Hi All

Thought i would update you all on robbie's progress on my last post 3 weeks ago his skin was bad again where he had licked at his front feet and got an infection and ended up with pustules on his body that were really irritating him, he had to have an antibiotic injection as the ceporex that they gave him he kept bringing up, he went back on thursday for his 2nd ab injection he has still got some pustules on him but most of his skin is better, his groin area has got black and under his armpits where his skin was very sore but the vet said in time this should heal okay, he has now been on raw chicken since the new year and he has chicken wings for breakfast his motion has firmed up really well but unfortunately his glands are still a problem, they are not infected anymore but they are still blocking every 10 days, they were cleared on thursday but today he is sniffing his rear end and again chasing and nibbling his tail so i guess they may not last as long this time.
We had the discussion of removal but the vet is still against surgery after a dog at the practice went to a specialist and it went wrong, he feels keeping them emptied will be the answer but to be honest i am getting fed up of every week this happening and robbie is too, he is still licking his feet and this hasn't stopped even being on the antibiotics and we are washing them every day in diluted hibiscrub but to no avail, he always licks at least 1 overnight or sometimes 2.
I hoped by now that with his motion really firm they would be emptying manually but it doesn't seem they are going to as i cannot get his mess any firmer that it is now, somebody i spoke to said allbran works really well, i tried bran from the healthshop but this seemed to make him even loser, so don't really know what else we can try.

Just out of interest, do you clear Robbies anal glands yourself or take him to the vet???
Lea xxx

Take him to the vet as i have tried to clear them myself but he gets quite nasty but is fine when the vet does them.

Do you do internal or external????
I have to empty Beanos alot, and do it externally, never tried internally. He is quite happy for me to do the external way he didnt like the vets emptieing them internally.

Lea :)

> internal or external

Lea, I have been shown by the vet time & time again and still can't get get the knack.

Fair enough... I must admit it's the one thing I would happily pay someone else to do if needed!!!

I can only do Beanos external, but I can feel the blockage and squeeze them. but it took a vet nurse to show me. the vets did it so complicated. the vet nurse made me try as she did not see the point of me paying £10 every 6 weeks!!!!
Now its second nature!!!!!
Lea :) :)

> Fair enough... I must admit it's the one thing I would happily pay someone else to do if needed!!!

Interesting isn't it what we find difficult or makes us squeamish. Blood or open wounds I have to grit my teath and concentrate on breathing but anything else including glands no problem, just irritates me that I can't (as yet) manage to do it for the dog and have to pay.

> he is still licking his feet and this hasn't stopped even being on the antibiotics and we are washing them every day in diluted hibiscrub but to no avail, he always licks at least 1 overnight or sometimes 2.

If he is licking them during the night why don't you put a buster collar on him so he can't lick them? Until the licking stops they are never likely to improve. I'm surprised your vet hasn't advised this.

I really think the anal gland issue needs sorting once and for all, it's been going on for ages, it can't be much fun having them emptied every week. I've known a couple of dogs that did have them removed and were so much better and happier afterwards.

I agree with you and keep asking the vet but he is not at all keen and said at this stage he won't do surgery and its all since that dog in the practice went to the specialist for the op and it went wrong, he said he hopes in time they will start working themselves but after a year of manually emptying i am not that sure.

What else can i do other than keep asking him i feel every week being emptied is just not fair to robbie and also even after they are emptied he is still uncomfortable because he keeps going round that area and trying to nibble.

When you mention that the op went wrong with regards the specialist, has the vet explained what went wrong? Is thee another specialist that you can be referred to? I can't believe that there is only 1 person who can remove them for you. Things happen and yes when operations take place they don't always go according to plan, there maybe more to the story than meets the eye etc.. I'd be looking to see about a different specialist if your vet is not happy with the one he keeps mentioning. What about being referred to a vet school?

I agree with suejaw, get referred to another specialist. There are always going to be operations that go wrong. We'd never have anything done if we thought it would go wrong, but I don't see how your Vet can carry on emptying his anal glands on a weekly basis in the "hope" they may start working, they haven't for a year so why would they suddenly start now. It must make Robbie very sore keep being mucked about with. What happens if they are left for a longer period of time, say a month?

Well usually we get to around 10days or maybe 14 days if we are really lucky and he starts to get stainage round his back end and then the foul metallicy fishy smell comes back which is revolting, i think we got to 3 weeks back in the summer needing emptying and then since then things have gone right downhill. Some people have said when they start leaking just to ignore the smell and leave it but the problem is if i leave it too long he really attacks his feet more than he is doing at the moment and then in turn we get the bad skin infections through him licking his feet and making them so sore he gets open wounds so whichever way i just cannot win.

Can't you put a buster collar on him so he can't lick his feet, not ideal, but would stop the constant opening up of wounds and infections?

I think I'd try to leave longer intervals between the emptying and go from there, it may give them a chance to recover from being mucked about with too frequently, and they MAY start to work better now you've got his stools firmer. If you don't see an improvement I really think the only option is removal.

What you would leave them even if they were smelling and leaking?

As for the feet i put a comfy collar on when he is left but unfortunately he is still able to lick at the feet, are you meaning an elizabethan collar? as i feel longterm this is not an option as he has been licking his feet on/off now for around 18 months and he has times when he stops and then he starts back up again.

> What you would leave them even if they were smelling and leaking?

I'm not a vet, but to be continuously manually emptying them can't be good for him, they will never get a chance to recover. If possible I would leave them longer, even if leaking and smelling, just to see if it does help long-term. But if your vet feels it is necessary then who am I to say otherwise, the last thing you want is infected anal glands or ruptured glands. Are they usually really full?

> As for the feet i put a comfy collar on when he is left but unfortunately he is still able to lick at the feet, are you meaning an elizabethan collar?

If he can still get to his feet wearing the comfy collar, then I'm afraid he needs to wear the Elizabethan collar so he can't get to them.

The vet said there is usually quite a bit in them when he does them and he said his glands are on the small side but he said this is a usual occurence in smaller breed dogs, some people have suggested adding all bran from the supermarket to his food anybody on here done this and had good results, i used the oat bran from the health food shop but didn't seem to do any good.

I thought you were going to try psyllium husks (mentioned in your previous post about metamucil)? Did you give that a go?