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Old March 17th, 2013, 10:54 PM
Jull Jull is offline
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Impacted anal glands

Last year Bestia started to have problems with his anal glands, not a good smell after the second time we went to the vet to get the glands expressed, she told me to give him a little bit of pumpkin everyday, which did help with more regular poops, but it also started to soften them. So, another trip to the vet once the smell returned.

At that time I was feeding him kibble (blue buffalo) after doing many hours of reading I switched him to Primal raw and dehydrated formula, the meat comes in little nuggets which makes it easier for portions for a little puppy like him (5.2 lbs), I also give him veggies, fruits, lentos, beans, eggs,etc... and sometimes he gets some cheerios too he loves them!

I still give him a little bit of pumpkin once in a while but not much, because I don't want to make his poop soft either. Today I noticed that unpleasant smell again - oddly enough I gave him some pumpkin the last few days - so we will have to take another trip to the vet to get his glands expressed; I don't do it my self because he is so small I wouldn't want to hurt him, I tried once to do it from the outside but nop, it just didn't work for me. The last time he had them expressed was December I think, this would have been about 2 months after we switched his food, and I do have to say the liquid was much less than the other times.

I am wondering if anyone knows what I can do to help him with this? I have been looking online for homeopathic remedies, and I found a couple: Myristica and Silicea, I also read that omegas are helpful, I do have fish oil that I spray on their food sometimes but Bestia doesn't seem to like fishy smells and wont eat much of the food, even when I give him his turkey and sardine nugget I have to mix in a bit of coconut oil to take out the sardine smell a bit. He is a very picky eater.

I just want to do anything I can to help him either take away this problem or minimize it as much as possible, its painful for him and for me, when he has to get the glands expressed .
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Old March 18th, 2013, 07:27 AM
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Marty11 Marty11 is offline
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Quite common for groomers to express the glands with their regular grooming esp for little dogs. My experience with my manchester, I had to feed a normal grain diet because on the grain free his stool was too small and it didn't stimulate the anal glands. As soon as he ate a grain diet such as Acana or any normal kibble with rice or oats or barley in it, it increased the stool size. You don't want small or soft stools. I have recently tried NRG on another dog and that makes bigger stools. I have seen a dog have their anal glands removed. This was done on a toy manchester after several infections.
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Old March 18th, 2013, 10:48 AM
Jull Jull is offline
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Originally Posted by Marty11 View Post
Quite common for groomers to express the glands with their regular grooming esp for little dogs. My experience with my manchester, I had to feed a normal grain diet because on the grain free his stool was too small and it didn't stimulate the anal glands. As soon as he ate a grain diet such as Acana or any normal kibble with rice or oats or barley in it, it increased the stool size. You don't want small or soft stools. I have recently tried NRG on another dog and that makes bigger stools. I have seen a dog have their anal glands removed. This was done on a toy manchester after several infections.
Thanks Marty, I don't think my pet store carries NRG but I will definitely look into it and they can always do special orders for me - I love my pet store! - His poops aren't really too small, I'd say pretty normal for him, but I do notice that sometimes he doesn't drink as much water as he should, and I think it also affects him with pooping more often. I remember asking the vet about the surgery the very first time it happened, and she actually said it had a lot of risks specially for such a little guy, and that sometimes the side effects to this procedure are worst than having them expressed once in a while.
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Old March 18th, 2013, 10:35 AM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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Beans can made people very gassy so I would think it would do the same with dogs. The skin on the dried beans it was cause them to be gassy. If you're feeding your dog dried beans soaking the skins off may help with the smell. I was a vegetarian for years and found this out.
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Old March 18th, 2013, 10:52 AM
Jull Jull is offline
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Beans can made people very gassy so I would think it would do the same with dogs. The skin on the dried beans it was cause them to be gassy. If you're feeding your dog dried beans soaking the skins off may help with the smell. I was a vegetarian for years and found this out.
I don't give them beans often, nor much, only once in a while (maybe twice per month) but I can tell you that I do eat them a lot (must be a mexican thing lol) and when I cook them I always add some garlic cloves and onion, which I remove once the beans are cooked, and this helps prevent gas .
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Old March 18th, 2013, 11:01 AM
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I don't give them beans often, nor much, only once in a while (maybe twice per month) but I can tell you that I do eat them a lot (must be a mexican thing lol) and when I cook them I always add some garlic cloves and onion, which I remove once the beans are cooked, and this helps prevent gas .
garlic and onions are not safe for dogs , the beans can absorb the juices from the onions and garlic. I would check with your vet and see what they think . I loves onions and garlic too and miss not having a good Mexican restaurant to go to.
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Old March 18th, 2013, 11:27 AM
Jull Jull is offline
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garlic and onions are not safe for dogs , the beans can absorb the juices from the onions and garlic. I would check with your vet and see what they think . I loves onions and garlic too and miss not having a good Mexican restaurant to go to.
I don't put much onion just a little slice and sometimes nothing, the important one if the garlic (for gas), other than that they do not have any kind of contact with onions. Garlic though, is good for both people and dogs... there is a lot of contradicting information on it and I guess is a personal choice I don't grab garlic and give it to them but they do get some foods once in a while that have been cooked with a little garlic, I am not saying I know it all but I have never had a problem with it http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com...n-or-medicine/

When I was growing up we had a dog (cocker spaniel) who only ate food cooked by mom, nothing else (even if you had a big juicy steak in your hand, if it was not cooked by mom she wouldn't take it), and that meant the food was made with anything and everything we eat, and she had a long life, and even though the last few years of her life she had what we think was cancer in the uterus, she never ever looked sick, I think she lived 16 years or so...

My mexican restaurant here is my Mom's house
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Old March 18th, 2013, 04:56 PM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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Originally Posted by Jull View Post
I don't put much onion just a little slice and sometimes nothing, the important one if the garlic (for gas), other than that they do not have any kind of contact with onions. Garlic though, is good for both people and dogs... there is a lot of contradicting information on it and I guess is a personal choice I don't grab garlic and give it to them but they do get some foods once in a while that have been cooked with a little garlic, I am not saying I know it all but I have never had a problem with it http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com...n-or-medicine/

When I was growing up we had a dog (cocker spaniel) who only ate food cooked by mom, nothing else (even if you had a big juicy steak in your hand, if it was not cooked by mom she wouldn't take it), and that meant the food was made with anything and everything we eat, and she had a long life, and even though the last few years of her life she had what we think was cancer in the uterus, she never ever looked sick, I think she lived 16 years or so...

My mexican restaurant here is my Mom's house
I agree there is a lot contradicting information about garlic being good or bad for dogs. I eat a lot of garlic . I when to visit some friends in Maine with my daughter and we where all outside and the blackfiles where going after everyone but me. It keep more than vampires away!
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Old April 16th, 2013, 10:33 PM
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mhikl mhikl is offline
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Article suggestion

Jull, here is a fairly good article on doggie anal glands.
http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/ind...d=56&Itemid=71

I found it interesting.

You might want to check out YouTube video's on it. I would apply a warm compress or a warm hot-waterbottle or pad for twenty minutes or so before doing the job with rubber gloves. The one vet had the video set up so badly you couldn't see a darn thing. He wore gloves, and greased up before going into the anus at the four and eight o'clock position to do the squeeze. My vet used a mountain of cotton batting but I was never able to get it to work. I liked the article's better & thought it had some good ideas. (Will I ever be able to look at a clock the same again.)

Re garlic and onions. I used to eat them and thought they were healthy. However there are a number of interesting sites that claim otherwise. One suggested that WWI soldiers would rub garlic on their bullets so if one just winged an enemy he would die from the poison in garlic. What ever the truth is I gave up garlic though occasionally cheat. But I definitely wouldn't feed it to my pet.

Good luck. I like the warming idea also.
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Old April 16th, 2013, 11:07 PM
Jull Jull is offline
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Originally Posted by mhikl View Post
Jull, here is a fairly good article on doggie anal glands.
http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/ind...d=56&Itemid=71

I found it interesting.

You might want to check out YouTube video's on it. I would apply a warm compress or a warm hot-waterbottle or pad for twenty minutes or so before doing the job with rubber gloves. The one vet had the video set up so badly you couldn't see a darn thing. He wore gloves, and greased up before going into the anus at the four and eight o'clock position to do the squeeze. My vet used a mountain of cotton batting but I was never able to get it to work. I liked the article's better & thought it had some good ideas. (Will I ever be able to look at a clock the same again.)

Re garlic and onions. I used to eat them and thought they were healthy. However there are a number of interesting sites that claim otherwise. One suggested that WWI soldiers would rub garlic on their bullets so if one just winged an enemy he would die from the poison in garlic. What ever the truth is I gave up garlic though occasionally cheat. But I definitely wouldn't feed it to my pet.

Good luck. I like the warming idea also.
Thanks mhikl, I did actually used the warm compress with epsom salts and even though he didn't seem to like it, he was a champ and hang there until it was done I also used some of the silica remedy. And everything went back to normal, I am pretty sure the groomer visit from a week prior to that its what trigger the problem in the first place. I will have to make sure from now on to ask them to NOT touch his glands at all.

In addition, I have also switched their food to a meat that has more bone content than the other food they had. - And they both love it and are doing great on it.

I could never give up garlic, love it too much! - I think is all on how you feel about it, see, I drink coffee every single day, cannot live without it, yet somedays doctors say is bad for you, then a few days after they say its good for you
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Old April 17th, 2013, 09:28 AM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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Marty was attacking his rear end like crazy awhile ago and I was worried as I could not see any fleas or ticks on him. I took him to vet and the vet checked Marty skin out and nothing wrong so the vet decided to check Marty anal glands and they where impacted. I never seen a dog attack their end like that before when they had impacted anal glands. Does your dog do this too?
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Old April 17th, 2013, 09:51 AM
Jull Jull is offline
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Originally Posted by Barkingdog View Post
Marty was attacking his rear end like crazy awhile ago and I was worried as I could not see any fleas or ticks on him. I took him to vet and the vet checked Marty skin out and nothing wrong so the vet decided to check Marty anal glands and they where impacted. I never seen a dog attack their end like that before when they had impacted anal glands. Does your dog do this too?
I've known that they will do this yes, bestia will sit on his bed and lick-lick-lick or probably bite it a bit until the yucky smell comes out

Also - I have just purchased a herbal remedy for the anal glans (called AnalGlanz lol) It has not arrived yet, but I have read good things about it.
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Last edited by Jull; April 17th, 2013 at 10:36 AM.
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