Conner is Recovered
 

We had to take Conner to the emergency vet on Monday night (we left at about 8:30 p.m.). He had blood in the rectal area. I called my regular vet's cell phone, but he didn't answer so we decided not to wait for a call-back and just go to emergency (about 40 minutes away).

Conner had a ruptured anal gland. They cleaned him up, put him on an antibiotic and gave him pain medication/anti-inflamatory. He is back to normal now. He has to take the antibiotic for 10 days, and his regular vet wants to see him on Thursday to make sure everything is okay.

We did not get home until 12:30 a.m. I was so tired at work, but DH stayed home with Conner and I stayed home on Wednesday. They gave me one of those lamp shade collars for him, but I knew he would hate it, so we put a onsie on him (they did not want him licking the area).

It was a traumatic experience for me and DH, but Conner took it all in stride.

They asked if he was scooting or dragging his butt, but he was not. He was acting normal until he pooped, and then the bleeding started. Now he will probably have to have his anal glands expressed at the vet's office regularly.

I'll be glad when he is finished with the antibiotic because he finds the pill, no matter what I put it in. He is such a smartie.

Sorry to hear about Conner. Glad he is doing better. I know mine will eat poop but they find the pill all the time and spit it out!!!lol

Oh my gosh, how scary for you! I'm so glad he is okay!

Can I recommend that you get him on a very high quality food? The reason I say this is because usually - dogs only have anal gland problems if 1) the diet is contains an allergen or too many fillers or 2) there is something structurally wrong down there. Was the vet able to confirm that his little area is okay down there - or was it structurally different?

If you put him on a really good diet that enables a nice, firm poo - you may never have to get his glands emptied (hopefully). It's usually the chronic, mushy poos that cause anal gland filling and issues.

What was he eating when this happened and/or now?

Did you actually "see" the poo that caused this rupture? Bc I wonder too if there was something in there that may have pierced the gland - like a little piece of stick or something?

Conner is on Wellness Weight Management mostly because it is lower in protein because he had some liver issues that are over now, but I kept him on it because it has Glucosamine and Chondroitin and he has had LP issues. I didn't notice if anything could have been in his poo because the bleeding started about 20 minutes after he did the poo, and we just took him to emergency.

I will hopefully find out more when I take him to his regular vet on Thursday on what caused the problem.

He was not scooting or dragging on the carpet which emergency said he would do if his glands were full.

I forgot to mention that his poos have always been firm. Sometimes he comes right off his back legs getting them out. The only soft one was the one before the rupture.

I have really been lucky with Conner, as he has not really had diarrhea since we have had him (knock on wood).

Gosh, that's a pretty good food, had firm stools, and no dragging previous. I'm really wondering if something was in that stool. Poor baby.

Btw, was this a *new* bag of Wellness?

It was a pretty new bag. He had finished about half of it. I don't know what he could have gotten into. If I knew what plastic bag it was in, I could have DH look at the stool to see if there was anything in it.:D:D

LOL! My hubby would do that too! Gosh, I just look at his little face in your avatar and my heart just breaks when I think of what could've happened! His picture is so darn cute and he looks so innocent and lovin' in that picture. I'm rambling, but sometimes in Health/Diet or the ER Forum, I can barely look at the avatars or I'll just lose it and not be able to TYPE! I just choke up too much, you know? Geesh, I wish you had an answer to this. I guess we could knock on wood that this was just a freak thing that happened to your little man. :)

sick
 

So sorry to here that! Glad it turned out so well, though. I feed my yorkie the "Blue" label food. My vet said to put a little bit of pumpkin in the food (I use wet and dry mixed) to help with the fiber. The dog loves it!
Hope things continue to get better!:p

Conner's face is very deceiving. He is not so innocent, but he is lovin'. Just as I think he is in the clear healthwise, something else happens. I hope we now have a long stretch of boredom.