Anal glands

[sherryk]

Help my 3 year old spayed female and 4 year ole neutered male have to have their anal glands expressed every 2 weeks.
My 8 year old spayed female had to have her glands removed at age 3 but this was a very intensive and expensive surgery. Does anybody have anything i can try. How about the pumpkin supplement ? Has anyone tried it ? Does it work ? Please reply soon. The odor is so bad . Sk

[eeeefarm]

Sometimes a change in diet helps this problem, but some dogs just seem more prone than others. Since you have two with the same problem, you might want to look into adding something that will increase pressure on the glands when the dogs defecate, thereby helping to empty them. Some people think bones are good for this, I have also heard of the pumpkin but haven't tried it.

Do you express the glands yourself? Not hard to do, and certainly saves you money!

[nomrbddgs]

You have actually had three with problems? That is unusual. If mine start getting smelly, they get carrots, pumpkin, cornmeal and within a day or two we are back to normal. I would look into their food to see what is in it. It may be worth a premium food if you are constantly having to express glands.

[sherryk]

I had so much trouble with my male and a loose stools during his first year that we had to take all food from him and only feed him the stomach formula from the vet for 3 months. After this tome i switched him to iams sensitive stomach which they stopped carrying and then to science diet sensitive stomach. All 3 basenjis did very well on this for 3 years. I could not give them any rawhide bones because the male would swallow them whole. And get very sick. Therefore after a few months of straightening out their stomachs i starting slipping in table scraps again and all was fine. Until 6 months ago, thats when the anal glands started getting plugged on them. I had tried raw diets before with no luck. My male is obsessed with all things. He will eat entire blankets, clothing or anything he can chew. I had him tested thinking he was lacking something but no, he is very healthy. If i continue to stick to a dry food diet 90% of the time what food do you think is the best. My 8 year old female is so healthy on the sensitive stomach formula. I hear so many stories about diets for basenjis but what is the best for all 3 eating together?

[Shaye's Mom]

My 3 1/2 yr. old had trouble with her glands since shortly after we got her, but each time she got them expressed it got worse and worse - she would drive us crazy trying to get at her butt after and was absolutely miserable. I finally stopped having them expressed, and she is much better now. The thing that works for her is to mix rice into one of her usual meals of the day, and give her pumpkin once in a while. If you can get their poop harder it helps work the glands and get them cleaned out. Shaye is prone to diahrrea when she is stressed, and if that happens, I feed her equal parts cooked, drained hamburger and rice, and a little cottage cheese to make it even tastier for her. GEmma eats whatever Shaye eats, but she seems to have no problem with anything - maybe because she is a mix.

[nomrbddgs]

Couple of questions
Are all three from the same breeder?
Have you contact the breeder (of any or all?)
Do you feed once per day? Twice?
IMO rawhide is not something I tend to give my dogs as it can cause more problems than it's worth.
Some of mine will chew anything and everything, some just leave stuff alone.
Table scraps (again IMO) are not healthy for any dog and just take away from the nutrition they should be getting from their food. As for what type of food, everyone has their own opinions. I feed a food called NOW for all 5 of mine plus the Boxer (who has immune system deficiencies but does well on this food). But, again, everyone has their own opinions.

[Nemo]

I have one dog where anal glands has been an issue. She does best on a raw diet and doesn't have an issue (I feed ground raw). For high protein grain free foods, it has taken awhile to figure out which ones work for her now (i did not have this issue for a number of years). Turns out beef does not cause an issue but some other proteins/food formulas seem to make her stool slightly less firm and the problem comes back. The vet said her anal glands are positioned atypically so that may be a contributing factor

[dcmclcm4]

I had an older girl who had to have her anal glands removed but only because they were constantly getting infected. She did well after the surgery. I am not sure what caused the problem as she was on Evo Innova Red Meat Small Bites and I also added pumpkin. Usually it is a food issue that causes anal gland problems. I never give my dogs rawhides and very few treats/biscuits as I have one who has allergies. No table scraps ever!

I do have a boy on Iams/Eukanuba Intestinal prescription food for an esophagus problem. He has been on it for years.

Jennifer

[eeeefarm]

I had two girls fed exactly the same. One had anal gland issues, the other never did. The girl with problems would get impacted anal glands. I could express them with difficulty and the secretions were very thick. I never knew why.

BTW, why no table scraps? Dogs used to do well on what they could scavenge, and until the dog food manufacturers saw an opening, dogs were generally fed whatever was left over. They did well on such a diet. We get told dogs need things scientifically balanced, but we don't worry about feeding our children all kinds of over processed junk! Strange world.

[dcmclcm4]

It depends on the table scraps. When I think of table scraps, I think of junk food which is not good for the dog.

Jennifer

[eeeefarm]

We don't eat junk at our house, but we don't eat meat either, so not much in the way of useful table scraps to be had here! All my Basenjis have enjoyed vegetables, however.

Before we went veggie, it was another story. A friend of mine with a farm fed several very long lived farm dogs on a combination of el cheapo kibble, table scraps and meaty bones. I don't think she ever had a dog die short of 15, and one was close to 19 when he expired. Large breed dogs, too.

From observation, I believe ingestion of bones helps with anal glands. Anything that firms up the stool is good.

[Lysh]

@dcmclcm4:

It depends on the table scraps. When I think of table scraps, I think of junk food which is not good for the dog.

Jennifer

our table scraps are usually left over dinner scraps which is vegies and meat

[tanza]

Same here…. our table scraps are our dinner leftovers.... not stuff that you would not eat. Their favorite is eggs in the morning....