I'm putting this in its own thread rather in the hope that it might help some other hapless dog owner one day. Last night OH noticed that Xena was licking her vulva/butt area more than normal. Then she changed sleeping positions and he noticed a wet patch, slightly discoloured and with a fishy odour. He assumed it was vaginal discharge, and when he told me about it this morning I agreed. Made an appointment to see the vet etc. At the vet's - as soon as I said "fishy odour" he said "ah, sounds like anal glands", and sure enough, they were full This was a surprise to me because her poops are mostly nice and firm, and I've only ever seen her butt-scoot twice. Anal glands have been discussed on here before, but it had never even occurred to me that they could have been the problem. Hopefully they don't become a reoccurring problem, but I am grateful that it wasn't vaginitis! FISHY ODOUR = ANAL GLANDS!
And if her mouth smells fishy, you know what she's been licking! Snowie has never butt-scooted - he twists and licks instead. And his poos are usually firm (raw fed).
Same here, monty's poos are pretty firm and I have never seen him scoot, however we have then checked and emptied every 3 to 4 months as tend to build up otherwise... once smelt, never forgotten.
Harley didnt scoot, or have the fishy odour but she had the slightly brown discharge and the winner was...anal glands. We had them cleared and no problem since.
Not sure if this is a good thing or not.... When Vanilla had anal glands (luckily only twice so far), hers smelled sweet. Even the Vet was surprised, as we could not figure out what it was as everybody says they smell 'fishy'.
