Anal Gland (Sac) Removal Surgery

[Satchmo 44]

Has anyones dog had the Anal Sac removal surgery.

My dog needs to get his glands emptied every three weeks and the dr. said that the gland tissue has gotten thicker over the years and he might need to have them removed.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

[micki76]

I have actually only heard some bad things about it, but others here may have some more optimistic input for you.

[lizbud]

Satchmo 44,

The Vet my family used for years always offered it as an
option when we brought in pups for spay/neuter surgery. I had
it done for my dog Buddy with no bad side effects. My daughter
also had this done for her dog Obie. (No problems). If your dog
is older than puppy stage, there might be possible side effects,
but that's true with any surgery. Did you discuss the pros & cons
with your Vet ? He knows your dog best.

[lv4dogs]

That is a tough surgery, i have worked with quite a few vets over the years & very few i have known or known of was able to perform the surgery perfect most of the time. Only because of one little itty bitty miss-hap will take away all your dogs control over his bowels.
Any good vet will tell you this is a last resort. Have you gotten a second opinion? Have you tried different foods & additives/supplements? The higher the fiber the more poops but the less likely to have anal gland problems.
Does your vet always just extract them or have they infused them before?

If you find a reputable vet that specialises in this field & you have tried other resorts I think you will have no problem with the surgery

[Satchmo 44]

As far as I know, they have been extracted. What do you mean by "infused"

[lv4dogs]

when they become very impacted or infected the vet will infuse them w/ an ointment then you return in a few days to a week to have that expressed, depending on the severity of it the vet may repeat that procedure one to 2 more times in a row, then they are ussually ok enough to just be expressed again.

Have you tried changing his diet?

[Satchmo 44]

I somewhat changed his diet, but he has a sensitive stomach. I put a bit of dry All Bran cereal in his food but it made him sick.

He has to get his glands done every three weeks. He has been getting it done for about 4 yrs. so it might be time for the surgery.

[lizbud]

Originally posted by lv4dogs
That is a tough surgery, i have worked with quite a few vets over the years & very few i have known or known of was able to perform the surgery perfect most of the time. Only because of one little itty bitty miss-hap will take away all your dogs control over his bowels.


This is very true & a reputable vet will tell you that it's a
possibility. I would not be afraid to ask the vet to make time
to discuss with you in advance. I also agree the vet should
have very good sugical skills and feel 100% comfortable doing
the surgery. A good vet would not hesitate to refer to to a
specialist if he/she had not done this procedure before or felt
uncomfortable with it. In my case & my daughters we had the same vet and he had excellent surgical skills.When my dog Buddy
was 1 yr old his hips were so bad that most people thought he
should be put down. My vet did a surgery that cut & retied
(repositioned) his leg muscles to hold the hip joints in their
sockets. He & I had many years together aferwards & he could
run & play like a normal dog. A good vet makes all the difference.

[lv4dogs]

personally myself I would make sure the vet has tried every other possibility & also try different diets. And I would also get a second opinion as well.

Talk it over w/ your vet to see what other diets or additives can be given to help your dog w/ the anal gland problem but will have the less chance of upsetting his sensative stomach.

My rott had the same problem for the first 3.5 years i had her she was in every 2-3 weeks she was reccomended to have the surgery so we went off to be seen by 5 other different vets & each suggested the same because we have already tried everything & anything. I decided to wait it out a little longer as i did not want to take the chance of her loosing control of her bowel movements a few weeks later I switched her food to nutro natural choice for large breeds and the problem dissapeared (along with many other problems). Even a simple diet with no addatives/supplements may help.

[chevyss]

We have a 4 year old Schnauzer mail. We had the surgery to remove the glands 10 weeks ago. DON'T DO IT!!!!! I would not recommend it to any pet owner.

Our poor little Monkey now has fical incontenence (sp). It has been the worst 10 weeks of our life with our dog. It is a nightmare.

Our little Monkey had to have the glands drained about every three weeks and it was like $32.00 each time, so, I asked the vet what options we had to keep from spending all this money. He said "We can operate and remove the anal glands". I asked the vet what was involved in the surgery? He said you bring him in on Wednesday, we do the surgery, keep him over night for observation and you can pick him up on Thursday. He did say that there was a slight chance that he could have the incontenence but that was such a low chance and he had not seen any dog have it in all that he had performed in seven years.

We are still so upset that we allowed the surgery to be done in the first place. Now they want to inplant a silicone ring to stop the problem. We'll see how it goes in the next month or so before we do anything.

It's not fair to the dog and it's ruined his behavior. He wants to hide all the time.

Good luck