Gland operations

[Grey_Eventer]

has anyones dog had one to remove the glands? our 2 year old has terrible problems with them, has to empties once a month and gets very sore and is constantly licking her bum

(definitley not worms-checked with vet) we are considering the operation but understand it is fairly risky?
your experiences please..

 

[KarynK]

I hear of this a lot and if you really want to explore all avenues before an operation then you have to look at the purpose of that gland, which if it is the anal gland it is basically a grease gun.

It's whole purpose is to help expell hard fecal matter from a dogs natural diet, raw meaty bones. So if you wanted to stop the symptoms go raw. A diet of 80% bone to meat ratio (what you see on chicken wings) would give the gland something to do on a regular basis other than save it up.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I have had one dog operated but I'm a little busy, I'll be back a little later.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Sorry in advance for the descriptions in my reply

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According to what I know, the anal glands main purpose is to add scent to the poo, scent that f.ex. is involved in marking their territory. Poo with more solid consistency makes it easier for the anal glands to empty themselves, when the poo is passing the anal glands on its way out but they are emptied in the end of the pooing. I've even read that if you look at a dog, in direct light, when they're pooing and they empty their anal glands, you can see that after the poo it comes a few droplets with the last contractions.


I'm certain that the reason for why one of my late bitches needed to have her anal glands removed, came from that she didn't want to tell other dogs that she'd been there by marking it as her territory with her poo. So as I recall, after lots of problems and three infections, we decided to have them removed when she was about 2 to 2,5 years old.
One risk with the operation as I understand it, is that when the poo is passing the wound it can cause an infection and if that happens, again due to the location of the wound, it can be difficult to get sorted. Another thing that can make the operation more difficult is if it has developed fistulas in the area around the anal glands. My bitch never had any problem with the operation and I don't remember how big the risk was for something to happen.




However as KarynK suggest, if your dogs poo isn't so solid, it could be worth trying to change her food to something that makes her poo more solid. Personally, I use a completely unscientific tramp-test, when they have pooed I sometimes sort of gently tap, tramp with one of my shoe covered feet on the poo. If there is no resistance at all, it definitely doesn't have a solid consistency, ideally you can tap, tramp a little on it and it doesn't get stuck under your shoe, plus it sort of only gets a little bit flattened but still basically has its round "sausage" shape.

Also if she is a long haired dog, you can also try and trim the fur around her anus short. Sometimes parts of the poo or the secretion from the anal glands can get stuck in the fur around the anus on a long haired dog and cause irritation that if it's not dealt with, later can lead to inflammation in the anal glands.



Good luck whatever you choose.