Please can anyone advise? my 2 yr old spayed bitch has a horrible fishy smell both from her mouth and her back end, I know this is probably due to her "anal glands" but I'd like to know if there's anything I can do other than take her to vet and allow the vet to empty her glands, I really don't want to go down that road because it would possibly end up either having to take her every so often or attempt doing it myself (which I have no intention of doing), her food hasn't been changed at all since she was a pup so I'm not sure what is causing this but she also gets very wet down below along with the stinky fishy smell, before it seemed to only happen now and then, but, it seems to be more often now, and it smells everywhere, any advise would be greatly appreciated, thanks Kimm

Some dogs have anal glands that aren't positioned as 'the average' dog, and so don't empty easily no matter how perfect their diet. It sounds as though your bitch is ne of those; it's unfortunate but maybe you'll just have to accept it and have her glands emptied manually, either by the vet or by yourself.

Just out of interest, what are you feeding her?

I would imagine that she is getting wet "down below" because she is licking herself because she is uncomfortable or in pain. This would also explain the fishy smell from her mouth. More fibre in her diet might help, or some people find that changing a dog over to a raw diet helps. But if she is uncomfortable, I would say that it's only fair to take her to the vet (or groomer) to have the glands expressed and then see what you can do to prevent it happening again, or to reduce the incidence.

Has she had an upset stomach recently? This can lead to temporary anal gland issues in my experience.

The vet checked her out last time she had it but said there didn't seem to be pain, she was also wet due to this fluid seemingly leaking from her glands, I give her raw chicken wings every so often because someone on the forums suggested trying that but only give her them maybe once a week, I really don't want to start the raw food diet, and she's on proplan athletic which is what she's been on since she was about 10wks old, she's due her booster next month so maybe i'll ask the vet again about suggestions, just I also read on forums that once the anal glands start getting emptied it seems continuous, thanks for replies though.

I'd have to agree with Jeangenie with her 'position' comment.   My Basset is the first I've not been able to manually empty myself (I don't go inside, just apply pressure from the outside and then only if they are clearly feeling something back there).   He's large back there (well 'large' generally) and even a normal stool doesn't always make these glands work as they should.   Strictly speaking working as they should, these glands shouldn't need to be touched.   Only during periods of abnormal stools which can cause clogging and often infection needing a vet to manually drain them to see what's going on, and if necessary, then flush and pack with antibiotics.   And sometimes the antibiotics need to be switched too.

Once drained, they will refill as they are not meant to be 'empty'.   And this leads to diet - if the diet isn't correct, meaning abnormal stools, then the problem will only return.    Having had my most recent Basset treated, I do get my vet to check the glands when I have a visit for something else - unless of course, he's obviously feeling discomfort back there, and me SMELL.!!

As others have said she will need them emptied if that's the problem, as a groomer I do glands but only externally, any major problems are a vet job. It's possible changing her diet to something that gives firmer poos will help in the future.

Thanks for all the feedback, it's always good to read, her poo is fine, she has never really had a problem there, I know the anal glands aren't meant to be completely empty, just wanted to see if there was another way other than getting them manually emptied, like I said she's due her booster soon anyway so. i'll talk it over with the vet and see what they think.

I hear what you say about not starting your girl on a raw food diet but, in my experience, I have never had to have anal glands emptied manually since my dogs have been on a raw food diet.   I don't know how many meals you feed each day but you could consider chicken wings for one meal every day and your normal diet for the other/s.

I feed her twice a day around 7 am and 7 pm, I could do the chicken wings like that but how many would I feed her? And did you mean once a day or 1 day out the week? She enjoys the wings when she does get them anyway, if it's going to help then it's worth doing but I just don't want to change over completley, I also add fish4dogs salmon oil in her food, not that I think that has any part in it, that's just added to flavour her food a bit

I give my setters either 2 or 3 wings for breakfast every day and that is all they get in the morning.  It depends on the size of the wings and whether I think the dogs are getting fat.  What breed or size is your girl?  If you are concerned about giving them every day you could try every other day to see if that helps.
However, if her anal glands are causing her problems at the moment I would get them emptied as she must be uncomfortable and it is obviously upsetting you.

I agree with setterlover that she needs to be seen by a vet.  It isn't fair to make her wait until her booster is due.

Thanks again for the feedback, she's a weimaraner and every 2nd day would probably be good for her although I could do every day on 1 of her feeds if all went well, weimaraners are notorius with dodgy tummys sometimes, I'd also just like to say under no circumstances would I keep her from vet treatment if she was uncomfortable or in pain, it doesn't seem to bother her other than her cleaning herself when she starts leaking, and it's only because the smell is so bad when it happens that I have to wash anything she lies on, this isn't constant, it seems to be happening more than before but it's every couple of weeks or so,

I agree that she needs an expert opinion sooner rather than later. Impacted glands do not usually leak - I suspect that something else may be happening here. I don't want to try and diagnose remotely, but she could possibly have an infection.

They can 'leak' if they are seriously impacted - and the dog pushes against something.   This will expel just a little of what's in there, sometimes.

Thanks again all who have replied, I'll let you all know when she's been to vet the outcome, although I said she leaks, it's little dribbles but boy does it smell, and that's the only problem really because she's not in pain, she's not constipated nor is she unwell, she still does everything she normally does, but I will try her also with the chicken wings every 2nd day and thanks again everyone.

If you search the champdogs site(using the google site search on the bottom of page),
I'm sure when I was searching anal glands (my dog had infection) I saw somebody posting about leaking glands and how they got it treated so there was no more leaking...
I think it was antibiotic cream or such...

ok Noora, thanks for that,

Had a look through a few of the threads noora and found the cream I think it was fuside? There was also a few suggestions from others regarding anal glands and they mentioned bran and or yoghurt? Does anyone know what kind of bran and bio yoghurt? Thanks