Anal glands -vs- diet

Basenji Health Issues & Questions
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  • luzmery928L

    Hello everyone just a ?….How do you know when you need to take ur dog to the vet for that anal gland smelly thing or when you just have to stop feeding ur kids "human food" such as rice and pasta,etc....oh yes also can anyone tell me if it is common for the female to smell a bit more then the male?..thanks

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  • tanzaT

    Typically they give signs like scooting the butt on the rugs, licking, leaving little "icks" around on things… as a full anal gland will leak when full... and not sure what you mean by your questions on feeding? I have always feed mine rice/pasta at time... and that doesn't cause full glands... also, never notices one sex different then others, but some just have more problems with expressing the glands.

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • luzmery928L

    i THOUGHT THAT THE GLANDS GOT THAT WAY BECAUSE OF DIET ISSUES. WELL THAT'S GOOD NEWS IF IT'S JUST THAT THE GLANDS ARE FULL. YEAP THEY ARE LICKING, AND LEAVING THAT REALLY UNPLEASANT SMELL EVERYWHERE..THANKS

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  • jys1011J

    You may also want to check how she's pooping…is it runny? or soft? I noticed that once my dog's poop was better the anal glands issue went away. We also figured out that wet food was causing the softy & runny poop.

    If you do go to the vet it takes all of 5 seconds to express the anal glands..but it is gross! :(

    Basenji Mom of C3PO & TOPAZ

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  • lvossL

    Diet can contribute to the anal glands becoming full. If their bowel movements are not firm or are not bulky enough then they will not express the glands naturally and they will become full. Sometimes supplementing with a little added fiber like plain canned pumpkin can help to empty them.

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  • tanzaT

    Yep… some extra fiber can help... and of course when I said that I fed mine things like rice and paste, that was not on a daily basis... tyically I try to keep a balance diet... and they can get that way if you are not feeding a good balanced diet
    I express my own dogs glands when needed... if needed

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • luzmery928L

    can't even imagine trying to do that but jeez the smell…PEEEEUUUUUUUU....anyway we are not very balanced with the diet especially my husband that has officially made the kids his babies and feeds them whatever he eats...for example milk and ccokies. Anyway my girls poop is never as hard as my boys so that makes sense. I called the vet and he wants them to come in for a physical eventhough they were just in a few weeks ago because he says he can't extract the glands without checking to make sure it's not being cause by swelling or some other condition. Does that make sense? To be honest I'm not very happy with the vet since he told us to put our B's on a diet...Champ's weight is 20-21 lbs and belle is 19-20 lbs., and he also told us to feed them only wet food because dry food is no good for there teeth (didn't make much sense to me since i always heard dry food is best) anyway we took his recommendation for about 3 weeks and now I decided they are not overweight and don't feel we were feeding them enough so we started mixing both wet and dry food again. Bottom line is I'm not sure how good this vet is and to top it off he saw they had harnesses on and told us we should put chokers on them....crazy isn't it

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  • tanzaT

    Well, personally I don't like harness either, I think that is restricts the movement in the shoulders too much and that can lead to other problems… but I don't agree with with using a choke chain... the "head" collar is a much better idea.
    And that is really strange about feeding wet only? I have never every heard but in the end, if you don't brush all food will cause problems.
    And their weight sounds great to me...
    Again, my personal opinion... I think that I would look for another Vet... especially if they were just in recently.... all he would have to do is a quick check of the glands to know if they need expressing....
    Oh and one more thing... you really should "stop" the milk and cookies...gggg

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • luzmery928L

    thanks fot the feedback. I do think i will start looking for a new vet in the coming year. And the whole milk and cookies thing is my husband…i guess it's time for another human baby..lol

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  • luzmery928L

    now i'm wondering about the head collar….does that prevent them from choking, since my kids are not leash trained?

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  • lvossL

    How much a dog weighs in pounds really is not a good indication of whether it is overweight or underweight without being able to see the dog. At my vet office in every room they have a chart that shows how to see if your dog is overweight by looking at the dog and feeling for the dog's ribs. If my girl Rio was 21 pounds she would be overweight though her dam is at good weight at 21-22 pounds. It is best to judge weight by look and feel rather than purely on pounds.

    As for the vet's advice about feeding and collars, I would find another vet. There are advantages and disadvantages to feeding wet food, better for the teeth is not an advantage of wet food. Increased moisture content for animals that do not drink enough is an advantage to wet food and why it is recommended to feed male cats wet food as part of a prevention routine for urinary blockages. There is absolutely no reason to put a choke chain on a dog to walk it and there are many other options that IMO are far better choices.

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  • luzmery928L

    i agree. and to be honest when we first got our girl belle she was considered under weight and now she looks so much healthier. I would have considered the dr's advise except that I could see my kids ribs. They still have the whole slick body and I can feel their ribs but i was not happy when i could see their ribs

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  • lvossL

    @luzmery928:

    now i'm wondering about the head collar….does that prevent them from choking, since my kids are not leash trained?

    A head collar is one option to prevent pulling. The other is a harness like the Easy Walk or Sensation harness. Some dogs will not tolerate the head halter and even with a a good regimen of positive reinforcement never really warm up to them. The harnesses seem to work better for many of these dogs.

    Neither should be used instead of training good leash manners but can be used to help keep the dog from practicing the unwanted behavior while you are training better leash manners.

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  • luzmery928L

    mY KIDS DON'T MIND THEIR HARNESS. I JUST LOOKED UP THE HEAD COLLAR AND I THINK THEY WOULD FLIP OUT IF I TRIED PUTTING ANYTHING OVER THEIR MOUTH. THEY ARE NOT TOO BAD ON THE LEASH SO I HOPE IT WON'T LEAD TO ANY HEALTH ISSUES DOWN THE LINE AS SOMEONE POSTED ON THE THREAD.

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  • lvossL

    If you are already using a harness and they are pulling on their walks, you may want to look into either the Sensation or the Easy Walk. When you are using a harness it is really important that you only have it on when you are walking them and not leaving it on all the time.

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  • luzmery928L

    oh no they only have it for walks. You kiding me they hate having them on even for a second more. I just don't like when they choke on the collar. I know it's not good that they are not leash trained but unfortunantly I take them out fot their walks for excercise and even then I'm rushing in the am beofre work so I really don't have the time to train them. Although when we do walk and they pull to hard and do pull them back and make them wait for a few seconds and continue the walk.

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