Anal gland issue - do not read if eating your tea!

[futuramafan]

Hi

I took Wallace to the vets a few weeks ago as he was licking his back end a lot. They emptied his anal glands (poor thing - his face was a picture) but then he didn't stop licking and I knew he wasn't right. Yesterday the vet found pus and blood in one gland and he's on antibiotics for 8 days. They suggested adding bran to his food to firm up his stools and so we went to the pet shop to see what we could get. They had capsules that were really expensive and the lady said not to use them but instead to just add bran to his food. Can I crush bran flakes and add them and if so how much? Anyone had a similar experience? Poor boy - he seems a lot brighter today and gobbled his antibiotic laced dinner.

Thanks!

[alfiemoon]

I have a friend who swears by grated carrot in her dogs food to help/prevent blocked anal glands and she heard this from somewhere else. Worth a try.

Greta had a problem a while back, no scooting along the ground but sneaky licking when she thought we weren't looking. She'd developed an abscess in that area. AB's plus weekly expressing for a few times, then bi-weekly and then it seemed to resolve itself. The vet showed me how to check whether they were building up in case I needed to bring her back in.

Good luck...not nice.

[alexandsteve]

Just start with a heaped table spoon to start with for a few days so not to irritate his tum and see how he goes on then a couple of heaped table spoons should be ok X

[ragsysmum]

We used raw carrot daily which my girl happily ate plus a daily measure of Protexin profibre and had no further trouble. Have a full tub of profibre I can send if you or anyone else wants/uses it.

[vickyb]

I tried all sorts for Trixie including Peridale granules from the vet and nothing made a difference. Vet said sometimes it does help but not always but well worth a try. Poor girl used to have hers emptied pretty much monthly and they got infected once which was a nightmare.

We once saw a new vet who stood behind Trixie and as she squeezed the the awful stinky stuff flew up in the air and all over the vet including her hair  After she'd shot off to get changed the vet nurse was laughing and said they only do that once in their careers  The smell is dreadful if you've never smelt it.
Bod obligingly empties his at home every so often   but they never bother him he doesn't lick or scratch them.  We actually had them removed from our bridge boy Zeus as he had such trouble and he was really distressed by them. Although there is a slight risk of incontinence he was fine and it was one of the best things we had done.

[futuramafan]

Great advice - will try the carrot and also the profibre. The licking has all but stopped but crikey I don't want that coming back again. Vickyb arrgghhh having seen what comes out there is no way at all that I would want that in my hair!!!!

[ragsysmum]

Jun 1, 2015 14:45:59 GMT -5 futuramafan said:

Great advice - will try the carrot and also the profibre. The licking has all but stopped but crikey I don't want that coming back again. Vickyb arrgghhh having seen what comes out there is no way at all that I would want that in my hair!!!!

If you want me to send you the full new tub of profibre I have, PM me with your postal address.

[dylansdad]

Can't add anything, except to say when Dylan Whippet had trouble with his glands, the vet gave then a squeeze and his surgery wall ended up looking like a Jackson Pollock painting