I am posting for a friend. Her small JRT cross is expieriencing problems with one anal gland. It has formed and abscess and burst 3 times now but after 5-6 weeks of ABX settled down hoever this last time the vet has suggested having the glands removed. I have done a fair amount of research and get many differing opinions. It is a delicate op/painfull/may cause incontinence/takes weeks to heal/may get infected/sometimes not succesfull is a small piece of gland is missed. Then there are those who say it has been the best thing they ever did. Suggestions go from have it done to change the diet. Floydie is fed RC senior light and I wonder if a grain intellerance may be compounding the issue along with not enough fibre. I am tempted to suggest a raw or part raw diet (Raw would be best to get rid of the grain in my opinion) with the addition of a few chicken wings every week but I know she is not keen.
Any thoughts??
Aileen

Kai used to get very impacted anal glands and they got infected at the beginning of the year. Food makes a huge difference for him and I think it's the best starting point. Go through food to cover different types of intolerances. He's absolutely fine now I have him on Acana and a bit of raw, I personally think it was the grain with him or too much bone when fed a totally raw diet.

I personally hate RC due to the amount of grain in it and there are far better grain free completes out there which are cheaper. I'm sure CSJ do one, AG is good but has some form of grain. Some agricultural shops do their own grain free foods too. Personally I'd do a trial and error with grain and different meat types over a period of time to see what works and what doesn't.

Get them cleaned out and then start the new foods, hope they combat this soon x

If diet doesn't work (and it didn't in one of my Clumbers) my experience of the surgery has been positive.  Repeated infections meant I had no choice in the end and it was the best thing we ever did for him.  I know we were lucky as he never had any ill effects afterwards but it was all very straightforward and he was SO much happier within just a few days.  The emptying of infected glands was traumatic for both of us, he was obviously in so much pain and despite being usually stoic (no cries despite many back issues/surgeries) would cry horrendously .  Having said that I hope diet works for yours.

If you're looking for grain free kibble I can recommend Orijen, it's pretty dear but my picky princess is still eating it after 2 weeks, which I think makes it the 2nd longest food overall and the longest kibble she has condescended to eat.

A friend of mines Yorkie had this operation last year and she too has been great.  She had a lot of problems, constant infections etc and they tried allsorts of different foods to no avail.  She's been a happy little dog since.