Any idea what could be wrong?

[100%doglover]

Hi everyone! Well the vets are dumbfounded so I thought I'd ask around here to see if anyone would take a guess as to what exactly is going on with my almost 12 year old female shepherd.

So in early January her anal glands started acting up emptying themselves repeatedly in less then 2 weeks. Off to the vet we went as our girl has absolutely no history of problems with her anal glands and there had been no dietary or other changes. They were not infected but they were emptied for her as they were really full. Within 2 days same thing was happening again, so back we went. Again they were not infected but quite full. We started adding metamucil, in the hopes that that might help. Within a week we were back at the vet again, this time the glands were infected.:sad:

After 10 days on antibiotics (clavamox 437.5mg twice daily), the infection had completely cleared and the vet was happy with how the glands looked. Well within 10 days the glands were again acting up and yep, another infection. The vets were completely puzzled. They can't feel any tumours or anything like that around the area, and they really had no idea what could be going on.

So 14 more days of antibiotics. At 10 days we went in to make sure it had cleared, but as it had not, they prescribed 14 more days of antibiotics. Well today was our appointment with only 4 days left to make sure that the infection has cleared and they are still infected, after 24 days on antibiotics!!!! :sad: Very strange considering that the glands have not acted up at all in the past 2 weeks.

So now we were given Baytril 150mg to be given once daily for 21 days. The vet said he could feel a little bump but was pretty sure it was just where he had to squeeze (and the puss should have looked different if that's what it was too and the other vet we've seen at the same animal hospital of course has not found any bumps). His suggestion was that maybe e-coli or something like it was causing this!?!

So in a little less then 3 weeks we're going back. If it's not cleared, they'll take some cells and send it to the lab.

Our poor baby! I sure hope this round of antibiotics will do the trick. She's such a trooper, but she must be in pain and very uncomfortable. And then all the probing and poking...... We're definitely doing our best to spoil her even further!

Anyone heard of anything similar? Would anyone like to take a guess as to what might be going on?

[rainbow]

I`ve always heard that dogs with recurring anal gland infections should have the anal glands removed.