# Anal Gland Abscess



## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

:Cry: The title pretty much says it all. :Cry: Rufus is recoupering from a nasty boo-boo owie. Friday afternoon, after potty I saw he had a dirty bum and got a warm washrag to clean him up and noticed some serious redness and a dark swollen area to the left and down from his pooper. The vet was full, but we got an appointment for 10:00 Saturday morning. He was acting completely normal..eating, drinking and playing and I never would've noticed a thing, had I not checked his butt after pottying. All that night I was counting down the hours.

Saturday morning he was starting to scootch and I was sooooo glad when it was 10:00 and he could get in to see the vet. Thank goodness hubby could take him in, as I also had a training class for Marley at the same time. WHY does it always happen like that?? Still, after Marley's class I called DH and they were still at the vet, so I hurried over. The vet was going to try and manually express the gland (while he was until a mild anesthesia), but it would not express and they had to lance it. It about broke my heart when the anesthesia wore off (short term) and I could hear him crying in the back. :hurt:

He's on an antibiotic, a pain reliever, and a cream with a cone for his head and warm compresses 2-3 times a day. :hurt:

Yesterday was rough and he laid perfectly still the whole day only moving his eyes to follow me. Anytime he moved it hurt and he was digging and whining like crazy. Today he is doing much better, but still laying around for the most part and I have to keep the other dogs away from him. No play allowed or he could get very very hurt/ Not that he wants to way anyway, but Marley doesn't understand and sometimes thinks Rufus is trying to play when he digs like crazy. The tissues are incrediably tender. 

He didn't potty all day yesterday and finally peed this morning, but he still hasn't pooped yet. :fear: I hope it doesn't hurt when he poops.


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## Jane (Jun 2, 2007)

Oh, poor baby! Give Rufus a big hug for me. And don't spare him those painkillers! 

It is just so hard to see our sweet babies suffer


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## juliav (Nov 21, 2006)

Poor Rufus.  Give him and extra belly rub for me.


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

OMG, I am sure that is very painful. I have no experience with this except Smarty expresses her anal glands when she gets worked up and barking. I had never heard of this until she started doing it.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Jane said:


> Oh, poor baby! Give Rufus a big hug for me. And don't spare him those painkillers!
> It is just so hard to see our sweet babies suffer


Nsaids..don't love to give them, but will if he needs them so I am watching him closely. I don't want him in pain that's for sure!

Thank you Julia!



SMARTY said:


> OMG, I am sure that is very painful. I have no experience with this except Smarty expresses her anal glands when she gets worked up and barking. I had never heard of this until she started doing it.


The auto-expression must be a bummer, but yeah the abscess is too! It starts with an infection that is introduced into the gland from the rear. I guess he sat on something with cooties on it.  He just had a bath a couple days before and his bum looked fine! I'm surprised by how fast this happened to my little guy.


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## Mraymo (Oct 30, 2007)

Poor guy. That must have really hurt. Hope he recooperates quickly.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

*Get well soon Rufus*


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Ouch! Poor little guy, I hope he's feeling better quickly! Lucky you noticed it when you did.


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## Havtahava (Aug 20, 2006)

Scooter's Family said:


> Ouch! Poor little guy, I hope he's feeling better quickly! Lucky you noticed it when you did.


No kidding! Christy was fabulous to catch it before it ruptured. In fact, she caught it early enough that she was able to wait almost a full day before seeing the vet, which is rare with an anal gland absess.

Speedy recovery Rufus! Give him my love, Christy.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Thanks so much Marianne, Sally, Ann!



Havtahava said:


> No kidding! Christy was fabulous to catch it before it ruptured. In fact, she caught it early enough that she was able to wait almost a full day before seeing the vet, which is rare with an anal gland absess.
> 
> Speedy recovery Rufus! Give him my love, Christy.


I will Kimberly.  Thanks for your help. It's nice when I have a moment of freaking out and I can call you for advice! My little drama queen is back on his kibble now and has stopped holding out for meatballs. I'm happy with how quickly he's back on his feed. It always makes a mama happy to see her boy eat!


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## luv3havs (Jul 27, 2007)

I had a similar incident with Max, my little Foster dog.
On a Tuesday he had a well check at the vet and was fine. Two days later he had a huge blistery looking thing on his butt. It worsened in a matter of hours and I took him to the vet that evening. He had an abscessed anal glad, had to be sedated to have it treated. They kept him overnight and sent him home on antibiotics and pain medication. He was fine in 2-3 days.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

luv2havs said:


> I had a similar incident with Max, my little Foster dog.
> On a Tuesday he had a well check at the vet and was fine. Two days later he had a huge blistery looking thing on his butt. It worsened in a matter of hours and I took him to the vet that evening. He had an abscessed anal glad, had to be sedated to have it treated. They kept him overnight and sent him home on antibiotics and pain medication. He was fine in 2-3 days.


OOoh I'm sorry to hear you went through this too--scary isn't it?? It helps to hear it came up fast for you too and even after a vet check! When I first called, I told the receptionist it had come up so quickly and she said maaybe it wasn't as fast as I thought and I felt like she was implying I don't keep a close eye on my dogs!


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## Sissygirl (Aug 8, 2007)

Oh Christy, that just sounds horrible. I sure hope he feels better tomorrow.


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## Lynn (Jan 2, 2007)

Poor Rufus, glad to hear he is doing a little better. I have never heard of such a thing, I will now know to check at least now.

Give Rufus some :hug::hug:get well soon.


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## MopTop Havanese (Sep 25, 2006)

Oh no! That is awful! I had the same thing happen with Daisy last year. One morning she was fine, a few hours later she wasn't! She too had an anal gland absess that didn't rupture, and the vet couldn't get it to express either. So they had to lance hers too. I was shocked at how awful it looked for a few days, but then she did heal up quickly after that. She hasn't had any other problems with it-
I hope Rufus heals quickly! It's so hard to see them suffer!


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*Hope it is one only*

My poor Daisy has had four. No scooting or warning, just one day she is licking a lot...and viola...what a mess.

We changed her to raw and haven't had one since...hope we don't get any more either. The alternative is an operation which can either work or lead to incontinence...

We were feeding her these treats from Costco of dried chicken made in China...don't know if they were the cause...but she will never get one again.

We had another friend with a havanese female who did have to have the operation and they paid the price for an excellent specialist.

I do hope your baby recovers quickly and never gets another one again! The cone is pathetic looking with their sweet little faces, and it is hard to drink water too!


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## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

Ugh, I'm queasy thinking about it. Poor baby. I'm glad he's okay.


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## hedygs (May 23, 2007)

I'm so glad Rufus is feeling better. I don't want to chuckle but guess who I called when I noticed Gitter had a red bum? So Kimberly how does it feel to be the queen of bum abcesses?

I always wondered if Gitter got his abcess after I took him to the groomer and she shaved his anal area. Maybe it got irritated or nicked. It was the first and last time she ever did that. Now she trims the area with scissors and he hasn't had a problem since. 

Anyway, glad your baby is on the mend.


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## Havtahava (Aug 20, 2006)

hedygs said:


> So Kimberly how does it feel to be the queen of bum abcesses?


Could you kindly re-word that my friend? LOL


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Linda, 

"What a mess" is right! Poor Daisy having it four times! I'm glad to hear the raw diet is working for her. I'm sure once my boy heals, I'll be peeking under his tail every 10 minutes driving him crazy just to make sure it isn't happening again! 

Katie, it's still in that awful looking phase and the hardest part is that his hair gets stuck in the mess as it's trying to scab over and it hurts when I have to carefully pull the hair away. The warm compresses must feel pretty good because he's very good about letting me do them, but he's not so happy about me putting the cream on. They shaved some hair about a half dollar size and that helps some but I'd have to shave his whole backside and tail to keep all the hair away. They even tried to wrap his tail in vet wrap, but that only held for the 10 minute drive home. 

"Queasy" is understandable Ivy. It's not a pretty sight and I can't wait for it to be healed up!


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## hedygs (May 23, 2007)

Havtahava said:


> Could you kindly re-word that my friend? LOL


:tape:

Well how bout the Queen of Knowledge of All-Things Bum Abcess Related?

Not better. I'm making it worse perhaps?


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## Havtahava (Aug 20, 2006)

LOL!

Christy, hopefully you'll start seeing some improvement tonight.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

hedygs said:


> So Kimberly how does it feel to be the queen of bum abcesses?


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## hedygs (May 23, 2007)

Christy you are going to get me in bigger trouble. :evil:

Isn't it funny how I knew exactly what I was trying to say and said it completely wrong. :redface:


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## Havtahava (Aug 20, 2006)

Christy, I thought she might have been referring to that other pain in my butt. Ha!


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Havtahava said:


> Christy, I thought she might have been referring to that other pain in my butt. Ha!


ound: You guys are killing me this morning! ound:


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## hedygs (May 23, 2007)

Havtahava said:


> Christy, I thought she might have been referring to that other pain in my butt. Ha!


OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!! ound:ound:ound:


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

I don't know whether to laugh or cry after reading this thread! 

I am so sorry for Rufus. Christy what a good observant havamom.


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## Havtahava (Aug 20, 2006)

Glad I left you gals smiling this morning.

Any signs of improvement back there tonight, Christy?


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Havtahava said:


> Glad I left you gals smiling this morning.
> 
> Any signs of improvement back there tonight, Christy?


Yes!  He finally pooped this morning --yay!

The skin's already back to a normal healthy pink color and I can tell it's still a bit uncomfortable, but he's up and moving around now. He's still working it a bit by hogging the girls' little pink bed and their purple blankie lol!


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## Leeann (Feb 28, 2007)

Oh no Christy, poor Rufus. And I was getting laughed at when I was checking Monte's glands last week (one was full and I wanted to make sure he emptied it after he pooped) 
Give Rufus some gentle love from me and the boys.


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## hedygs (May 23, 2007)

What a face. I still think he's milking it for all it's worth. 

Belly rubs from me dear Rufus. Gitter send you lickies. He knows where you're coming from.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Leeann said:


> Oh no Christy, poor Rufus. And I was getting laughed at when I was checking Monte's glands last week (one was full and I wanted to make sure he emptied it after he pooped)
> Give Rufus some gentle love from me and the boys.


I can't believe I'm going to ask this but...how can you tell if they're full?


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

Scooter's Family said:


> I can't believe I'm going to ask this but...how can you tell if they're full?


http://www.ehow.com/video_2275318_express-dogs-anal-gland.html


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Awww it's a rufus-tini! I was gonna ask too Ann. I only can tell cause Jasper scoots and gets moody. thanks for link Sally.


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## psvzum (Jun 11, 2009)

oh how awful! The poor little guy. It's heartbreaking to see these little ones in pain : (

Hope he's feeling better soon.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Leeann said:


> Give Rufus some gentle love from me and the boys.


Thanks Leeann, better safe than sorry I think. You just keep on checking those boys. You don't want this to happen that's for sure!



hedygs said:


> What a face. I still think he's milking it for all it's worth.


Oh yeah, he's milking it, but hey that's ok, he's my baby.



Missy said:


> Awww it's a rufus-tini! I was gonna ask too Ann. I only can tell cause Jasper scoots and gets moody. thanks for link Sally.


lol Rufus-tini! He's worn this darn cone so many times now, he doesn't even fuss about it.



psvzum said:


> Hope he's feeling better soon.


Thank you!


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## RikiDaisyDixie (Apr 15, 2008)

*Expressing your own...*

A vet tech will do it for free if you ask them, it is a good idea to watch them because you can injure the dog if you do it wrong. Most groomers do it.

We are supposed to do Daisy once a month, but again...we have been pretty lucky since we changed her diet.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Well that was lovely to watch first thing in the morning....uke:

We try to pick up every poo the dogs do in the back yard and they usually look a bit slimy and wet even though the poo is firm. I guess it's this stuff? So far never had a problem with it. (Thank God!)


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## Leeann (Feb 28, 2007)

Scooter's Family said:


> I can't believe I'm going to ask this but...how can you tell if they're full?


Ann I asked my groomer to show me where and how to check then I just kept checking to see if I could feel a differance and sure enough one day I could.


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## marb42 (Oct 19, 2008)

Christy, I hope Rufus is feeling better by now. That picture was just too cute with his little plastic colar and his sweet face. I couldn't bring myself to watch the video, and I hope that I will never have to - it sounds painful and yucky. Feel better, Rufus!
Gina


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## Leslie (Feb 28, 2007)

Poor little Rufus! Hope he's completely back to normal very soon.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

marb42 said:


> Christy, I hope Rufus is feeling better by now. That picture was just too cute with his little plastic colar and his sweet face. I couldn't bring myself to watch the video, and I hope that I will never have to - it sounds painful and yucky. Feel better, Rufus!
> Gina


Thank you Gina. The video isn't really awful. It just shows how to empty the glands which is something your vet or groomer might do as a routine procedure. I didn't take pictures of Rufus' problem, because that would have been way too scary! :fear: :faint:


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## william spears (Sep 12, 2009)

Give the dog some fibre in the diet, most anal gland issues surround a real crappy diet that lacks fibre usually dry based.

Apples, pears, fibre all help anal gland empty.

sorry being abrasive but hell, a dog is an extension of its owner DUH


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

william spears said:


> Give the dog some fibre in the diet, most anal gland issues surround a real crappy diet that lacks fibre usually dry based.
> 
> Apples, pears, fibre all help anal gland empty.
> 
> sorry being abrasive but hell, a dog is an extension of its owner DUH


You're wrong and terribly rude and abrasive. I won't bother to justify this to you.


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

:spy:


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Well said Christy, although you were a bit nicer about it than I would have been.


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## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

all of his posts have been rude and abrasive......he needs some manners.


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## dbeech (Jun 16, 2009)

I smell a troll!


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

LOL Debbie! I've never seen him before.


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

How is Rufus feeling today Christy?

And Even though I am not supposed to feed the trolls.... Most kibble has more fiber than raw (even though I feed raw with extra veggies)...In fact some of the so called worst kibbles have the most fiber... also it is questionable how much fruit one should give their dog...you would need to give your dog an awful lot of fruit to add enough fiber and fruit has a lot of sugar and I have even read contains natural Xylitol which can be poisonous to a dog. And Lastly, from my own experience with one of my dogs...all dogs are different... Jasper's anal glands are abnormally high and would not be expressed even if his output was as big and hard as well... a troll.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Missy said:


> How is Rufus feeling today Christy?
> 
> And Even though I am not supposed to feed the trolls.... Most kibble has And Lastly, from my own experience with one of my dogs...all dogs are different... Jasper's anal glands are abnormally high and would not be expressed even if his output was as big and hard as well... a troll.


Ha! As big as a troll lol! Rufus has an appointment with the vet at 9:00 tomorrow morning. He was looking great until today. The gland that abscessed is looking swollen and dark so I want to get him back in for a re-check. The other side is flat, so I dunno if this gland is overactive or what. Because it was lanced and he's had compresses, it should be draining if it's filling IMO, so I can't understand why it's filling up, but we had better have the vet check it out because I don't want any more problems.


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

awww Poor Rufus. Poor Christy. I really hope the vet helps you get this resolved. 

I am so petrified of Jasper's becoming abscessed we have his expressed by the vet every month to 6 weeks... (also because if they are full and he get's excited he will express them in the house...that is something you don't want to smell) 

Feel better little Rufustini.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Hope he's ok Christy! Poor little guy has got to be uncomfortable.


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

We'll be watching for news. Hope all goes well at the vets.


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

Just checking in. Hope all is well!


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Back from the vets and everything's fine! Maybe I'm just a little paranoid. The vet said the gland would feel harder for awhile because of scar tissue and the dark color I was seeing was only blood and a little drainage, but not infection. phew! I'm relieved! She also said he'll need warm compresses for a few more days but after that we can stop them and try taking the cone off. Rufus loves that idea! :cheer2:


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)




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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

YAY!


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

Good news!


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

You must be so relieved Christy! Glad you got good news.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Yay! We are doing much much better today and I took off the cone! Rufus was happy to be able to scratch his face and his ears and lick his...ummm  well guy stuff! He hasn't even bothered to mess with his bum at all so the cone can stay off and today was the first day that he went poo in the yard all on his own--without me pointing at the grass and making him do it. GOOD BOY! He's been playing all day with Marley and Phoebe and now he's fast asleep.  One more week of antibiotics and lets cross our fingers this never happens again!


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

We are happy to hear all is progressing nicely, being able to lick and scratch your parts is very important to our little house mates.


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

Good news!


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Yeah, that's great news. Sounds like he's on the road to recovery.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

SMARTY said:


> We are happy to hear all is progressing nicely, being able to lick and scratch your parts is very important to our little house mates.


haha yeah, it sure is! :becky:


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## Jane (Jun 2, 2007)

That's wonderful, Christy. We hate the cone around here! Hope Rufus never has to experience that again!!


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

YEAH Rufus!!!!!


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

:cheer2:


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## Redorr (Feb 2, 2008)

Wow - so glad that Rufus is no longer a cone-head. But I bet he is more glad! 

Christy, after this thread, new searches may make YOU the new queen of the anal abscess. Surely Kimberly would hate to relinquish her title. ;-)


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## Mraymo (Oct 30, 2007)

Glad to hear Rufus is feeling better.


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

Well, Tucker and I may be following your pathway, Christie and Rufus. Yesterday after smelling something around Tucker's backside (no evidence, though,) I decided to see if it were this anal gland issue. Got the gloves, paper towels after watching the video that was posted in this thread...yep, a bunch of yucky stuff came out, rather easily. I didn't want to press too hard and hoped I got it all. Seemed to be much better, but this evening it is smelling again and it's a bit red back there. I carefully pressed a bit again, and more came out. So, it's off to the vets tomorrow, I hope I can get him in right away, anyway. Wish us luck!


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

I hope tucker is fine. I have to say although we express often we have never had an abscess. so I have no advice there. I just hope he is all right.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Sheri, I hope all is well with Tucker! Fanny problems are no fun. Since the stuff was expressed easily, I would think that is good. It's when it gets thick that theres more likely a problem but I don't like hearing there's also redness.  Let me know what the vet says.


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

All is well! His glands were okay, one was empty, the other had some in it, but not a lot. So, I did okay, I guess, and maybe he was just sitting funny because of me having messed around back there. Whew!


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Sheri said:


> All is well! His glands were okay, one was empty, the other had some in it, but not a lot. So, I did okay, I guess, and maybe he was just sitting funny because of me having messed around back there. Whew!


Yay! :cheer2: Glad to hear everything's ok!

I'm glad you brought me back to this, I called the vet who saw Rufus back in September to talk to her. He STILL has dark purple coloring on his bum where the abscess occured. She said some dogs have a pigment change afterwards so this may just be normal for him. She told me to put my hand back there every couple days to make sure it's not warm, which would signal infection brewing but since it looks completely healing other than the color and it's not bothering him she felt it was only the color change.


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

Hmmm, that is weird, isn't it, that it would be a pigment change...I wonder if it is actually a hard, permanent clot of blood back in that area for him. I guess not, though, or the vet would have said that, instead of pigment change. Must be like scar tissue. I hope that is all that is going on for Rufus, and nothing bad going on! You'll have to keep us posted.


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Glad to hear Tucker is AOK! that is weird about the pigment change Christy. Glad Rufus is AOK too!


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Sheri said:


> Hmmm, that is weird, isn't it, that it would be a pigment change...I wonder if it is actually a hard, permanent clot of blood back in that area for him. I guess not, though, or the vet would have said that, instead of pigment change. Must be like scar tissue. I hope that is all that is going on for Rufus, and nothing bad going on! You'll have to keep us posted.


Jeez, I sure hope it's nothing bad! Aside from the color though, everything looks fine. I wouldn't even notice except his coat was shaved there and is still very short.


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

Didn't mean to scare you, Christie, I was just kind-of "thinking out loud." Sorry! :redface: I just wonder about things like that.


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