Infected anal gland

[Lolli_lah]

Since Sunday my baby has been acting funky. She wanted to sit, all the time, and I thought maybe it was her back acting up at first but then she had some issues with pottying, she wasn't having diarrhea but I woke up to 3 piles of doo doo in areas she goes to specifically when she has an accident inside. So it may have been urgency but not loss of control, and was formed not runny.

So I was going to take her to the vet today but they are closed. This morning she's acting much, much better and her tail is up again when she walks but she still is sitting a lot. I took her out to potty (she just had to pee) and when we were walking back inside I noticed her butt looked dark. Last night she only had 2 little tiny slug sized poos that were slick, like mucousy after sort of seeming like she was having trouble going.

So I checked her butt today cuz I saw it looked weird outside, and her anal gland is definitely swollen and ouchie looking! I googled infected glands and found a site with photos, and it looks like exactly what is happening. The day before she was acting sick my boyfriend and my mom had said they saw her do a tiny "scoot".

So since the vet is closed today, will she be ok until tomorrow? Or do you absolutely think this is emergency vet emergency type? If I have to pay for it I have NO issues, but if it can wait then saving like 100% cost is better. Is this serious enough for emergency vet or can it wait until early morning

[Nancy1999]

There's a difference between an infected anal gland and a anal gland that is too full and needs to be emptied. An infected anal gland can be life threatening. Do you know how to empty a anal gland? Can you call your breeder? Maybe even a good groomer can tell the difference, but if there's any chance it's infected you should see a vet.

[Lolli_lah]

It's red and puffed out and there was a little blood, similar to the pictures on the website I saw. I'd just prefer to take her to her usual vet, but since it's holiday it's not open. I just don't want to risk her life or anything but she doesn't seem in pain or anything. She did yesterday but today she's been peppy and perky and doing things like normal. But don't want to risk her life or anything.

[margiepickens]

My Lexi just had a ruptured anal gland. She was pretty uncomfortable so we went right in. An antibiotic shot and some antibiotic liquid to take home was prescribed. Also, the vet said to use a warm wash cloth on her bottom. I can't tell you if this is an emergency, but if your pup is uncomfortable, I would take her in ASAP. I wouldn't want something like this happening to me where I was uncomfortable, so I wouldn't want my pup to be that way. Good luck with your little one.

[Lolli_lah]

This is the website Infected Anal Glands in Dogs—Anal Sacculitis the one with a little blood, I just noticed said this could be ruptured?! I think I should call the emergency!

[Teresiana]

Yes, I would take her in. Good luck!!

[mimimomo]

Mimi had anal gland sacculitis not too long ago. She was so uncomfortable & she has a way of letting me know that her anals are bothering her. She kept looking back @ her bum like something was poking her & kept sitting down & standing back up, very restless. She never scoots tho but she licks her behind. I've been expressing them ever since I got her bc she can't express it herself & my vet taught me how to express them externally bc I was taking her in every 2 weeks to get it expressed. This time, the vet had to internally express her glands. 1 was impacted & the stuff that came out was very pasty. TG there was no infection & she didn't bleed either, maybe I took her in b4 it got that bad. But vet said that her glands were inflamed & they can do laser therapy treatment which has good results. I opted not to bc I didn't know anything about it & it took Mimi 2 days for it to not bother her anymore.
I think a change in diet caused it, specifically the salmon in the kibble (maybe). So I switched them back to their reg kibble & it hasn't happened again. I'm not sure if it was food related or if it was something that accumulated & I was only expressing 1 gland while the other was not getting expressed, causing the impaction. So now, whenever she goes to the vet, I'll have them check her anal glands too just in case.

Maybe placing a warm towel on her bum area will help for now & you can take her in 1st thing in the morning. I hope she'll be ok!

[Nancy1999]

If it looks anything like those pictures, I'd take her in. I wish you the best of luck!

[mimimomo]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

If it looks anything like those pictures, I'd take her in. I wish you the best of luck!

Yikes! I didn't look @ the pics...yes, if it's bleeding & it looks like the pics, it might be a ruptured anal gland...very painful. Please take her in asap if you can, what did the emergency vet say?

[pink66]

My baby, Puff, had her anal glands surgically removed when she was 12 months old. We were seeing the vet 2x/wk. Since the surgery in May, she hasn't had any trouble. These glands are nothing to fool around with!

[Nancy1999]

Any updates?

[Lolli_lah]

Yes updates! Just been keeping an eye since we got home. Vet said since she's so picky about anyone touching her round the behind he wanted to sedate and clean, and do an enema since she hadn't pooped in 2 days so did that. Said she needs to poop in the next 2 days so just waiting to see, if not by tomorrow I'm supposed to call and he may do another enema and not sure what by then but I bet she will have one. I've been feeding her chicken and rice and a bit of kibble but she obviously won't eat the kibble. I also added a tablespoon of pumpkin once a day so the rice won't bind up her poops. That was the vets recommendation.

Switched her to iVet low fat food because he thinks she's overweight 30% and this may or may not have been a factor that could have had a hand in the glands. One was infected and ruptured, the other wasn't inflammed a lot but what was in it was so thick it never would have come out on it's own and it would have gotten like the other side. So a low fat diet is what she needs to be on. It has 6.5% fat, the food I was feeding her before was 15%. So it's a huge difference, I hope it works. It's also smaller kibble so maybe she'll like it.

She's been acting fine just sort of uncomfortable around the behind. It looks much, much better but still scabby. He said he fused the hole where it ruptured and hopefully it will heal and act as normal. I go for grooming next Tuesday so if everything is ok until then he will check her and do glands before the groomer sees her, since the groomer is at the office of the vet I see. I like it like that.

It's a new vet for me, omg he was soooooo nice and very thorough with all the information. They didn't do a single step without showing us what will happen and explaining, and showing us how much it cost and the various options (a wellness blood test vs a full CBC, etc). It was a great experience and I'm so grateful for finding the vet.

Not going to lie, we waited until today to take her. Yesterday she was walking around in a lot less pain and even bouncing around like she normally does, dancing for food, etc. So if she wasn't in extreme distress we wanted to wait because it was also a matter of establishing a new vet in the new area we live in that we wanted to do. If she had continued distress don't think we would not have taken her. We would have done anything and paid anything but we both felt it was not going to be horrible if we waited until early next morning and so we did.

So that's that. They cleaned out the sacs and did an enema, gave her a steroid shot and we give her half pill of antibiotic every day for 14 days. The new food is iVet brand, I never heard of it but I got a 50% off deal on a huge bag of it so I decided to try it. She needs to be 7 lbs for her patella not to act up on her and possibly for healthy gland drainage. She was 10.1 lbs today. She's not really fat, but I think just for her age he wants her down in weight plus how her problems are right now. She's healthy but adding weight can make these issues be problematic is how he described it, so I figure it can't hurt to lose a couple lbs for her.

I just keep praying that she goes poop. She's resting now. I was surprised after the sedation and all they did that she walked right out of that office. She wasn't groggy at all and wasn't scared, at least not more than the normal amount. The people there took time to notice you and smile at you and make you feel comfortable. I really like that. At my old vet, they were ok, but didn't take that extra second to give you a look and a smile. When you're stressed and worried half to death, those tiny gestures mean a LOT.

Oh and I almost forgot. I got 50% off this food so it literally cost me like $5.54. The ingredients aren't that GREAT, but the last couple years I been feeding her Purina One Beyond and it's not much better. She does fine on it and doesn't get intestinal problems so I figured it was fine. It was, except it was making her fat I guess! We even diligently feed her per instruction for weight.

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by Lolli_lah

Yes updates! Just been keeping an eye since we got home. Vet said since she's so picky about anyone touching her round the behind he wanted to sedate and clean, and do an enema since she hadn't pooped in 2 days so did that. Said she needs to poop in the next 2 days so just waiting to see, if not by tomorrow I'm supposed to call and he may do another enema and not sure what by then but I bet she will have one. I've been feeding her chicken and rice and a bit of kibble but she obviously won't eat the kibble. I also added a tablespoon of pumpkin once a day so the rice won't bind up her poops. That was the vets recommendation.

Switched her to iVet low fat food because he thinks she's overweight 30% and this may or may not have been a factor that could have had a hand in the glands. One was infected and ruptured, the other wasn't inflammed a lot but what was in it was so thick it never would have come out on it's own and it would have gotten like the other side. So a low fat diet is what she needs to be on. It has 6.5% fat, the food I was feeding her before was 15%. So it's a huge difference, I hope it works. It's also smaller kibble so maybe she'll like it.

She's been acting fine just sort of uncomfortable around the behind. It looks much, much better but still scabby. He said he fused the hole where it ruptured and hopefully it will heal and act as normal. I go for grooming next Tuesday so if everything is ok until then he will check her and do glands before the groomer sees her, since the groomer is at the office of the vet I see. I like it like that.

It's a new vet for me, omg he was soooooo nice and very thorough with all the information. They didn't do a single step without showing us what will happen and explaining, and showing us how much it cost and the various options (a wellness blood test vs a full CBC, etc). It was a great experience and I'm so grateful for finding the vet.

Not going to lie, we waited until today to take her. Yesterday she was walking around in a lot less pain and even bouncing around like she normally does, dancing for food, etc. So if she wasn't in extreme distress we wanted to wait because it was also a matter of establishing a new vet in the new area we live in that we wanted to do. If she had continued distress don't think we would not have taken her. We would have done anything and paid anything but we both felt it was not going to be horrible if we waited until early next morning and so we did.

So that's that. They cleaned out the sacs and did an enema, gave her a steroid shot and we give her half pill of antibiotic every day for 14 days. The new food is iVet brand, I never heard of it but I got a 50% off deal on a huge bag of it so I decided to try it. She needs to be 7 lbs for her patella not to act up on her and possibly for healthy gland drainage. She was 10.1 lbs today. She's not really fat, but I think just for her age he wants her down in weight plus how her problems are right now. She's healthy but adding weight can make these issues be problematic is how he described it, so I figure it can't hurt to lose a couple lbs for her.

I just keep praying that she goes poop. She's resting now. I was surprised after the sedation and all they did that she walked right out of that office. She wasn't groggy at all and wasn't scared, at least not more than the normal amount. The people there took time to notice you and smile at you and make you feel comfortable. I really like that. At my old vet, they were ok, but didn't take that extra second to give you a look and a smile. When you're stressed and worried half to death, those tiny gestures mean a LOT.

Oh and I almost forgot. I got 50% off this food so it literally cost me like $5.54. The ingredients aren't that GREAT, but the last couple years I been feeding her Purina One Beyond and it's not much better. She does fine on it and doesn't get intestinal problems so I figured it was fine. It was, except it was making her fat I guess! We even diligently feed her per instruction for weight.

Thanks for the update, I'm so glad you were able to get her treated, poor little thing has really been through the mill. Sending prayers her little bottom heals up fast, it's so easy for these little ones to become overweight, it's probably a good idea to get in the habit of weighing her, I've heard they tend to put on weight after the age of 5. So glad you like your new vet!

[Lolli_lah]

Thanks so much Nancy for inquiring and caring We just had a bowl movement so yay!! It was a weird poo, one normal size and texture poopie and one that was like.. looked like a yellow tomato if you made a slice of one haha it was very weird. I figured it's from the pumpkin though and enema and all the things. I'm just happy she finally WENT!

[mimimomo]

Yay for bowel movement loll! Glad everything went well & she got treated by a very good vet.

As for feeding the right amount, you need to calculate the amount from her ideal weight. If Vet wants her to be around 7-8#'s, then you'll feed her the amount recommended for a 7-8# pup. You might want to upgrade to a better premium brand of kibble, you won't need to feed her as much & it might help her anal glands too...just a suggestion.