# Food suggestion for anal gland issues



## BeautifulZeus_0614 (Feb 18, 2016)

I'm not sure if this is the righr place for this thread, but I need some help. 
I have a 4 month old male golden puppy and he is on Taste of The Wild whild prairie puppy formula ( grain free.)
About a month ago he developed a fishy smell from his behind. We went to the very for his last set of shots and to get his anal glands checked. They were full and needed to be expressed. The vet told us its usually a small breed dog problem, but that he may have that problem for the rest of his life or it may go away. It's been awhile ans there has been a metallic smell now coming from his behind and I'm assuming it's the glands again. He doesn't have hard stools just soft, but not too soft. I've been giving him some canned "fruitables" pumpkin and 4health canned food as well which helps a littlw.
If I change his food do you think it may help more?
I've read adding more fiber to his diet helps, but maybe he has soo much fiber or the Tatse of the wild is too high in fiber?

Any suggestions on what brand if food would be good or what to give him.


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

I have read the same thing about fiber. More fiber can help. How much fiber in is food. We feed purina pro plan and it has almost double the fiber in most foods at 7%. I have also heard shredded wheat or canned pure pumpkin. I am not sure how much shredded wheat or pumpkin so maybe someone can chime in on that.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

How is his poop? I've found that Kaizer's butt acts up a bit when his poops are mushy or if he has flat out diarrhea. It takes a little while for them to recover, but I've never felt the need to get it expressed again. It doesn't happen often though, the source of the diarrhea is this particular bone that he used to get (not anymore).

How often do they act up? Kaizer's been expressed once in his life, and when the smell came back four days later, we took him back to the vet and they gave us medicine for an anal gland infection. After that, we haven't had any related issues. Did your vet check for an anal gland infection?

Before switching foods, I'd suggest checking for an anal gland infection first. 

Also, I'm curious, is Zeus allergic to grains? Is that why you feed grain-free?


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## BeautifulZeus_0614 (Feb 18, 2016)

aesthetic said:


> How is his poop? I've found that Kaizer's butt acts up a bit when his poops are mushy or if he has flat out diarrhea. It takes a little while for them to recover, but I've never felt the need to get it expressed again. It doesn't happen often though, the source of the diarrhea is this particular bone that he used to get (not anymore).
> 
> How often do they act up? Kaizer's been expressed once in his life, and when the smell came back four days later, we took him back to the vet and they gave us medicine for an anal gland infection. After that, we haven't had any related issues. Did your vet check for an anal gland infection?
> 
> ...


His poops are in between. They are not firm, but not too soft. We talked to a nutrionist at our local pet store and they suggested a grain free food for him and the other puppies in the house. The food he was on when I got him was Purina Puppy Chow and it made him sick. He also had hookworms for a while too so it was a mixture of things that were making him sick. We tried Blue wilderness as well and that was making his poops even softer so I went back to Taste Of the Wild. 
I've been looking today for cheap end gold quality foods. I'm thinking 4health puppy formula since I found one that isn't grain- free and it's easy to find at our local Tractor Supply.


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

Why not try purina pro plan. All the formulas have around 7% fiber. Puppy chow is bad the proplan is good.


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## BeautifulZeus_0614 (Feb 18, 2016)

I thought about that one as well since I've heard good things on here about it.
I'm also going to call the vet tomorrow or the next day to schedule an appointment to get them drained one more time and have them check it out and give me some advice. I took a look today after I gave him a bath and there seems to be some sort of abscess or something on him with yellow centers in them. There's a few of them all around the area, but I haven't figured out just by researching what it could be. I'm a but worried though that it may be an infection. So I'll go to the vet and have them see what it is and get that taken care of first before I switch the foods. 
Poor baby boy, I had no clue that my golden would have had so many issues and he's only 4 months. There was the food issue, hookworms for 3 months with medicine, dry skin, and now this.


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## Rob S. (Feb 2, 2014)

I would try Abady. Stools are very hard. The food is well tolerated and exceptional quality. The best dry food I have used.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

My Great Pyrenees had issues. A breeder told me to give him two pieces of shredded wheat cereal a day - it worked!


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

BeautifulZeus_0614 said:


> I'm not sure if this is the righr place for this thread, but I need some help.
> I have a 4 month old male golden puppy and he is on Taste of The Wild whild prairie puppy formula ( grain free.)
> About a month ago he developed a fishy smell from his behind. We went to the very for his last set of shots and to get his anal glands checked. They were full and needed to be expressed. The vet told us its usually a small breed dog problem, but that he may have that problem for the rest of his life or it may go away. It's been awhile ans there has been a metallic smell now coming from his behind and I'm assuming it's the glands again. He doesn't have hard stools just soft, but not too soft. I've been giving him some canned "fruitables" pumpkin and 4health canned food as well which helps a littlw.
> If I change his food do you think it may help more?
> ...


Is the pumpkin you are giving him pie filling or pure canned pumpkin? Make sure it is pure pumpkin.


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## BeautifulZeus_0614 (Feb 18, 2016)

The pumpkin came from the pet supermarket it's pure. The pie filling I read is bad for them so I never give him that


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## Tennyson (Mar 26, 2011)

My boy had the gland issue once. Vet came and expressed them. Now I throw a handful of shredded wheat in his food once a day. He eats raw sweet potatoes, yams, apples, pears and every veggie I eat except for iceberg lettuce. Haven't had the problem since. Oh yeah, I give him the long raw carrots. Vet said the baby carrots can cause a blockage.


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## BeautifulZeus_0614 (Feb 18, 2016)

Alright so I haven't called the vet yet, due to a passing in the family yesterday. 
But I think I figured out what may be the caude of the butt issue. 
He's had dry skin, the butt issue started about a month ago, and then I noticed the other day that his ear smelled and we're extremely dirty. He usually has very clean ears without me cleaning them.
So I cleaned them last weekend. Check again today because they still smell ans they looked like I hadn't cleaned them at all. 
I went ahead and cleaned them ans noticed that they are a bit red and they have rash like spots. They also seem to make him itchy. So I'm now thinking he may be allergic to his food. All of the above can be from an allergy. So just pinpointing what he's allergic to is going to be the hard part


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

Allergies can also be environmental. My oldest golden has a seasonal, environmental allergy. We have to do a skin allergy test to be 100% sure what it is and then we can get a specific allergy treatment. He's 3 and we noticed a pattern. It's worst when it's wet and non-existent in the summer.


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## BeautifulZeus_0614 (Feb 18, 2016)

ArchersMom said:


> Allergies can also be environmental. My oldest golden has a seasonal, environmental allergy. We have to do a skin allergy test to be 100% sure what it is and then we can get a specific allergy treatment. He's 3 and we noticed a pattern. It's worst when it's wet and non-existent in the summer.


Yeah that was the very very first thing I thought for his dry skin. We live in a woodsy area. Well actually our whole house is surrounded by woods. I have never had allergies until I moved here. So I suspected if could have been the same thing for him.


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## SableHart (Dec 4, 2014)

We had issues with our golden, and my sister-in-law did with her spaniel until we both found out it was allergies. Once we changed the food for our dogs neither one of us has had anal gland issues. I'm a little worried that your pup has an ear infection & you might want to get that checked.


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## BeautifulZeus_0614 (Feb 18, 2016)

SableHart said:


> We had issues with our golden, and my sister-in-law did with her spaniel until we both found out it was allergies. Once we changed the food for our dogs neither one of us has had anal gland issues. I'm a little worried that your pup has an ear infection & you might want to get that checked.


He unfortunately did when I took him to the vet. I got some medicine for his eats and switched his food to Purina pro plan large breed puppy and he us doing great on that. I have not smelled the gross metallic/fish smell from his glands or anything. His poops have gotten a lot harder as well. So changing the food did the trick! Thank you all for the help and advice. ?


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