# Anal gland problems....



## Renee R (Mar 1, 2009)

Lily is a year old now, and it seems like ever since she turned 11 months she has had to have her anals drained monthly. We currently are feeding her wellness puppy, and will soon be changing her food to adult food (just finishing off her free bag.) Does anyone else have to get their dogs anals drained as frequently as Lily? 

Lily never seems to be bothered by her anals, since I have only seen her rub her bum once. I can basically tell she needs them drained by the smell :yuck: Lily's vet suggested to put her on a high fiber diet, and he suggested science diet w/d (I think that was the name, I know it is the weight control diet food.) I am just concerned over this food because Lily does not have a weight problem. 

If anyone else is having anal problems with their goldens, what do you feed your dog? Thanks so much.


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

you can add fiber to her diet anytime....just go the grocery store and get some human citrucell..sprinkle on her food and add water...


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

I have three dogs...one of them has had her anal glands emptied twice and she is 11 years old.... Monthly for such a young dog does seem like a lot to me...
The others have not had their manually expressed...


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## Renee R (Mar 1, 2009)

Yeah, I know it is a lot to me too. I used to work for a Vet (years ago) and it was rare that a large dog had to be expressed at all. Poor Lily and her bum problem. I forgot to mention that Lily has no problems with going #2, she does that 2-3x's a day and they are not small by any means.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I had a great pyrenees breeder recommend giving my dog one or two pieces of shredded wheat everyday.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

As long as your dog does not have a wheat allergy you might consider going with the shredded wheat or metamucil (make sure there are NO artificial sweeteners in it first) to see if the anal glands get better, before trying the WD that your veterinarian recommends.

I had a golden that needed monthly expressions but I resisted the WD food recommendation from the vet until his cancer diagnosis (hemangiosarcoma) and discovery of a secondary anal growth. He refused to eat the WD until I mixed his regular kibble in with it. He is the second dog I've had that refused anything Science Diet. The mixing of the two kibblies was not a great solution given each brand had its own vitamin/supplement formulation and I was not sure he was getting too much or too little of something, but it worked for us in the short term while we concentrated on his hemangiosarcoma. 

Also, does your golden have any other allergies or ear gunk? Anal sac issues can happen with dogs with allergy issues. 

I hope you find a good solution, especially since your pup is so young.


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## Renee R (Mar 1, 2009)

I do not believe she has allergies. Lily does get ear gunk sometimes, but only in her left ear (and that is uaually because she went in the pool.) Did your dog have small bm's?


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

My old border collie had to get his glands expressed almost monthly from the time we adopted him until he was about 9 years old (so around 7 years). Then we switched to Go! dog food, combo of wet and dry since his teeth weren't great, and we only had to get expressed once or twice a year after that. Not to mention his shaky back legs went away, he put on weight (which he needed to do), his eyes/ears cleared up...I have no doubt that food added years to his life. He was going downhill rapidly around 9/10 yrs of age, and perked right back up after we made the food switch until a few months before he was put down at 15 yrs. (jan 2010)


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## Katie and Paddy's Mum (Mar 31, 2010)

My vet once told me that once you begin to manually express the anal glands, that you often have to keep doing it. He advised against doing it, unless they become uncomfortable and impacted. He said that it should never be a routine part of grooming.
I had mentioned it to him as I often noticed that Katie would express her glands. And then she would be stinky for a while - and I thought perhaps they needed to be manually expressed. He said it was quite normal for dogs to express their glands on their own. You see Katie can be quite easily spooked. If one of my young nieces drops something unexpectantly she will often run to get away from the sound and then I notice sometimes the smell that follows. I naturally assumed in those cases that something was wrong and maybe she needed some manual expression - he told me it was just a natural occurence that can be fear motivated (when startled etc.)

Not sure if this is similar to what is happening with your pup.

Again, I am not sure of the veracity of my vet's advice...I thought I would just put it out there.

The fiber sounds like a great idea. And definitely ensure as one poster wrote that it has no artifical sweeteners as they are very toxic to dogs.
I have also read that an excess of flax seed oil can cause impacted glands. I doubt though that a 9 month old pup would have this issue!
All the best to you.


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## MILLIESMOM (Aug 13, 2006)

My Lab Pearl has trouble with her anal glands they have abscessed three times. It is very painful for the dog and very messy. I finally switch her to California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato and I mix it with the California Lite. It does the trick she has not had any problems in over a year. I buy an eighteen pound bag of the CN H& SP with eight pound bag of the diet. The mix works for her. California Natural is a good food. I do not like Science Diet. Many vets push it because they sell it.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Renee R said:


> I do not believe she has allergies. Lily does get ear gunk sometimes, but only in her left ear (and that is uaually because she went in the pool.) Did your dog have small bm's?


My anal sac dog had normal firm bms, no problems there, he just could not fully express them. He was a rescue and we don't know about the first 5 3/4 years of his life and whether his owner manually expressed or not and possibly damaged them. Whatever the reasons our vet said a few dogs just need the extra help. 

Our other golden expresses his on his own, a little stinky at times but at least he gets the job done himself.


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## uscgirl (Apr 19, 2010)

*stinky bum*

We have had Sonny for almost 3 months now and he has expressed his glands in the house 3 times.... he did it on the couch last night and I am having a time getting out the smell.... he is 2yrs and a rescue so we don't know about his previous life... but he was at the vet 2 days ago and she checked him as part of the routine exam and said they didn't need expressing, that they weren't full... so we think he must have overactive glands ... he hasn't been too excited or stressed when it happens,,, the last time he was asleep on the couch... it just happens and then he is always sad when it happens... from what i am reading the opinion is that if they can do it themselves don't start doing it for them... any other suggestions?


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

I have a question about the shredded wheat or metamucil. How much should I give, if I were going to try that? (I know someone said a couple pieces of shredded wheat, but that stuff comes in like a hundred different sizes nowadays.)

I think Riley might be having a problem with his, too. I've noticed him biting and trying to pull the hair around the base of his tail. Everything else with him is perfectly normal, so I wondered if those glands might be impacted. He has an appointment with our vet tomorrow morning, but after that, maybe I'll try adding some fiber.


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## Duncan (Aug 18, 2010)

I rescued my wonderful boy about a year ago and am having similar problems w the anal glands!! PU! I had him on Innova but the fiber content was to low. Switched to Newmans which is high in fiber, but his coat is not as nice, I've seen a couple of flakey elbow areas, hes itchy (alleries I'm thinking) and the PU is back! I need a high quality food... help!!! I'll add ground flax to his food for fiber, I just need a good dog food! He was in such bad shape when I got him and is just the biggest love bug ever!


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## pwrstrk02 (Aug 11, 2010)

when we got our pup (now 2 yrs old) she chewed at her bum all the time. the vet said that some dogs just clean themselvs more than others. he said that it wasnt impacted or anything, just something that she felt she needed to clean. well she doesnt do it as much anymore, mabey once a week. i dont know if it slowed down because she is growing out of it or if its cause ive gotten onto her so much for doing it. good luck, that is some stinky stuff.


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## uscgirl (Apr 19, 2010)

Sonny still has an "expression" about once a month... we recently changed his food from Blue Buffalo Adult to Blue Buffalo Healthy Weight (bought it by accident), and his stools are now really firm, so we are hoping that his "expressions" will decrease. I have tried to manually do it when it is getting around that time, but never can get anything to come out. So we are waiting to see what happens with this new food.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

I asked about this in another thread too. Cosmo, now 4 months, smells awful alot of the time. When we express his glands (we did once) nothing really comes out but that's definitely where the smell comes from. It's gotten so bad that we don't want to have people over. He eats Orijen. Maybe we'll ask at our next vet visit.


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## uscgirl (Apr 19, 2010)

well, the food hasn't changed anything for Sonny. almost exactly to the day he will "express", and there doesn't seem to be anything related to the incidents. he did it last night after i had written the previous post, and it has been exactly 4 weeks. i am writing it down now so i can keep track and be more prepared.... this time he was on the bed...but i caught it immediately as i was lying next to him when it happened... he was sleeping.... wheww!! it is really an offensive smell to humans!! i just put him in the tub and bathed his bum... a couple of good soapings does the trick... : ) i can tell he can't help it, and is always ashamed when it happens. i guess we should be glad he can express them without help (from most of the research i can find) and be grateful that it is not frequent.


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