Anal Glands

[Guest argolola]

I have noticed that our couch stinks. In fact, I won't sit on it without a sheet to cover the couch. I have tried cleaning it, using Febreze, etc., but it is downright smelly.

 

After blaming it on DH, the thought came to me that it could be Lola. I checked some threads here and now I wonder if it's anal glands. Could that cause the odor?

 

Thanks GTers.

[GreyTzu]

Yes. Time for a trip to the Vet.

[greyhoundgang]

Is she licking her anal area?

Is she scooting along the ground?

Is she having trouble pooping?

 

When you pick up her tail, and you smell back there, you'll know. It is a very distinctive odor.

Vets need to express the glands Adding some fiber to her diet (canned pumpkin, pluvarized vegetables, even some bran flakes) might help keep them expressed. Also giving her a raw turkey neck once a week would help too. That will help with her teeth too.

 

Anal Gland Story:

My afghan hound, years ago, needed her anal glands expressed.

I brought her to the vet, after a late night out of partying with friends. I was a bit under the weather that early Saturday morning.

She was one of my first hounds, so I wasn't familiar with the procedure.

 

As I held her back end at the request of the vet, he expressed her anals. She started screaming. I almost started puking between the smell and her noise.

Morale: Don't help the vet express anals when you are hung over.

[Guest Ola]

Oh, lucky you! Anal glands have that nasty rotten-fish type of smell, if I recall correctly.

[gracegirl]

Anal Gland Story:

My afghan hound, years ago, needed her anal glands expressed.

I brought her to the vet, after a late night out of partying with friends. I was a bit under the weather that early Saturday morning.

She was one of my first hounds, so I wasn't familiar with the procedure.

 

As I held her back end at the request of the vet, he expressed her anals. She started screaming. I almost started puking between the smell and her noise.

Morale: Don't help the vet express anals when you are hung over.

 

Good lesson...thanks for sharing.

 

(and sorry, but )

[Guest DoofBert]

Yep... Although vet can handle the anal glans....our groomer has been trained for this too..... (when I was child, our maltess used to scoot across the floor.... that was sign she needed her 'butt' done.... and the groomer took care of things.)

 

 

 

Anal Gland Story:

My afghan hound, years ago, needed her anal glands expressed.

I brought her to the vet, after a late night out of partying with friends. I was a bit under the weather that early Saturday morning.

She was one of my first hounds, so I wasn't familiar with the procedure.

 

As I held her back end at the request of the vet, he expressed her anals. She started screaming. I almost started puking between the smell and her noise.

Morale: Don't help the vet express anals when you are hung over.

 

Good lesson...thanks for sharing.

 

(and sorry, but )

 

Just don't help with the anal glans, full stop.... you are paying for the service, let the 'pros' take care of it!!

[Hubcitypam]

Buck has needed his anals done once. My vet charged $28.

 

Imagine my surprise when I asked the groomer the next time I took Poodle in. The groomers cost was $25 plus tax, however that was the cost for a bath and Anal glands and toe nail trim included. For what I paid the vet I could have had a bath and toenail trim tossed in free. Groomers are usually very good at it as they do it so much on the littler dogs.

[tbhounds]

FYI--most groomers express the anal glands externally--you always can't express all of the secretion that way--internally would be preferred. Before having a groomer "do the deed" ask him/her how they perform the task If your not squeamish ask you veterinarian to show you how to do it at home--it's really not hard.

[Guest Maire]

--EWWWWW! Yes, that's when I hand the dog over to the Vet and tell them " I'll be back in just a minute, when you're done" ---absolutely the worst smell in the world.....and I've been an RN for 40 yrs!

[Guest argolola]

Thanks everyone. Sorry to be so gross, but I have the nose of a bloodhound and odors really get to me. When I first smelled this, it was reminiscent of a dead animal/poo poo combo smell. I have set up an appointment for Lola with a new vet that comes highly recommended.

[DaisyDoodle]

Daisy had an anal gland problem for a while--infected but not ruptured. Vet wanted to do the surgery to remove one (or maybe both). There are potential problems associated w the surgery that the vet really didn't tell me about; but the vet techs told me as I went to drop her off for the surgery. One of the techs whose been there a really long time told me that the surgery can cause loss of rectal control and that dogs drop little bits of stool here and there. He told me it even happened to his own dog, while the vet told me he never had a dog w a problem. Since Daisy has food allergy issues her stool is seldom solid, so I walked back out of there w Daisy. We did several weeks of antibiotics and I learned how to express her anal glands and she's been fine. She licks occassionally, I express her, she's fine.

 

Here's a link to my thread last Spring about Daisy's infected anal gland. Lola may only have an impacted, not infected, gland, so surgery might not even be a consideration.

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=164167&hl=

 

 

[Guest Sassy]

Anal Gland Story:

My afghan hound, years ago, needed her anal glands expressed.

I brought her to the vet, after a late night out of partying with friends. I was a bit under the weather that early Saturday morning.

She was one of my first hounds, so I wasn't familiar with the procedure.

 

As I held her back end at the request of the vet, he expressed her anals. She started screaming. I almost started puking between the smell and her noise.

Morale: Don't help the vet express anals when you are hung over.

 

 

Thanks for the good laugh (I DO understand your "pain"). I wound up with a lap full of greyhound heads when I burst out laughing...