Anal gland removal....

[dogcatharmony]

.....anyone here have it done??

Before I research my eyeballs off, I was wondering if anyone has experienced this surgury with their dogs.

My girl has a damaged anal gland from a dog attack way back when. In the past year we have had three instances were the one gland has been so full and badly infected the vet has even questioned me on why I didn't get her in sooner. Today's vet visit, the vet said her gland was scary full and very hard to express. She spent half a day at the vet's, and the stuff that came out was thick like mud and she has a bad infection. She just came off a round of anti-botics last month, so this new infection came on fast.

She doesn't scoot, she doesn't get a fishy stink, she doesn't overly lick. My only warnings something is up is heavy grass eating, doesn't want to walk for the entire hour and half walk.... she has shown these "symptoms" 24-48 hours before pus and blood comes out of the back end, which is already to late to be just needed her glands expressed. On two occasions I brought her in for the heavy grass eating and was told some dogs eat grass just because they can. And as for the not wanting to walk....well some days it is too hot, some days it is too late, not exactly a totally 100% reliable symptom.

She still eats, drinks and goes to the bathroom like normal. We have had a bit of pooping trouble, but that's from so much grass coming through it gets stuck and she freaks because she has a cling-on. Again....go to the vet because of grass eating and get asked "Is she vomiting it back up? NO Is she not active? NO" well then nothing wrong.

She eats a semi-raw diet (I have to lightly sear the meat, she is not into raw raw) of chicken, turkey and beef. I stopped the pork awhile back because it gave her diarrhea. She gets her meat bone in , she also gets a fish oil and I give her a tablespoon of metamucil (the vet told me to add it ) because she is not a fruit/veggie eater.

So I was given another round of anti-botics (Cephalexin 500mg) and she has a check up in two weeks. My vet told me to think about removing the glands because by the time she shows they are full, they are really seriously full and he worries that one could rupture.The one today was a very close call. So I could take her in once a month and just have the glands expressed incase, which he said could make problems of it's own or think about taking them out.

Pro's .......Con's ......I would really appreciate any imput.

Thanks.

[hazelrunpack]

We did have a dog's anal glands surgically removed...but it was so long ago I can't remember many of the details. I remember that there was a chance that the surgery could damage nerves in the rectum, but everything went well and there were no complications.

Sorry I can't remember more.

[dogcatharmony]

Thank you Hazelrunpack. I have been reading all sorts of stuff on the internet about it. I don't think right now I would want it done, it sounds a bit on the scary side. But I will talk with my vet on our next appt., if he feels that it really needs to be done well then maybe he can convince me it's the right thing to do.

Poor Zoe scooted her bum right down about eight feet of sidewalk last night. Funny she never scooted before, but now after they have been cleaned out she is scooting. And she keeps letting out toots that smell like rotting meat, she toots, bites the floor and then runs over to me and burys her head in my lap. Her little bum must be so so sore.

[Chris21711]

So sorry to hear about Zoe, I don't have any adivice for you. Just good wishes that she all works out well for her She looks such a doll.

[Dog Dancer]

I had both anal glands removed on my last dog with no complications at all. She had really bad leaky glands that even the vet was amazed by. I would do it again in a heartbeat if it was an issue for us. Of course no surgery comes without risks, but you have to weigh the pros and cons. If Zoe is experiencing repeated events of infection I would do it. One day an infection that goes unnoticed could cost her her life as well, so you have to make the call on how much risk you want to expose her to.

[dogcatharmony]

Thanks Dog Dancer, this is Zoe's third bad infection in less than a year. The last two times the glands have been really bad, this last time like the vet said "scary" full. Funny how when you do a search for something and only find the negative, I kept reading about all the bad things like loss of rectal function, ruptures....all the bad things that could happen.

Thanks Chris for the well wishes.

[Dog Dancer]

You know, I can't promise nothing would happen of course. All I know is from my own experience and it was fine. I had a large dog also. We had no issues from it whatsoever. I think the thing is just to be aware that there can be complications. I guess you would want to make sure after surgery that she didn't have to strain too much going to the washroom and such, but we did nothing special with our girl. Good luck to you whatever you decide. It can't be a nice thing for Zoe no matter what.

[hazelrunpack]

Another thing to keep in mind is that for ethical reasons, they should warn you of complications that can occur, but often the complications are present in only a very small percentage of cases. If the complications only arise .5% of the time you'd likely be a lot more confident than if they arose 50% of the time. See if your vet can give you an estimate of what the success rate is and it might help you make your decision.