Biting at butt after shriek of pain

[Coloradical]

Our first B very occasionally would shriek in pain and bite at her back legs/butt/tail area. This would be exclusively right after napping on the couch and then jumping down. Never when running intensely or jumping around when playing. It seems to have happened less over the last few months, maybe like once every other month…but not often enough for us to worry. She never seems to be in that much pain and it just doesn't happen often and increasingly less so.

But now our second B is having similar issues. Unfortunately it happens more often. Either after napping on the couch and jumping down or when first running after resting like when we first arrive at the dog park. But he shrieks much more loudly than our female ever did and seems to bite at his tail and butt much more frantically. In fact he'll fall over mid-run (from the pain?) and immediately go to the biting.

With the both of them it's only ever one quick shriek and a few moments of biting at the hindquarters. It doesn't seem to bother either of them for more than a few seconds...but what the heck is going on? We've palpitated all over their hindquarters trying to reproduce the pain but they have not responded at all.

Our vet said anal glands were suspect and he expressed them on our second B with the more occurrences of obvious pain. He didn't have any pain like that for a day but then it was back just like before. When he does the shriek and the biting and poops shortly thereafter (probably by coincidence cause sometimes he doesn't) while pooping he tries to look at his butt very intensely. When he drops the poop from his butt he'll turn around wicked fast like "what was happening back here!?" or "that hurt, what the heck!?" Stool is perfectly normal (and checked by vet/tests) and both dogs have clean bill of health from vet.

Any thoughts about this, anyone seen it before? Anal glands, muscle spasms/pain, tail issues (arthritis?)....

[stash]

I find Kaiser is very keen to not have poop taking too long or hanging (after eating too much grass) off his butt and will do the same and check his behind out. A few times he has squealed because it was hanging as if the poop was attacking him(turning around and around fast) and sometimes being fed raw the poop may be a bit bony and it was uncomfortable coming out. I would say I find him to be a bit of a drama queen in that situation. The odd time he has given a squeal and went to bite his rear after sleeping, just wondering if maybe it is a cramp. Also if he farts he is all too keen to check out where that came from, so funny.

Jolanda and Kaiser

[Tama]

My girl does the same thing!! , have the vet look at her and she says she's fine and there's nothing wrong - might be a cramp or numbness or even scar tissue from her spay bothers her , but she jumps , plays , runs like nothing's a miss, she only does it on the rare occasion , getting up , or just at very random moments , it's not even everyDay maybe once a week ? Give or take a few days , it's odd have no idea why

[Timesthemyth]

This happened my puppy for awhile; the vet guessed that it was likely gas trapped in the intestines, or whatever, as the food was being processed. Just like in humans.

[tanza]

I would have to say it would have something to do with the anal glands…..

[eeeefarm]

I would be guessing anal glands as well. Have you checked them right after the incident to see if they are full or empty?

[Coloradical]

Yes when our second Basenji started having these issues much more often and seemingly more seriously than our first we took him to the vet and he expressed his anal glands because he thought that was likely the problem. Afterwards Jaco didn't have any of those symptoms for a few days but then they came back just like before. His poops are big, solid, and all around healthy which we know is suppose to help regulate his glands…but maybe we just need to get them expressed often. Thankfully it seems to happening less and less for the both of them thankfully which I should have mentioned from the get go...but it's still concerning that it happens at all before and still now occasionally.

[eeeefarm]

Get your vet or a groomer to show you how to express the glands yourself. It's a bit of a stinky job, but not particularly hard, plus once you "know the territory", so to speak, it is easy to assess whether the glands are full or empty. (groomers like to do it in the tub, wash the results down the drain, but you can do it anywhere. Outside or over a tile floor might be best, not on the carpet!) Yes, you should be able to catch it in a tissue, but sometimes it just squirts out when you aren't expecting it, and hits the floor (or your clothes!). Been there, done that!

[DebraDownSouth]

There are some things I will do for my dogs, many things in fact. Expressing anal glands is not one of them, lol. It is well worth the $20 I pay to have them done by the vet if needed. Fortunately in my approaching 58 yrs of life I have only had one chow who needed them expressed ONE TIME, and now Cara who has issues from trying not to poop until the ground is no more than 0.0000001% moist. As long as I give her fiber every 3 days and make lettuce and veggies part of her food so she HAS TO GO (even if on porch or walk), no issues. But all of my basenjis, if they got poop stuck, run screaming like ALIEN is eating them from the inside out.

[Coloradical]

I watched a few videos by vets on YouTube about how to express the glands. I think I'll just let our vets do it every now and then with check ups or we need to go in for it. It's not only not something I really want to do for the mess of it but I just don't trust myself to do it right and as you said Debra it's cheap and hopefully we won't need it done more than once or twice a year if at all. So far we've had our vets do it once for each dogs in our almost 18 months of Basenji parenting…both times because the vet said they probably needed it (the likely cause of the issue and hence vet visit).

What I definitely can do is continue to make sure they eat well/healthy. Like I said before I know the full-sized solid poops are the best for more than one reason! Thankfully we've gotten them both into a routine over the last few months that really has seen them stabilize their bowel movements and help our younger new B pick up potty training real well. We'll just continue down that path.

Thankfully like I mentioned in an earlier post all the "pains in the butt" seem to be occurring less often as they age. The desire for me to post here was to try to narrow down some possible causes.

Thanks for all the input!!!