I have a friend who currently feeds tins and buscuits to their dog (a cocker) . They have to regularly visit the vet to clear the dogs anal glands.

I had said that they could try changing the dogs food to see if this can help. Am I right in saying this? The owner wants to stick to feeding a commercial food and would prefer to get off the tins.

I had recommeded a couple of foods that had a single meat protein source and either rice or potatoe.

Does the presence of wheat and vegetable derivatives lead to increased problems with anal  glands?

Any previous experience or knowledge welcomed

Nothing wrong with vegetables, I feed them often; however quite often the vegetable derivative named in poorly labelled brands is in fact soya and/or soya waste which is contra indicated in dogs.

Whether or not one chooses to feed dry or tinned food will have little or no difference to the state of the anal glands per se.  Anal glands are normally emptied by the evacuation of stools if they are firm enough.  If they are not firm then correct evacuation may not take place.  The firmness or otherwise of stools depends on a lot of things eg fibre/bone content, how well the food has been metabolised (which depends on the content of the food itself), the presence or otherwise of stool bulkers eg sugar beet pulp, whether or not a dog cannot tolerate/is allergic to a certain ingredient(s), over/under feeding etc etc etc.

Some dogs are born with anal glands that are incorrectly positioned or too long to enable them to be expressed normally hence trips to the vet (or they could always do it themselves, anyone can once shown how).

Whether or not a food has a single or multiple meat source is, IMHO, immaterial, cannot see the benefit or otherwise in either (except in cases of hypersensitivity etc) and dogs were not designed to consumed any grain however if I were to feed a grain it would probably be rice or oats in preference to others (unless of course the dog was allergic to them).

At the end of the day diet choice should be based on a) being appropriate to the species being fed and b) the individual being fed.

ps I am not convinced that the feeding of tins meets either of the above criteria :D

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping that a quality dry food might improve things as I have noticed improvements in stool quality the higher the quality of the commercial food that I have fed based on own dogs. My thought was that a better quality,  more digestible food would assist in the emptying of the anal glands.

I'd say the tinned food is causing the dog to have soft poops,hence the inability for the anal glands to be expressed properly,it's hard to say without looking :D Or he could be intolerant of an ingredient in the mixer or the tin which sometimes causes soft poops.Encouraging someone to change to a premium food is always a good idea,wether the dog is doing well or not on it's present food,there's always room for improvement.
If your friend doesnt want to change foods then i would advise adding a teaspoon or so of natural bran to the food,this may be enough to firm up the poop and express the glands naturally.

My dog sam (working cocker) also has anal gland problems.  I changed their diet from Nutro to Burns and Naturediet, introduced bran, probiotics and raw bones to their diet in an attempt to firm up his stools to encourage emptying of his glands.  Yes his stools have firmed up but we still make the trek to the vet every 3 months or so to have them emptied (I'm too put off by the smell to attempt to do it myself, i prefer to leave in the vet's room! :) )- my vet and I have come to the conclusion that he is just one of these dogs who will not be able to empty them on his own-as tohme mentioned.  I would say to your friend that it is well worth trying a different food to see if that can help-afterall what suits one dog wont suit every dog!  However, as I've seen, it's not a guarantee to sort the problem.  The main thing to tell your friend is to watch out for the glands becoming infected, if they do so they require to be flushed out and this is best avoided if possible-just ask my Sam! :)

My eldest BC has always had trouble with his anal glands, and he has at various times of his life, before I knew much about dog food, been fed on tins and biscuits, tripe and veg, commercial dry food, barf and Burns. He anal glands have never been better or worse with changes of diet, but then as Tohme said, some dogs do have anal gland problems. None of my other dogs have had trouble. Could be a case of trial and error.

Hi

Thanks for replies. I have heard about the addition of bran to the diet in the past. I would have thought this would cause the stool to become softer (after thinking about the effects that a box of Allbran had on me!).

I read one veterinary comment that about 70% of cases can be improved by diet, but in some cases this is caused by an over active gland.

I've never had any problems in this area, except for one of my current retrievers who tends to express his when I groom his back end!