If it's abcessed anal glands, we had that with Whisper. We did not see blood but the poor girl got impacted over and over till she got abcessed and infected and she eventually had the glands removed. Nobody told us to up the fibre content in her diet but I have read that might help. If you try that, adding a bit of cooked sweet potato is an easy way to do it without changing her food. SP has about 6 x the amount of fibre as pumpkin. Good luck, I hope you never have to deal with this again.
My old dog Billy had it once. I didn't even notice his glands were impacted until he started leaking liquid from them. Like your dog, really disgusting yellow gunk came out. He was also on antibiotics, and it cleared up really quickly, within a few days I would say. I felt terrible that I hadn't noticed it before - and you may be right about the fibre, he was really old and his teeth weren't great any more so I was giving him soft tinned meat. He was much, much happier once his glands were sorted out. He also had a couple of teeth removed, and after that was a happy chirpy old fellow.
Although to my mind it sounds horrid, sounds pretty straight forward to treat? Hope she feels more comfortable soon
yes shes on antibiotics for a week just need a check up in a weeks time, the blood was coming from her anal glands but yesterday it exploded couldnt believe it! will need take her abit more often for them.
It does smell vile Glad it seems to be something that should be easily sorted. I'm sure Tilly feels much better already.
Snowie's poos are usually very hard, come out like bullets, because he's on raw food, and the bone content does make for hard poos. And yet he had full anal glands, which seemed odd to me because hard poos, when passed, apparently squeeze the anal glands and empty them. Which is when the vet said that his allergies cause all his glands to secrete more (think of a runny nose from allergies). Thankfully he doesn't appear to have anal gland problems anymore, and I do notice that when he poos, the poos first come out, and then he does a little squeeze and out pops some anal gland secretion. In Snowie's case, I do believe that since he's been on epilepsy meds, the anal glands stopped filling up and causing problems. Not sure if there is a causal relationship: anal glands can apparently work overtime when a dog is anxious, and we always knew when a seizure was coming when he smelled "anal". Now, being medicated and less likely to have seizures, he might be feeling more relaxed, hence no more "anal" smell. (The latter does seem in contradiction to the allergy hypothesis! Or maybe they both worked together to exacerbate the problem.)
So pleased you have a treatment plan. That smell is not pleasant!! I still remember my husband's face when I asked him if I had anal gland "juice" in my hair when it happened -- and he came forward to sniff and said no, and I said, Smell on the other side, and then his face as he took another sniff followed by the rapid jerking back. The poor girl, she could not have been comfortable! Hope she feels better soon, I do believe the antibiotics should work fairly quickly. Regarding taking her to have them emptied regularly: is this what your vet suggested? I have read on a vet's blog that it can cause soft tissue damage (making matters even worse) and is not recommended unless absolutely necessary, and should not be done as a matter of course, for example, every time when going to the groomers.
haha aww its horrible isnt it! oh i didnt know that it could cause tissue damage! shes on raw food too 5 out of 7 days a week then other 2 just kibble. He didnt mention coming more regularly just to come back in a week to have them done again he said bad anal glands like tillys is more common in smaller dogs than labs. She does seem alot better now but still abit of yellow stuff coming away when i clean her bum. I will see what he says next time beacuse her glands normally sort themselfs out they got blocked and its never happened to us before so it was a shock when all the blood squirted out her bum
it doesnt look any better shes been on antibiotics for 4 days now and it is still red and she wont let me near her bum to look she growl were going back next week what can they do next ??!
So sorry to read this. Hopefully someone with more experience will drop by and give you advice or reassurance. Have you tried holding a cold pack on her bum? She might get relief from something cold. If she won't let you near, perhaps you can get her to sit on a cold pack -- you could use treats to keep her sitting there for a few minutes. I have used cold packs on Snowie when his allergic skin is raging red, and he seems much relieved afterwards. Could you not get someone else to distract her with treats while you take a look? I take it growling means that she must be in pain. I'd guess the vet might suggest steroids to rub on the affected area to bring the inflammation down? Snowie's anal glands weren't infected like your girl's, just the anus was very irritated from all the licking, so I used calendula cream on his anus -- it is very gentle and healing, and I prefer to use gentler products before reaching for the cortisone cream. But if she's growling, I suppose you're not even going to get near enough to try anything!! Best of luck! Oh, I also used to use apple cider vinegar on cotton wool to clean the area -- the vinegar is a good disinfectant. But it can sting raw skin!
yeah i tried something similar earlier and i think its made it red-er! thanks will just apply cool water now n again till next week
Poor girl! I would go back to the vet asap, rather than waiting till next week. The best thing to clean a wound is just saline - you can put it in an empty syringe and squirt it at the site or else use a clean/sterile pad or gauze ('feminine hygiene' pads are good). I wouldn't be putting any kind of cream or lotion on it. Definitely don't use vinegar - ouch!!
