Last week my dog  was dragging his bum along the floor outside! i almost died of embarassment because i thought they only do that if they have worms. I only wormed him two months ago for the same reason, he doesnt do it a lot just every now and then.Dont know if this is relevant but When i take him for walks he seems to stop suddenly and sit down for no apparent reason.
My uncle suggested something about 'he might need his sacs doing' as they get filled with fluid and this maybe a possible cause or maybe he just has an itchy behind? Id never heard that dogs could get sacs of fluid up their bum until now. Has anyone else heard of this? and if not does anybody have any ideas?

Yup sounds like anal glads need clearing.  Take him to your vet or a local groomer to do this for you :)

You may have wormed your dog 2 months ago but they can re-infect immediately, and the effectiveness of the wormer depends on whether you bought it from the vet or a petshop ;) If having his anal sacs cleared doesn't help it may be worth worming again ;)

Following on from the OP's question (sorry to hijack your thread) ;-)

Do all dogs need their anal sacks cleared?  I've never noticed any symptoms in Glazby and have had him for nearly 3 years now - should I see about getting him done anyway or is it just some dogs that have this problem?

Thanks!
Hayley  :-)

My Rottie cross has never had her anal glands emptied and she is 8 1/2.
My Am cocker has to have them done every six weeks. Talking of which will take him this afternoon.
So nope Its not all dogs.
My mums old Collie cross had to have hers done every few months. Where as he old beardie never had them done(both now sadlky departed)
HTH
Lea :)

Thanks Lea - thats put my mind at rest!!  :-)

Dogs anal glands only usually become a problem if you are feeding your dog on meat . If you get a complete , this usually stops . It is to do with the firmness off the dogs stools , anal glands are there to eliminate a secetion with the stool , it goes back to sents and the wild............so if the dogs stools are soft these anal glands are not compressed and therefore the secetions build up , hence the dragging bottom ! Usually a complete will be perfectly balanced and will also produce a firm , clean stool ..........it also helps with teeth ,breath and anal gases!!!!

Hope this helps, ask your vet for more info on this .

Jo X

Sounds like anal glands to me too! :-)

i will take him to the vet as  he is due his injections anyway. ive been feeding him chicken and am going to change his diet soon, maybe to barf or nature diet. Thanks everyone!

So, canines in the wild all eat complete, do they? Or do they spend their time with impacted anal glands? ;)

No , but raw meat is by no means anything like the tinned stuff!!!! In you might even find dried food has much more!!!!

I'm sorry, you've lost me! Are you saying that dried food has a higher meat content than fresh meat? Where does tinned meat come into it?

LOL I wont get too much involved into the food thing as to be honest i dont really know much about it Although I imagine when dogs lived in the wild they ate raw carcasses and not tinned food lol . But When i take him to the vets next week Im going to ask quite a few things! I will let you know what happens.

Glazby has lovely firm stools and lovely breath so I won't worry too much about his anal glands.  Its a shame I can't say the same thing about the "natural gasses"  ;-)

The only dogs I've ever met with disgusting soft stools are those fed on completes and tinned food, really good quality completes are better but raw feeding produces the firmest stools, except where there's an intolerance or allergy to meat protein (very rare)  I'm amazed that you seem to think that raw meat causes soft stools, wild canids must suffer dreadful diarrhoea and impacted anal glands if you are right LOL :D  Interestingly wild carnivores/canids don't need their teeth brushed regularly and don't suffer with tartar on the teeth and gum disease either, you never hear of wolves in a zoo having to have their teeth brushed ;) ;)  Dogs fed a raw food diet usually have lovely teeth and breath too :D :D :D

Now my Goldie was scooting the other night, he was wormed 5 weeks ago too, his anal glans are ok, (had them checked),are empty,he is on a complete diet, and am going to have to worm him again after only 5 weeks? used Drontal, anyone had this problem before.???also gave him the correct dosage for his weight.....

Maybe they just like scooting bums across floor & causing consternation???

Margot (who has owned Attention Seekers in the past ;) )

Itchy butt syndrome??  I know human males can get it ;) :D  perhaps canine males do too?  :D :D :D

Possible!! :-D How about a bit of poo stuck somewhere tickly?

My allergies girl scoots across the floor on occassions, worm free and anal glands clear, apparently its quiet common for dogs with allergies to do this, its sort of the "itchy bum" relief syndrome. Just another to add to the list of why and how's...LOL

Ended up taking all three to the vets this afternoon as the puppies needed their injections aswell. The vet checked and he had quite a bit built up she popped them within about 3 minutes! She also told me its common in a lot of dogs as the glands that are supposed to empty are too small and so they just build up.  It wasnt very nice for him but she assured me he would feel a lot better and apparantly when theyre full it feels like they need a poo!
Benji's five and this is the first time hes had them done so i cant really see them needing to have them done very often. So my advice to anyone whos had the same problem as me would be to get them checked....

My boy always screams when I or the vet do his, but I'm sure he feels better afterwards!