Anal Glands (Again!)

Hi Guys,

Last Saturday Willow had a trip to the vet to get her anal glands drained. The vet had said they were quite full, but not infected. Grand.

Now yesterday I noticed her chasing her tail and licking away down there again. Today she's still licking and had a wee "scoot" on the floor.........

Would she really need them done again so soon?
Any theorys or experiance with this please?

Has she been wormed recently?

I think yes they can refill really quickly...that's why my vet said to put m'laddo on a course of piriton the last time, to stop that happening??
I think (but could be wrong) once they have been manually emptied, the dog is more predisposed to needing them manually emptied???

She was last wormed two weeks ago....actually a month early since I thought it was every two months instead of every 3.

I'm just surprised that they have got blocked up again so quickly (if that indeed is what it is). I don't want to have to empty them myself.... but I just couldn't keep up to paying to have them done every week!!!

i'm sure i read somewhere that feeding the dogs raw carrot helps with anal glands because they stimulate them when passing the carrot.
not sure how true it is thou

If they were very full then they will probaly be sore and enlarged slightly still which can cause them to still scoot and lick round there.
But yes they can also start to fill again very quickly. I have had two dogs that had continual problems and ended up having thier anal glands removed as the problems got worse and they had no respite.

What do you feed? try adding some fibre to the diet or feed raw meaty bones, if the dog as firm stools they should empty the glands when defecating.

She is currently on Burns Mini Bites, changing over to the adult range sometime soon. I add a sardine to her tea most evenings and she gets the occasional sausage, about once every ten days I guess.

She always has a large bone on the go here; taking a few hours chewing at it every day. (She loves them!)

It was suggested to me to add bran to her diet. I think it was one spoonful per meal.

I notice at home her stools are rather firm. But out on walks they are loose, I guess from the excitement of being out perhaps. She prefares to hold on till we are out on a walk to toilet rather than use the garden at home.

Hi Evie just a couple of thoughts, maybe without her leg Willow is having a little difficulty turning around to clean herself and this should improve as she becomes more used to three legs. It might be an idea to clean her yourself with wipes for a while if she isn't very clean

The anal glads could still be sore or feel odd after emptying best to keep an eye on the back end to see all is well. I empty Amy's anal glands myself every 6 weeks .

Not sure if this is any help - My springer suffers from blocked anal glands - keep your used egg shells and put them in with the dinner.

Passing them (much like bones) helps keep them clear.

If you use eggs a lot then obviously it's a cost effective method.