# Anal Gland infection/ abscess



## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

What a rough week my sweet Princess has had.  Gucci had an anal gland infection and it abscessed at 2am on Friday night. I searched the forum for threads about this last weekend and I didn't find any (I might've missed them because I was so exhausted from staying up with my girl) but I thought I should probably start one incase anyone else runs into this problem. I asked the vet what caused it and they said there really isn't a cause…it just happens sometimes, but looking back over the last few weeks, she had some symptoms that I chalked up to 'constipation'.. 

Let me preface by saying we haven't had any previous issues with anal glands, but a few weeks ago..she started dragging her butt across the floor and having more 'gas'. I assumed the extra gas was from some turkey that my DH gave her (which does crank the fart level up), and over the last few weeks we noticed that something was just 'off' with her and knew she didn't feel good but we didn't know exactly what was wrong..everyone in the family had speculated on her being 'depressed', 'tired' ..'winter blues', etc.. she was generally off and not quite herself. On Thursday afternoon when I was cleaning her up after her walk..I noticed that one side of her anus was hard and the other one was soft..I guess I thought it was a stool and she was constipated, but she was also crying a little at the water I sprayed to clean her up with. I thought it was something that could wait til' the next morning to take to the vet because I was going to be next door to the vet at my husband's office, but later that afternoon around 5 the area near her anus was very red and painful to the touch and I did a little research online and had suspected it was an anal gland infection but was so shocked to see how quickly it grew into an exterior abscess! 

By 11 pm on Thursday night it had grown into a quarter size exterior abscess (I won't post the pictures cause it is pretty gross looking). I took a picture and texted the vet tech who is a good friend of ours and she said yes to try to make her comfortable and come in first thing in the morning. She ended up popping it open around 2am and that gave her a little relief, but she was in horrible pain pretty much all weekend 

The vet had us come back again on Saturday morning, Sunday morning and again this morning so they can watch it heal and keep it clean, just the nature of where it is at is so close to her anus that keeping it clean has been a task in itself.

Her treatment is antibiotics, metacam, Ultram, ChlorhexiDerm wipes, warm compresses, and Zymox spray. 

She seems to be feeling better and on the mend and I hope nobody else's fur baby has to contend with this, but I know now what signs to look for and I probably will take frequent butt dragging a lot more seriously next time.

Here is a picture of her right now..she has that sort of pain pill zoned out look but as cute as ever, IMO..(In mom's opinion )

Kara


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## Molly120213 (Jan 22, 2014)

I hope Gucci is back to her old self real soon.


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## MarinaGirl (Mar 25, 2012)

Poor sweet Gucci. I hope her hiney starts feeling better soon. Thanks for sharing her story so we can all learn from it. And yes, she's very very cute, even on pain killers.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

I hope she feels better soon.

I appreciate the information. I am always concerned about this with bella. As she has gotten older, she's needs her anal glands expressed. I always check back there at bath time...


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

thanks for sharing Kara , poor little duff.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Poor little girl! Feel better Gucci!


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## Parrothedd (Oct 1, 2014)

I am glad Gucci is better. Coco had this several times.
What is the bottom line on preventing this?


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## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

Thank you, everyone!

I asked the vet what caused this and how to prevent it and they didn't really have an answer for me, she is 7 years old and has had pretty good health. I think I will put her back on probiotics.

It just really surprised me how quickly the abscess happened after noticing the tender red skin . The vet told me that smaller breeds are a bit more prone to this happening, although, I haven't heard much of this in the Havanese community. 

Its always hard when your fur child isn't feeling well  Its just like having a sick kid, but harder because they can't' tell you what they are feeling and where it hurts…sigh.

Kara


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## Marbel (May 20, 2014)

Wow, sorry this happened and thanks for sharing. I learn so much from this forum - things I would have never thought about or questioned.

I hope she is doing better.


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## lcarp1457 (Sep 10, 2014)

Does anyone know if this is a common problem in Havs? Our little Fitzgerald (almost 9 months) has been having what we think are continuing anal gland problems.

It all started around the beginning of December when he swallowed a big piece of Bully Stick. We took him to the vet and they prescribed antibiotics to reduce any swelling that may occur, but also determined that his anal glands were very full and probably causing him discomfort, so they expressed them. He was having really loose stools because of the antibiotics and then started scooting all of the floor and was very obviously uncomfortable, so we took him BACK to the vet. His anal glands had to be expressed again.

He was scooting again a few weeks ago and seemed to be having a ton of trouble passing any stool (he was straining and squatting all over the yard with very minimal success) and when we finally brought him inside, he went right back to the door like he needed to go out again. That's when we noticed fresh, bright red blood on his anus. We took him right to the emergency vet, and while the anal gland hadn't ruptured and they couldn't even determine for sure where the bleeding came from, his anal glands were super full yet again and had to be expressed.

He's started scooting again in the last day or two, and I just wanted to know if anyone else has had issues with ongoing anal gland problems. Is it possible/safe to express them ourselves? I'm not going to lie, the prospect of doing it isn't exactly appealing, but it's going to get REALLY expensive if Fitz has to go to the vet a couple of times a month because of it.

Any experiences or feedback that anyone has would be GREATLY appreciated.









Though he was uncomfortable before going to the vet, Fitz actually LOVES going to the vet and got really happy when we got there...my little weirdo 

PS--Thumper, Gucci is SO CUTE! I'm glad she's on the mend. I know how scary it can be when you realize that something may be VERY wrong with our sweet little fur-babies.


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## MarinaGirl (Mar 25, 2012)

lcarp1457 said:


> Does anyone know if this is a common problem in Havs? Our little Fitzgerald (almost 9 months) has been having what we think are continuing anal gland problems.


Not common


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## siewhwee (Sep 24, 2009)

Dr. Karen Becker's website has an article on anal glands. Hope it helps.


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## whimsy (Apr 3, 2010)

awww.. poor little girl! Hope she is feeling better soon. Poor you too.. It is hard on us owners to watch out babies feel pain.


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

Not a common thing that I've heard about although some pups are just more prone to fill up quicker then others. I used to have the groomer take care of Tim's before I knew better and I took him every 4-5 weeks. I've since told my groomer to stop doing this, I was kind of concerned, but things have been fine with him. I did take him to the vet about 5 months after I stopped to have them checked and they were filled about medium. Mae has never had her's drained and doesn't seem to need them done, no scooching.

Have you thought about changing his diet? What does your vet think? Sounds like he might need more fiber, but I'm no expert. My two eat Stella & Chewy's frozen raw and I LOVE it, so do they.


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## lcarp1457 (Sep 10, 2014)

jabojenny said:


> Have you thought about changing his diet? What does your vet think? Sounds like he might need more fiber, but I'm no expert. My two eat Stella & Chewy's frozen raw and I LOVE it, so do they.


I did take him to the vet and they said basically the same thing, he needs more fiber (so you may be an expert after all!  ) and recommended that we incorporate more pumpkin into his diet. We've always given him pumpkin, but we upped it to 2-3 Tbsps a day (what the vet recommended) and yet it still seems to be ongoing. I read today that it can be a symptom of grain intolerance. Who knows if that's true, but I think if it keeps happening, we'll have to try to take him off of all grain and see if that helps at all.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Anal gland problems can be caused by food intolerances… wheat probably being the most common one, but you can have an intolerance to any food. 

The other thing is that in some dogs (not just Havanese… it can happen with any breed) the anal glands can be mis-placed, causing them not to express properly when the dog eliminates, even if the stools are the proper consistency. I would THINK your vet would have told you if this were the case, but maybe they want to give the more fiber a try first. In some cases with glands that don't empty by themselves, you can have the glands expressed periodically by the vet. 

In the worst cases, if they fill up too quickly or if they get abscessed, it sometimes makes sense to remove them surgically. Find someone who is very, VERY familiar with this surgery if you decided to go that route. It can be highly successful, making life easier for both the dog and the owner. But done incorrectly, it can damage the rectal muscles, leading to incontinence.


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

lcarp1457 said:


> Does anyone know if this is a common problem in Havs? Our little Fitzgerald (almost 9 months) has been having what we think are continuing anal gland problems.
> 
> It all started around the beginning of December when he swallowed a big piece of Bully Stick. We took him to the vet and they prescribed antibiotics to reduce any swelling that may occur, but also determined that his anal glands were very full and probably causing him discomfort, so they expressed them. He was having really loose stools because of the antibiotics and then started scooting all of the floor and was very obviously uncomfortable, so we took him BACK to the vet. His anal glands had to be expressed again.
> 
> ...


I had the same situation with my first Havanese, Bailey. He had issues off and on and then it seemed to become chronic when he about 9 yrs old. He developed an abscess at one point which I discovered when I saw him scooting on the wood floor with a streak of blood trailing him. The vet expressed them, infused them with an antibiotic and scheduled him to have them expressed every 2 weeks for a couple of months, then once a month. After that, she checked them periodically and they seemed to be okay.

Tyler, on the other hand, had never had an issue until he was 16 and then it came on all of a sudden one morning when he was acting like a mad dog, running around, screaming, trying to lie down and then screaming again in pain. He never scooted, so I didn't have a clue until I noticed the blood. His was a much more serious abscess which required a very painful procedure at the vet's office, plus antibiotics. It was one episode and it never happened again.

I hope you get your issue resolved. It hard to see them uncomfortable and in pain,


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