It’s Been a Stinky Week

By saying a “stinky week”, I do not mean “man this week has been horrible”, I literally mean “this week has been stinky“.

This week it seems as though everything has seemed to somehow involve butts.  Literally.  Our profession in the veterinary field is not what most would call glamorous.  We spend a lot of time during our days doing gross things (I will spare most details, except for a few things that I think are important to inform pet owners of).  There’s lots of puke and poop and slobber and boogers in our profession.  But there’s something about the fact that it is coming from an animal that makes it not as gross to those of us who devote our days to caring for animals.  So, let’s move on to the informative part of this post, shall we?

Have you ever noticed Fluffy planting his butt on your rug and dragging himself across the floor?  Most pet owners of smaller breed dogs have probably seen this at least once before.  Larger breed dogs will do this also, but they do not seem to do it as often as little dogs.  We have a lot of clients that come in and mention Fluffy doing this and say “I guess he has worms”.  I know that this is a logical conclusion, because when you see your pet doing this, you can imagine them trying to rid themselves of creepy crawly worms.  *Gross, I know*.  But I bet that a lot of owners don’t know that their dog may just be battling some full anal glands.  Whoa, back up, what?  Yep.  Full Anal Glands.  Just writing that sentence sounds gross.  And I’m not going to pretend it isn’t, because let’s face it- it’s pretty gross.  Dogs at one point in time were equipped with anal glands to defend themselves from becoming a tasty treat to some larger animal.  There are two glands that sit internally on either side of the rectum, and sadly, they fill with a smelly, secreted fluid.  Way back when, a dog would be running from a would be predator, and would excrete their anal glands- producing an incredibly foul smelling dark liquid that would cause their would be attacker to lose his appetite.  Why do they still have these glands?  Probably to secrete onto technicians while trying to trim their nails.  Just kidding.  When dogs were wild, they used the material in these glands to mark territory with their individual (and discernable from other dogs) scent.  Ever noticed how dogs always sniff each other’s butts?  You guessed it.  Checking anal glands.

Now, to continue the grossness of this post- you might find yourself wondering, why do they get full?  Hopefully you aren’t wondering why am I still reading this? because I promise, you are going to learn something!  Normally, these glands are excreted when a dog has a BM.  But, if they are having loose BMs (could be an entire other problem that should be addressed with our veterinarians), or are not going often enough, and yet sometimes still it’s just that a particular dog has trouble expressing their own glands, they must be manually cleaned out.  Yep, you guessed it, that’s where your vet team steps in.  Some groomers will also express anal glands, but generally they only do so externally, and sometimes this is not enough for some of those particular cases that are hard to express.  So we go in and express these glands, and while your pet doesn’t seem to appreciate the act, when we are finished they normally are hippity hoppity jumping around and super excited.  And always get a treat!  It makes them feel better to have these full glands emptied.

Sometimes, a patient can have impacted anal glands.  This, as you can guess from the name, is not  a good thing.  They can actually get an infection in these glands.  Normally what we do for this is express them weekly until they stop filling up with infected liquid, and put the patient on some oral antibiotics and anti-inflammatory pain medications.  Some dogs must go on a special diet that is higher in fiber than your regular dog foods.  Some dogs that suffer from recurrent anal gland infections must have surgery to have the glands removed.  Dogs that also suffer from allergy problems tend to have more issues with their anal glands.  Some dogs will never have to have their glands manually expressed, and some dogs must have them done monthly.

The biggest thing to keep in mind with your new found knowledge of anal glands is to just pay attention to your pet.  If you notice them scooting, they are probably uncomfortable.  And instead of waiting for it to become a bigger problem, just give the clinic a call and set up a quick technician appointment to have their glands checked and emptied.  Your pet will thank you for it.  And you won’t have to keep walking around and smelling your rug saying “ugh what is that smell?” and continue to pay to have your carpets cleaned before guests arrive.

For those of you that only have cats, don’t feel left out!  Luckily for you, cats also have anal glands!  Usually cats that are having anal gland issues let you know by pooping outside of the litter box.  Cats also do this for other reasons, so any time your kitty is not sticking to their normal potty habits, best to just give us a call.

One of our favorite jokes up at the clinic is being thankful that humans do not have anal glands.  Can you imagine?  Someone sneaks up on you and scares you and OH NO.  I’ve expressed my anal glands.  Quick, run away before anyone realizes it was you.  

Tune in next week for an informative, and possibly not as gross post!

-Your Veterinary Technician