Anal glands - they stink

[Jen Wren]

Fella and his anal glands are driving me mad. Every other day his bum smells like that awful fishy smell those of you with experience will know what I'm talking about.

I should be glad that he has no trouble expressing them but is there anything I can do to stop this. He always has occasionally left me a small patch of liquid on the sofa but now it's every other day which is a bit awkward when we go visiting. It's also very annoying for him cos Biggles takes a liking to his bum and will lick it on every occasion much to Fella's disgust Similarly is there anything to worry about?

Or is the price of rehoming my cuddly baby a stinky bum for the rest of his life

[cadbury]

The best thing I've found is to bulk food out with bran as it won't upset the balance of nutrion in the complete diet. Or if you feed them a good raw knuckle bone from the butchers that has been frozen then defrosted. thats my ten pence worth and what works for the hounds in our house. I know Nettie uses a herbal addative to the diet she feeds but i've never tried so can't coment, but it works for her hounds so that will be something else you can try, as not doubt she'll be along at some or pm her. The key is to firm Fella's poop up enough so the glands express when he poops rather than fron stimulation of licking ect.

[vickyb]

Nothing works for Trix, even had some granules from vet , peridale I think but did nothing.
Our last dog had them removed as he was on a good bulking food but expressed them himself almost every time he barked . It's rare that they do it as it can leave them incontinent and a lot of vets just won't do it but it was the best thing we ever did with Zeus.
Think they should go in 101 as Trix is literally licking herself silly right now and only had them emptied just over a week ago back to the vets tomorrow I think
Vet did tell me that to some dogs they smell like a bitch in season, hence the interest

[elmuervo]

Poor Fella. I feel for you.

Ellie's anal glands are the bane of her life. As I type she's fiddling with her back-end again, and her glands were only expressed a few days ago. We've been using pure oat bran as a bulking agent for months but to be honest it isn't really making any difference.

We've now been taught how to express her glands ourselves at home so that she doesn't have to go to the vet's every time, so her 'next time' will be our 'first time' . . . not really looking forward to that

I'd be interested to hear which herbal preparation Nettie uses. Like you we're looking for long-term solutions, but we've had no success really so far so we're willing to try anything!

Good luck, Hun.

Jo
x

[Jen Wren]

It's weird though cos before Fella would chew at his bum when they needed doing but this past couple of weeks he hasn't shown any signs of discomfort, chewing, licking, scooting (I'm running out of ings ) It's just the smell coming from his bum everyday. He's not bothered at all by it.

[Flaperoo]

No experience of this Jen, but hope you get it sorted soon

Mx

[vickyb]

Jan 6, 2009 13:37:29 GMT -5 Jen Wren said:

It's weird though cos before Fella would chew at his bum when they needed doing but this past couple of weeks he hasn't shown any signs of discomfort, chewing, licking, scooting (I'm running out of ings ) It's just the smell coming from his bum everyday. He's not bothered at all by it.

I know they can get infected or have an abscess but you'd have thought if that was the case he'd seem poorly. to poor Fella

[daisysmum]

Hi.
Daisy has this problem on and off. I've found that feeding her bran flakes and giving her a whole raw carrot bulks up her poo and helps to express the glands. I only do this every few days however so we don't cause any other problems ;)Twice a week usually does the trick! Good luck!