anal glands

[beeniesmom]

Ugh, A few days ago Beenie got a swollen anal gland and it popped after a day. Yuck.
The vet said that some dogs have this problem. It may go away on it's own or she may have to have them (the glands) removed. I sure hope not.
She doesn't seem to bothered by it at the moment but you can tell it's a bit unconfortable when she poops.
Sorry to bother you all with this.
I was just worried and curious if this has ever happened to anyone else.

[abbersmom]

Abby has had problems with anal glands a couple times...and it was very uncomfortable for her. The vet had to "express" them both times while I held her...yelping quite indignantly (and quite smelly, I must ad). I understand that they can get infected & cause problems too...the 1st time we had it done they put her on antibiotics because she had a pretty high temp, too. She's almost 4 & we've done this twice.

[beeniesmom]

Yeah, she has been put on antibiotics too.

[KYS]

I can usually tell when Rocky's glands are full.
He starts to have a bad oder.
But he and I have been lucky because,
usually with-in 24 hours the smell is gone,
so I figure it must have been released when
he pooped.

[lizbud]

Originally posted by KYS
I can usually tell when Rocky's glands are full.
He starts to have a bad oder.
But he and I have been lucky because,
usually with-in 24 hours the smell is gone,
so I figure it must have been released when
he pooped.

I'm pretty sure a Vet told me that normally anal glands release
fluid when the dog poops. Sometimes it doesn't happen or they are emptied enough & become backed up & infection can then
set in. It can be quite painful for them. Good news is it can be
fixed.

[pnance]

2 of mine had anal gland problems, one usually in relation to his allergies, so we'd treat those, "express" him and he'd be fine. The other one was because when she was younger she had severely malformed glands. Even the vet had problems "expressing" her. We'd started to discuss removing them when she seemed to grow out of. Once in awhile she'll give off a "smell", but within a couple of hours it's gone. Here's a site I looked at when we were checking into it. It was awhile ago, so this is the only one I still have but it might at least give you a general overview.

http://www.allpetsmacomb.com/analglands.html

[beeniesmom]

Thank you for the link pnance.
It has a lot of useful info.

[pnance]

Sure, I'm glad it helped. Hope she's doing better.

[Lexi_Lover]

I'm just wondering what happens here because it hasn't happened to Lexi, and I don't know what to do, and how I know, a whole bunch of stuff, can somebody clue me in, Thanks!

[beeniesmom]

Well, Lexilover, the symptoms are obvious.
A swollen red ball on the side of your dog behind.

[lv4dogs]

Originally posted by beeniesmom
Well, Lexilover, the symptoms are obvious.
A swollen red ball on the side of your dog behind.

Actually thats one of the last symptoms. A lot of the time you will notice them scootching their rear on the ground, licking, biting &/or scratching at their rear. If left untreated then you usually see a slight irritation near their rectum, then if they become impacted you sometimes see a red bump on either or both sides of their rectum.

I'd feel lucky if I were you. It seems as if your dog is able to empty his glands on his own.