How often to have anal glands expressed?

Piper's mom said:
I feed my boys raw and I've never had to do this (Piper is 5 1/2)...they have nice firm poop. Perhaps her stool isnt as firm as you think it is? I've read that doing this too often can actually damage the glands. I'd add some more fibre (and dont go by what the dog food manufacturer tells you they add, the amount of pumpkin in it is probably minisule), even just adding raw veggies to the food will help. The firmer the poop the more the anal glands are released every time they poop. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the suggestions. I always pick up after her, even in my own yard. So I know her stool is pretty firm and doesn’t stain grass. She’s on a diet consisting of 50% Hills Gastrointestinal Biome kibbles and 50% home cooked meats (ground beef and chicken breast). I may add some veggies to the meat. What raw veggies do you suggest?
 
There's not many veggies my guys wont eat so they get pretty much everything from green beans (these I cook) to broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce (this is mostly water), zucchini, green or red peppers etc etc. The only thing is I mince them in the food processor first, too rough a chop they pass through pretty quickly and they don't get as many nutrients from them. Also raw bones (I give chicken backs) will really bulk up the stool. Their favorite meal...I say winner winner chicken dinner:ROFLMAO: and they get so excited cause they know what's coming hahaha
 
Piper's mom said:
There's not many veggies my guys wont eat so they get pretty much everything from green beans (these I cook) to broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce (this is mostly water), zucchini, green or red peppers etc etc. The only thing is I mince them in the food processor first, too rough a chop they pass through pretty quickly and they don't get as many nutrients from them. Also raw bones (I give chicken backs) will really bulk up the stool. Their favorite meal...I say winner winner chicken dinner:ROFLMAO: and they get so excited cause they know what's coming hahaha
Click to expand...
Wow, your dogs are great veggie eaters. I had never thought pups would eat so many types of veggies.
 
Hannah said:
I'm just hoping to get a bit of a general idea with this one. I had my two shelties at the vet last week because they'd both been scooting a bit recently. Apparently Pepper's anal glands were very full and Honey's moderately so. The vet said to come back in three months to see where they're at, and it may need to be done on a fairly regular basis.

Is this normal for shelties? My dogs are four and five and between them I've only had their anal glands done a couple of times before in their lives. I feel bad that it had got bad recently but it wasn't until the scooting that I noticed a problem... however they've been a bit smelly lately but I didn't register that it might be an anal gland issue. I'm thinking I might need to make some changes to their diets. Any info/ideas would be appreciated :)
Click to expand...


48 years of shelties and never had to have anal glands expressed.

sounds like you just got lucky with the dog lottery verses a sheltie thing. It is an easy procedure to my understanding-!but not one I want to do!
 
Piper's mom said:
I read an interesting article by Dr.Karen Becker just a few days ago regarding anal glands (I was beginning to think Piper had a problem, turned out he was just a tad constipated lol) and a lot of it has to do with diet. When a dog has a firm bowel movement just the process of passing it helps to keep their anal glands clear (it's actually their way of scenting their poop so other dogs smell it)...if your dog has looser or soft poop then they don't work to keep the glands from filling.
She also mentioned that doing them too often can actually bruise the anal glands thus causing more problems down the line (some groomers do them on a monthly basis).
I would try to add some fibre to the diet if the poop isn't firm to ensure they keep them clean.
Years ago my mom had a Cocker and he ate THE WORST diet (I was a teenager and didn't know any better then), and he was always having them done...now I know why lol.
Click to expand...
That leads to a question- do you do canned or dry? Just curious if a correlation
 
Today, I finally sent my dog to her vet to have her anal glands checked. She doesn’t have loose stool, nor does she scoot, but the fishy smell never ends.

The doctor expressed her anal glands and told me they were pretty empty. He was only able to express out one drop from each side. There’s no infection or inflammation. However, he said Sparkle naturally had very stinky anal glands, much worse than most dogs. The two drops he expressed stank up the entire exam room. He said there’s pretty much nothing I could do about it and if I couldn’t stand the strong odor, I could opt to have her anal glands removed.
 
Sunflower77 said:
Today, I finally sent my dog to her vet to have her anal glands checked. She doesn’t have loose stool, nor does she scoot, but the fishy smell never ends.

The doctor expressed her anal glands and told me they were pretty empty. He was only able to express out one drop from each side. There’s no infection or inflammation. However, he said Sparkle naturally had very stinky anal glands, much worse than most dogs. The two drops he expressed stank up the entire exam room. He said there’s pretty much nothing I could do about it and if I couldn’t stand the strong odor, I could opt to have her anal glands removed.
Click to expand...
That's interesting (in an odd way that only dog people could understand_. Della stinks too, can't even stand having her in the bedroom atm. Never had a dog with anal gland issues before.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top