can anyone give me some advice on anal glands. My 2 year old bitch seems to have a lot of irritation from hers, they fill up about every two weeks, the vet has been emptying them and she has been really tolerant but now wont let anyone near her rear end....hardly surprising!! Some one said they could be corterised or taken out, is this possible and if so what are the things I need to think about?

What does your vet say about taking them out? I never heard of glands being emptied every two weeks, did he say why?

Hi Roma, I dont think you need to think about anything to be honest. If a dogs anal glands become infected, or impacted, and antibiotics, or packing the glands, dosnt cure the problem, follow your vets advice and have them removed. Sometimes a different diet can help, but as this happens so frequently, in my opinion, the best course of action is to have them removed.

My oldest cocker had a problem with his anal glands for a while a couple of years ago - they kept getting infected maybe every other month. I added extra fibre to his diet for a while and eventually it cleared but if it had persisited I would definitely have had them removed. Having impacted anal glands is no fun(I would assume!!!!!!) so to have them removed would be a relief. Once they are removed, you may get a little seepage from the back end for a day or two and you have to feed soft, sloppy food so that the faeces are easier to pass while the stitches are in.

The vet says they just get 'full' I dont event think they getb infected. I will increase her buisits now and I have taken your advice and booked her in to have them removed in 10 days time.

Thanks for the help on this fascinating subject!!

Roma, sometimes a dessertspoonful of bran, sprinkled daily over the normal food, can be useful.

Hi Roma
My bitch had terrible trouble with her glands as a pup. :(
By the time she was 9 mths old she had had 3 infections and was very anti anyone touching her bum!
So we decided enough was enough and my Vet took them out.
No probs with healing or removing stitches and touch wood that's it end of story, but I hope your Vet has told you that there is a chance (very small odds I think) that the op may cause incontinence, it didn't with ours but it was something I was warned about.
Nicky

yes he said say that was a possibility but also that he had done this op a number of times with no problems. I will try th diet suggestions. We have a 13 week old puppy ( one of Ella's) and she has been eating puppy food and not muck buisuits so that could be a contributing factor?

Has she only had the problem since eating puppy food or did she get problems before?

She did have a tendancy to it before, she went to the vet about every 6 weeks. Now it seems to be constant even after she has just had them emptied. I have changed her diet to adult food today and will add the bran. I dont want her to have any operation if it can be avioded, but i hate seeing her so irritaed by it.(her bottom that is!)

Hi, it sounds like it might be worth having them removed if its not just a temporary recent thing - obviously you need to take your vet's advice.

My two spaniels both had theirs removed when they were about 18 months old (they are different breeds and ages and were on different diets, I tried bran and changing diet, etc). First they just kept needing emptying, and then after a while they were getting infected, my vet said that can happen if they keep being emptied all the time.

Anyway I was really worried beforehand and dreading the possible incontinence, but my first dog Louis was absolutely fine, and so much happier as he wasnt constantly biting at his rear end. The second dog, who had the op this March, was also fine in himself but had the unfortunate side effect of some leakage afterwards, mainly when he barked and got excited. Without going into too much grim detail, there wasnt much to clean up - just a small mark on the carpet, not great piles of mess! - and this problem stopped within a week.

The wounds left by the op were just two tiny incisions which healed up very well.

So don't be too worried if the bran and so on does not work, the op hopefully won't be too bad. My vet said it was better to do it when we did rather than letting it drag on until the dog was older and not so safe under anaesthetic, plus the glands are harder to remove if they've been emptied too much as they get squashed or something.

Hope that helps - I was really scared when mine went in but I think I did the right thing.

Cheers
Alex

thank you for your really helpful and full reply. It does seem to have improved a bit, biting her paws more than her bottom now, but on balance I think i will take the vets advice..and yours and get them removed.