

Personnaly I would not touch them myself .its one of.the few things I won't do .
Goldmali is very experienced with all things dog .I agree with all mamasbas says for most people even if u can find out on u tube.
Its a vet consult i am afraid
I belive its now something groomers arnt supposed to do anymore as it can cause.more issues than it solves

That’s right FF, groomers aren’t allowed to empty anal glands. I asked some time ago as I didn’t want them to routinely do it as they are fine in my dogs and I didn’t want them irritated so they weren’t clearing naturally. The groomer said they aren’t permitted to do them any more.

Thanks Jodi , I thought I had been told that although mine haven't had problems with theirs fortunately

Take care with emptying anal glands. It's ok to do once as a one-off but you can end up having to empty them over and over in an ongoing way.

It's better to treat the root cause of the issue than the symptom. Often feeding a diet which causes firmer poops makes the anal glands release more as the stool passes through (which is what they're supposed to do). Feeding a raw diet often results in small hard bullet poops which help keep the anal glands empty.

If you don't want to feed raw, you can purchase fibre supplements from vet pharmacies online and might find those help.

> That’s right FF, groomers aren’t allowed to empty anal glands.

We aren't allowed to empty them with the internal method.  External is still permitted, however.

I only drained mine, from outside.  Never from inside.   As for groomers doing this, when allowed, it's better to have a vet do this so he can see what the consistency is, and treat as necessary.   I only touched mine if I noticed an aroma, or saw a 'bulge' going on.   And as said, even if manually drained, they will refill so if the cause isn't treated, this will be an ongoing problem.  Along with all his other problems, I was never able to do this with my last Basset (from outside) if obviously needed, and I was told his glands were set quite far back, so even with a good quality stool, it didn't always manage to hit the glands (apparently).   Although at one point, I was making several trips to the vet for that, with him, eventually it all calmed down.

You don't need to feed raw but you could feed a fresh diet rather than kibble.  One with fresh proteins ad veg giving natural fibre that will firm up the stool naturally.  A raw meaty bone will also do the job for you as bone firms up the stools.   So my advice is to ditch the kibble, save on the vet bills and unpleasant job of trying to empty glands which get lazy the one you manually express them.