Hi All

My westie Robbie who is now nearly 2 yrs old has had recurring blocked anal glands for the past year we are now at the point of having them done every 2 weeks which i no is not a very good sign, after about 1 week he starts sniffing round where he has sat and if he sits up on you he leaves a foul smell behind on your clothes and it stinks!!!! He also scoots his bum around the floor when in the garden but doesn't seem to do it too much when in the house, the vet has suggested that they remove his anal glands but i have heard that this can cause them to be incontinent for the rest of their lives so have been looking at alternative treatment for him, i took him to a homeopathic vet who put him onto a spray that you spray into his mouth twice per day and silica tablet once per week but up to now this has not helped, he said for me to learn how to empty them myself and to clear them every week regardless of him scooting his bum or not as this will help the glands to heal and in turn he may not scoot and they will start to settle down but i am not sure whether this is fair to him or whether surgery would be the better option.
Has anybody else had this problem with their dog and opted for surgery to cure the problem and if so has it been successful and not left them incontinent, as he is such a young dog i am not keen on putting him thru surgery so young in life.
He is fed on wafcol salmon and potato as he has had skin problems and was fed on raw food before but this did not seem to agree with him.

Thanks
Helen

Hi Helen,

I have had anal gland problems with 3 dogs, the first a golden retriever when she was about 1 year old, and kept getting recurring abscess along the base of the tail.   Her glands were removed - no problem, and she was not incontinent.

The second was a F/C puppy - the treatment that time was to fill the glands with antibiotics (under anaesthesia) not the preferred treatment nowadays, but in her case it worked, no more trouble for the rest of her 12 years.

The last case a 12 year old F/C - one gland abscessed and it kept recurring, this was removed and we were warned that she may be well unable to control her bowels after the op - she had her op and had no problem with incontinence.   This time I demanded the vet at the practice with the most experience, my view being that the more ops of this nature that one undertakes, the less chance of making a mistake!!!!!!!!   Did not want the inexperienced vet.

Difficult decision for you I know - but if you have to empty them every 1/2 weeks for the rest of his life, that is not good either.

One of mine has had her glands removed because they kept getting blocked and infected.

After trying all sorts, upping her rougage, changing diets etc, the vet said enough was enough and her best bet was to have them out.  I don't have any major fears about surgery and my vets are very good so I went ahead.

Best thing we ever did, very neat job and she has never looked back. No more scooting, no more chewing at herself. Its been brilliant for her :)

One of my Goldens had severe and regular anal gland problems. Prior to removal I put him on Dorwest garlic and fenugreek, treatment dose, then maintenance. He never had problems again and so I didn't have to go ahead with the removal.

Thank you for your message, how long did it take for your 1 yr old to recover from the op and be back to normal, i assume she had this done at just over 1yr old is it a big op as the vet hasn't really discussed it with us in depth, do they have stitches that have to be removed and have they got to wear one of those elizabethan collars afterwards?

Helen

It took a couple of weeks, yes the stitches had to be removed and yes she had to wear an elizabethan collar, but they adapt to that pretty well.   She also had to be on antibiotics until it was completely healed and she was given granules to put on her food to help her faeces not to be too hard so that she could go fairly easily.   Rather like humans having a haemorrhoid operation.

It is a tricky op, so when you go back to the vet you must write all your questions down beforehand.   But she recovered well, as did the 12 year old and both of them never looked back.

When the 12 year old had her operation I had to take her back after a couple of days, as I was not sure about the sutures, but they reassured me that all was okay, just me panicking.   Each day there was an improvement, and for the Golden we could not have left her with the abscesses at the base of her tail, it must have been very painful.

Best of luck when you go back, and ask your vet to go through the op with you and the post-recovery period.

This time I demanded the vet at the practice with the most experience, my view being that the more ops of this nature that one undertakes, the less chance of making a mistake!!!!!!!!   Did not want the inexperienced vet.

Agree with dogsdinner.  I tend to go with the vet that has done thousands of ops!  Whatever the surgery.  No substitute for experience!

Hopefully Whistler will see your post, she has recently had this op on one of their dogs.

Good Luck!  :-)

Yes JeanSW there is no substitute for experience.   I know that the younger vets have to learn their trade, but not on my dogs, which is rather mean of me.   And that is said from experience, when a younger vet once operated on our dogs leg and we had to take him within 2 days to a specialist because they had not done the op correctly.   Should have learnt my lesson then he operated again on our dogs tail, he had caught the end of the tail and stripped all the skin and flesh off just leaving bone visible, so he amputated the last digit, which would not heal, so it was back in again to see the experienced vet who had to operate yet again and take another digit off, apparently the first one had stitched too tightly not allowing enough blood circulation, as you know the circulation to the end of the tail is not as good as elsewhere.

So, nowadays, if I have a choice I always ask for the most experienced vet on the premises.

Anul gland removal should be a last resort were possible. If your dogs faeces are firm enough and not loose they should automatically open the anul glands to allow the fluid out everytime your dog goes to the toilet, thus should stop impacting. Once the anul glands have been flushed out, try a dog food that will keep your dogs faeces nice and firm this usually helps.

> keep your dogs faeces nice and firm this usually helps.

Yes normaly I would agree, but unfortunately not always. One of ours produces something so thick it's like tar and even with the firmest of output they don't always empty themselves. 

I know you said raw food did not seem to agree with Robbie, but could he tolerate a raw chicken wing a couple of times a week? This may firm his poo up just enough to help the problem.

My Tiva's are very thick- she to has one that keep abcessing and I am always cleaning- in the begining it needed emptying but not to often- now that she has gotten older I am having to do it almost every 2 weeks- I asked about surgery and was told at her age now it would be way to hard on her- she is 12yrs old. They said if she was younger under 3 or so then it would be considered but at her age now not recomended.

Best of luck with urs :-)