A Question or Two For The Dog People

[so lucky]

Yesterday I took Penny in to the vet for her annual shots. The tech checked her anal glands to see how the abscessed/lanced one of October was doing. It was full and infected again!
Well, Penny sure didn't like getting it drained and mashed on; lots of blood and terror on her part. Lots of hand wringing on my part.
So I have her back on antibiotics again, and have to take her back in two weeks The vet is suggesting surgery to remove the gland, if she continues to have problems with it.
I have read that this surgery sometimes leads to bowel incontinence. Anyone have experience with that happening? Also, I found a product called Glandex that is supposed to help with anal gland issues. Anyone ever used it?
It seems that feeding certain types of diet exacerbates impaction. I am feeding her a non-grain, bison and pea based diet that has high ratings per the rating board that publishes info on all dog foods. Could this be too rich? She continues to hold her excess weight even though I have cut her back to one and a quarter cups per day of food, with very few treats.
Her stool is pretty large and well formed, but not really hard. Should I change something to get it harder? More fiber or more protein? Ack!

 

[canesisters]

I have almost no experience with this other than expressing them when grooming... but I wonder if you added some grains to her diet - like some cooked brown rice - if it would help.
If I understand it right, part of the purpose of the gland is to help the stool pass. So maybe she's needing to 'need to push' a bit?????

 

[journey11]

Only thing I can speak on with any experience is that beagles are prone to be tubby. Ours was too. You have her on a good food (otherwise I would say cut out corn-based food, n/a in your case) so other than more exercise, I don't know what else you could do.

Sorry to hear about her gland problems. I have heard of puppies having theirs removed. What kind of percentage of risk did they offer you on that?

 

[so lucky]

No mention of risk from the vet; this is something I found on line. I need to research further.
I agree she needs more exercise. She loves to jog with me, but I am not up for much of that.
One holistic site said to give raw chicken backs, for the bone. I can't imagine giving an indoor dog raw chicken anything to drag around on the carpet!

 

[Nyboy]

Wow your vet is overkill, I have had lots of dealings with anal glands. I had a dog that had to her her anal gland removed because of cancer, if you do the surgery only have it done by laser !!!other wise the after care is a nightmare. Your vet should not have tried to express then before treating the inflection.It would not have been less painful if he sent her home for a week on antibiotics then had her come back for expression. Did you try adding raw pumpkin to her diet? All the vets her swear by it for problem anal glands. They are very EZ to express at home , it is the gross factor you have to get over.I have clients that have dog groomed every 2 to 3 weeks just to have anal glands done. You might be able to make a deal with a local groomer to just bring dog in for anal glands.I will post a video on how to do at home and will PM you my phone number. Surgery is the LAST thing to do.

 

[journey11]

Yeah, I've always wondered how that would work too! (ETA: feeding raw food with an indoor dog, not the gland thing...I wish I didn't know about the gland thing. LOL)

 

[Nyboy]

 

[Nyboy]

There are lots of videos on youtube on how to do it. There is 2 ways to express I would just watch how from outside the rectum. Thats how I do it. I draw the line on how from inside rectum.

 

[Nyboy]

 

[catjac1975]

Yesterday I took Penny in to the vet for her annual shots. The tech checked her anal glands to see how the abscessed/lanced one of October was doing. It was full and infected again!
Well, Penny sure didn't like getting it drained and mashed on; lots of blood and terror on her part. Lots of hand wringing on my part.
So I have her back on antibiotics again, and have to take her back in two weeks The vet is suggesting surgery to remove the gland, if she continues to have problems with it.
I have read that this surgery sometimes leads to bowel incontinence. Anyone have experience with that happening? Also, I found a product called Glandex that is supposed to help with anal gland issues. Anyone ever used it?
It seems that feeding certain types of diet exacerbates impaction. I am feeding her a non-grain, bison and pea based diet that has high ratings per the rating board that publishes info on all dog foods. Could this be too rich? She continues to hold her excess weight even though I have cut her back to one and a quarter cups per day of food, with very few treats.
Her stool is pretty large and well formed, but not really hard. Should I change something to get it harder? More fiber or more protein? Ack!

Many vets are promoting probiotics for pets to help with bowel problems. Yogurt might be an easy place to start.