Besides squeezing...
 

Uh, is there a way you can determine if your dog needs his anal glands expressed?

Thor's former owner had his glands expressed every time he was groomed. When I adopted him, I decided that it wasn't necessary. He has nice, quick, solid poops, and he's never scooted his butt along the floor.

However, I've noticed over the past few weeks that every so often, he tries to bite himself in the butt, right over the tail. It's not compulsive or anything, but he probably tries a few times per day. I've been told this can be a sign that the anal glands need to be expressed.

I'm also a bit concerned that he might have fleas or allergies. He has a history of going through periods of intense scratching. In the last one, he scratched off a good section of fur off his side. I had checked him several times for fleas and hadn't found any. However, I eventually found ONE flea, definitely alive. He sleeps in my bed, so it seemed to me that if he was infested, I would be too. I gave him a dose of Frontline, and did not see another flea. He also stopped scratching around this time.

I mention the scratching, because this was another time I saw him bite his butt, which I had guessed was fleas moving in that area.

Anyway. I would prefer not to take him to a groomer, because they don't cut his hair the way I like, and I don't want to express his glands myself. Is there any other way to tell if he needs to be expressed? Again, he hasn't had them expressed in over a year, and he seems fine; I believe his stools are firm enough to put good pressure on this area naturally. However, if he is in any discomfort, I'd obviously like to fix it.

Thanks! :aimeeyork

I dont know the answer to your question but I know our daycare will do bathing and glands, without grooming. Its kinda like a build your own spa package. Maybe someone around there has something like that if its determined it needs to be done.

I would like to know this too. Uni never scoots her butt, but I caught Katie doing it today. I checked and she had a small amount of poop stuck so I washed it off. But I notice when I wash her butt, she is an "outtie" whereas Uni is not. If she is an outtie all the time, does that mean she needs her glands done? I'm scared to do it myself, and I've heard of groomers not doing it right and impacting the glads instead of expressing them.

Just make sure if you are doing this...you are doing it with your mouth shut..haha:eek:


Actually I have never had to do this for any of my dogs...I do my own grooming etc and the only time someone scoots is when they have poop on their fannies. I just don't understand why other people have trouble and I never do..:confused:

I heard that once it's done repeatedly at the groomer's, they lose the muscle tone to express it themselves. I only express it when necessary or when the customer requests it, even after I tell them the above. Yes, it can get impacted if not expressed or expressed wrong & cause an abcess.

Mimi licks her bum when it's time to express. Since I've changed their food, she doesn't need them expressed as often. I hardly ever have to express Momo, only when he scoots.

Mercury, lift up Thor's tail, & feel around the 5 & 7 o'clock, if there's a bulge or fishy smell, he might need it expressed. The vet expresses them too, sometimes internally. Anal Sacs

Priscilla, Princess has an outtie too lol...I don't think that matters.

I forgot to add that I also give them thawed diced up green beans mixed in their kibble. It has fiber, so it bulks & firms things up & it's supposed to help them naturally express when going #2.

I take Hot Rod and Maggie to the vet to have their glands and nails done. I wanna say that they charge me like $13.50 per dog or somewhere close to that. I think I have gone as long as 4 months between needing them expressed. I look for signs of scooting or if I happen to be taking them for an appt, I will ask if they need it done.

I feed the green beans too and haven't had either of my two's glads expressed. Though in the last two days Jada has been scooting her butt on the floor a couple of times a day. There is no poop stuck in her bum hair. My question is....we are going to the vet Wed for annual check-ups and rabies vaccines do you think it will be ok to wait until then to let doc check her glands or do I need to take her in sooner? I don't want to let them get bad if that is her problem. I also did grooming Wed and did her potty area and didn't notice a fishy smell:confused:

My sweet Bella girl was a butt scooter! :eek:Imagine that!
But only when i was taking her to the groomers!

Since I have been grooming her she has not had her glands expressed that much mostly because i forget!

But come to think of it, she has not been scooting since i stopped taking her!
Maybe she was scooting because they were too aggressive with her. She's alllllllllllll nautral girl now and just fine:D

If he is irritated back there with no fleas and no poop stuck, then it is time to express them (imo). You can overdo it and then they don't really express themselves as well, but sometimes it has to be done so it doesn't turn into an impaction or infection. I empty Ellie's if I see a lot of scooting, biting/irritation, or if there is much of a smell.

If there are no signs that they need to be emptied and owner is just curious, feeling is an option.

I have one dog that exhibit's your Thor's behavior when his anal glands require expressing. He doesn't require them to be expressed with every grooming, but from time to time. You can usually tell if they need expressing just by looking at the area, and their little anal area looks a bit poochie. Or by feeling the the glands, they feel a bit harder to the touch. I also have a girl that never scoots, bites at her tail when her anal glands require expressing, but abruptly sits down every few steps.

Hm, okay. I had forgotten about the fishy smell (Thor does not have this). His doggy daycare is picking him up today, I'll ask them if they do it.

I just asked the daycare lady if she could check Thor's anal glands, and she made a face like I'd asked her to check MY anal glands. :rolleyes: Oooookay. I'll take a look when he gets home.

our vet does it for 5 dollars. I have a Jack Russell too and she doesn't go to the groomers so I had always taken her to the vet to have it done. She tends to bite at her tail when it's time also. But her real tell tell is when she goes to poo you can actually smell the oder at that point.

Our vet had told me to use a wet washcloth to wash that area at least every two weeks with some soap and water and kinda massage, but she does not like that invasion of her privacy, you can try and see if that helps him at all if he will allow you to do it.

How would you describe the difference between a bulge and an outtie? Katie's looks like um, a brown dried up old outtie crusty bellybutton :eek:. Even though I washed her bum last night, no poo stuck on there, but looks, not very pretty.

Lol, kinda like people outtie belly buttons, it sticks out. If you touch the glands (not on the actual h*le lol, but right under it), it feels like little bumps. There should be two distinctive glands/bumps. If not, her sacs are empty.

It can wait.;) Did you shave/trim that area? Sometimes they can scoot if it's irritating them, nothing to do w/the glands & nothing to do w/you trimming them wrong. When I used to have a cat, she would scoot & actually expel it herself on the carpet...it was gross. Lol

Thanks for your input, everyone. When Thor came home today (he is doing AWESOME at daycare!), I felt around his anus. This is kind of challenging, because it is tiny, literally the size of a pea. Not even a pea, more like 1/2 of a pea.

I'm not completely sure what I should feel, but the muscle felt the same all the way around. I also took a little whiff - the things we do for love! - and there's no odor at all, not even a poopy one. So I'm thinking he's okay, or if he's not, it's something other than anal glands.

Again, thanks for the information!

I am a little confused about something else... my understanding is that fiber moves everything along in the gut faster. Too much, and you will get diarrhea. I would think that leaving everything else aside, harder poops that the dog must struggle to expel would be better for the anal glands, both because a hard poop would put more pressure on the anus, and because the muscles in that area would be working that much harder.

Not saying that this is an ideal poop for a dog, and I totally believe dogs should get veggies. I just would think that for this particular issue, things like green beans wouldn't necessarily help. ?

Ah ha! Finally someone who explained it so I can get it! Thanks Jenny. There is nothing there, I just feel her outtie, then a space, then her bones under that.

I did trim her when I did their grooming. I didn't shave just trimmed it close so the poops don't get hung up in the long hair. She just isn't acting herself these last couple of days. DH says I am just paranoid,and she is pouting because I have had a several dress orders this week and I haven't been paying as much attention to her, but she has sat on the floor a couple of times today, kind of straight up on her butt, hard to explain but it just looks funny, her sitting like she is trying to keep her butt on the cool floor(if that makes any kind of sense at all:confused::rolleyes:)