*WARNING: slightly yucky topic* Hello everyone. I hope you and your Labradors are having a lovely weekend. I wanted to just reach out and ask if anyone has had the same experience I'm having with my Labrador or if anyone had any wisdom. I feel very alone with it and never know what to do. She's overall extremely well: fit, happy, boisterous, bossy even, very clever, the top of her Fun Agility class, insanely glossy coat. But she's always had one niggling health problem or another. As soon as one clears up and vanishes, she develops another. She had recurrent UTIs until a year old, then eye infections last summer, and since Christmas she has had anal gland issues. We're never away from the vets for long because I never feel I can leave it when she's sad, hot or sore. At the start of the year, we noticed she was squirting anal gland fluid. The vet emptied them, said they were very full and asked us to come back in a month to see how fast they fill. Since then, she's been emptied every 1 month to 1.5 months. Mid-way through the year, she was sad and hot, and the vets felt she had a small anal gland infection, which cleared with a week of antibiotics. By Wednesday last week, I could tell she needed them emptied again. I can usually tell, because either she starts squirting when she's relaxed, or she 'whips' around suddenly towards her bottom. Then she comes to me and seems upset or shocked. I assume this is caused by flickers of pain. This time she was 'whipping' around periodically, and licking her back end more than usual. They emptied her out on Friday and the vet nurse told me one side was full and the other wasn't. Since then though, she is still having moments of 'whipping'. In the past, she has been a bit tender after an emptying, which is understandable, but she seems genuinely upset after each 'whip' and it's happened 3/4 times since Friday. A few weeks ago one of the vets at our surgery made a point of listing how many issues she'd had and all the times we'd been in. I'm worried that my dog is still sore and don't really understand why. I also worry that the vets must see me coming up to the door and think: "oh god here she comes again, what's wrong with her and her dog!" If anyone has been there before or has any thoughts on anal gland soreness or always being at the vets I'd love to hear it. Thank you in advance Just for full health context, my Labrador is: Female 2 Years Old Black, show type, born and raised in the UK We brought her home from her wonderful and scrupulous breeder at 8 weeks after lots of time with her Mum and she's lived a big, silly life with me and my husband in the English countryside ever since. She was spayed at just over a year old, after her first season She eats dry food with a daily Protexin fibre supplement and we give her a probiotic if she gets a bit of an upset tummy. She's at what the vet feels is her 'ideal' weight. We walk once/twice a day.
I don't have any advice for the issues your dog is suffering but I do think you hsould change vets. If she is needing to be emptied so often they should never have pointed out how often you come, really they should be trying to help you figure out why it's needed and in the meantime give you a 6 weekly appointment to empty her glands. A lot of vets have the ability to make you feel very stupid and that isn't going to help.
What’s even worse, they’ll involuntarily release gland stink as a reflex when scared/anxious/excited. Factor that with the things dogs freak out about... the vacuum, the light turning on, doors opening and closing, literally very normal human household things that are just... part of being civilized. Kodi nox
Oh bless, we started with anal gland issues just over a year ago, back and forth to vet to get them emptied every few months, upsetting for our Max and me. I looked all over the internet for any recommendations, was told put more fibre in diet, didnt work, change food, didnt work, eventually it was recommended to feed him raw chicken necks or duck necks, so i started max on three chicken necks a day, (RAW) that was over 9 months ago, and we have not had a anal gland issue since, he is on the same biscuits and naturo meat (although slightly less as he is having the chook necks) and in amazing condition, 31kg for a working lab breed, 3 1/2 Yrs old. Buy them from dogs butcher, who r about a 8 min drive from our house. I would recommend you try them, also has super clean teeth !
