We had to have our Avas glands emptied, she had also developed an infection at the time (few months ago now), and our vet said that if the problem returned she may need surgery to put it right. She's been stinky on and off since but nothing like the time when we took her along to our vet for treatment.....but last night she really ponged from behind - she was treated on Saturday after she had an accident and I assume her temp would have been taken during her treatment.  I took her back to my own vet last night for her follow up appointment to make sure she was recovering from her injury, and he also took Avas temperature, and when I got her home she had the terrible stink.  I washed her down and it seems to have done the trick (I don't know how to empty the glands myself). Do you think that having her temperature taken quite a few times over the last few days might have irritated the glands and made her stink - or could it be the first sign of anal problems returning? (she's already on antibiotics for her tongue injury)
If she does have a persistent problem with her anal gland, what is the surgery to put it right? - I'm wondering if it would be better for Ava if I was taught how to empty the gland for her, instead of her having to have an operation - what do you think?

Watch this very closely, I do not wish to scare you but there is an horrendous infection called Anul Furunculosis and it is often first detected by the 'stink'
You can be taught to empty the glands yourself, never fancied it myself I'd rather let my vet have the pleasent task;)

Will keep a close check on it (although I don't think I could possibly not notice the pong !LOL) - what is Anul Furunculosis and how could I tell the difference between that and stinky anal glands (hopefully it's not what you mentioned - the vet had his thermometre up there last night, would he have noticed if it was Furunculosis?)
When my husband took Ava to the vets the last time she got stinky, the contents of her glands splatted on the side of the vets head, my husband said it stunk to high heaven - and hubby had to fight hard to keep a straight face in front of our vet!! ;)

Did a search on Furunculosis - it does look really nasty doesn't it! - I had a look at Avas rear end and there are no ulcers or broken skin.  It says on the site that I found that it's mostly GSDs that suffer with this.
Ava has always had what I would describe as a small bulge at the base of her tail where her anus is (my other dog Scarlet, also a Vizsla doesn't have a bulge there - sorry to sound so crude) wonder if that has anything to do with her developing anal problems?

My partner has one of her Bullmastiffs with Anul FURUNCULOSIS he had an operation to remove anul glands but did not do any good and al along i was saying that he had AF but the vets kept saying no, well he has gone on for the last 4 years on and of antibiotics would clear up for a time and then flare up well it is so bad now that we think we might have to let him go sooner than we want.

oh thats terrible :(  think yet another visit to the vets is on the cards, and I'll ask him to check her for this problem.  The picture I looked at on the website looked horrible, the skin around the anus was all blistered and seeping.......Avas looks just as it always has, it's clean with no abrassions, theres the odd faint waft today - but nothing like the strong stink that it has been previously ;)

Mair.
Don't worry too much about AF, its very serious but it shows as abcesses on either side of dogs anus, they ulcerate etc...  Sue (at the kennels) had an Afghan with it, she was successfully cured with cryo-surgery.

Its easy to empty anal glands, I do all my dogs myself, ask your vet to show you how, if he won't, come over to the kennels and I will show you how I do it.  There have been some dogs that have been more difficult, but by-enlarge its fairly easy.
Dawn.

Mair I didn't want to scare you but I would rather be safe than sorry. It is more common in GSDs but you didn't say what breed the dog was. So sorry if I worried you.

Corso Girl I lost my 2yr old GSD from AF in July and had I have noticed this earlier he may have been saved. The prognosis is not good there is no cure as such, they can have chemotherapy but I didn't want my boy to suffer and I took the brave decision to let him go. My heart goes out to you and your partner  x Debbie

Thanks Dawn, we may come over to see you about that if my vet wont show me how its done (the girls wont be having a holiday with you this year because we aren't planning to go away.....this year we are hoping to move house in order to try and get our George into a half decent secondary school).
tcarlaidh, you didn't worry me, I would rather be aware of a possible problem in time to get it sorted out than to find I'd left things too late for anything to be done.....I appreciate advice from people in the know.
Thanks
Mair

Hi don`t know if you found the link below, I`ve put it in case you didn`t :)
http://www.inkabijou.co.uk/af.htm

My toffee who`s a mongrel suffered with anal probs for a few yrs, used to get abcesses at the side of them & we tried lots of things that didn`t really work. She hasn`t had a prob since I changed her over to a raw diet, over 2yrs ago now :)
Funnily enough Rex our GSD rescue has no probs at all in that dept, well none that I`ve seen & he`s been with us last April/May now :)

Christine, Spain.

Anal Furunculosis is thought to be an immune problem. It is most prevalent in GSD's. Cryosurgery does not always work. There are various drug treatments, but not every dog responds to those either. It's a terrible disease. My last GSD (Blue) developed AF at about 8yrs old. We were lucky enough to join a drugs trial at the Queen Mary Hospital for Animals in Potters Bar. Even being on the trial, over a 6 month period it cost us over £400.00. Blue had surgery, but the AF came back. The drug being trialled was Cyclosporin. We met all the other owners on the trial, and all bar one were GSD's. We were one of the lucky ones, the drugs worked for my girl, and over a period of 6mths we were able to reduce the amount (just as well, as they were costing us £180 per month) her insurance limited her to 12 months, so no help there. Eventually she came off them altogether and it never came back. I had the misfortune of meeting two owners with a wonderful 4 year old GSD who had tried everything, including Cyclorsporin but nothing had worked, and he was just being eaten away. They put him to sleep one day when I was there - it was tragic, and I was so upset (not as much as his poor owners were though) and I realised just how lucky we were that Blue had responded to the drugs.

If you haven't got a GSD it is not very likely to be AF (though not impossible), so don't worry too much. It might just be that the anal glands become impacted, and the surgery that they do for that is removal of the anal gland itself.

Hope this post doesn't sound too bleak, I just know quite a bit about AF, having been on the RCVS trial.

By the way, I have changed my user name to the above, in honour of my old departed GSD Blue, and the new GSD pup China.

Katrina Doble

It sounds like a terrible disease, and I'm really pleased to hear that your dog survived it. 
Ava hasn't been smelly since we returned from the vets last Tuesday night.....I've read somewhere (probably on here) that the anal glands can release their smell when the dog becomes nervous/frighted, which could well explain the last stinky episode (she doesn't like going to the vets at all)
Going back a few years I remember one of my "dog walker friends" up in my local woods had a GSD and her dog had to have an anal operation to sort out a problem, haven't seem them for over a year now, so I hope her dog is Ok.
Is this disease similiar to the one that humans can catch from hospitals (MRSA I think it's called).

I had a dog who never had to have her anals glands touched. She only had to see a vet (or anyone in a white coat) & she emptied them herself!!!!!! Think she was half skunk!! Every trip to the vet meant a complete change of clothes on return & a full valet on the car. Needless to say, that bitch didn't go to the vets unless absolutely necessary :D

ROFL   Can I borrow her?  I can think of a white coat I would like to take her to see ;)

I know some of use keep going on about diet but if a dog has to strain a little to empty its bowels then it also has a much better chance of emptying its glands itself.  Emptying them too often manually can also cause problems apparently (my vet had just emptied some before I went in this morning) and made this comment but I did not follow it up as it is something I never need to do.

I feed my dogs on Oscars complete with a little bit of tripe mixed in.  The dogs do tend to eat stuff that I  shouldn't really give them though, because I have three kids (and the dogs are always in the right place to catch or clean up after the kids.....must admit, I'm guilty of giving them leftover stuff, I'll have to stop giving them scraps and just stick to their main meals I think). ;)

I used to use Oscars but I found it high in fibre and my dogs pooped far too much and  it came out much the same as it went in, poop. So IMO their bodies were not getting much from it. Which would also go along with what Kerioak has said. I always look for less than 3% fibre content.  Just try giving them more tripe and less Oscars for a few days and see how little they waste. I am always in favour of tripe but it's what dogs love best, top breeders don't feed Chum etc the majority feed good old Green Tripe.
Debbie :)

will try up-ing the tripe (LOL) - the dogs will love that because they really like tripe ;)

Hi Mair
A couple of raw chicken wings a day is great for 'firming up' the poo as well. Agree with kerioak, firm poo does help keep the glands from 'clogging up'.
No AF isn't like MRSA. MRSA is an infection, but AF is (thought) to be an immune system problem. It does however 'eat' into the body, in a single track from the peri-anal lesion. Blue had a single lesion, but the 4 year old that was pts had several, all around the anus. I shall never forget seeing him bounce happily into the hospital that day. It made me appreciate my position so much, but also made me so aware that everyone wasn't so lucky.  I was a very subdued person driving home with Blue that day.
Kat

Scarlet usually passes firm stools, but Ava can have a tendancy to be a bit loose at times (my other half reckons its when I give the dogs something other than their usual food.....he reckons the last time I gave them raw meat it made Avas motions loose - he told me not to give them stuff like that again because he thought it had upset Avas tummy) :(

I think best to stay as natural as possible. I was amazed that you could give chicken bones (RAW NEVER COOKED)  but I cleared Tescos when I had pups and the pups cleared the wings pretty quick too.