Anal gland impactions are more than just a nuisance where you have to take your dog to the veterinarian to get them cleaned every few month. They can come to be very hazardous situations to your dog as they can lead to infections, abscesses, and even serious disease if not cared for properly.
Gland impaction is a very tasteless qoute for all dogs, especially smaller breeds of dogs. The anal glands are also referred to as anal sacs and are placed on both sides of your dog's anus, or butt. They open up to the face world by very small passageways or ducts. The original use of these glands by your dog is to lay there scent and mark out there territory as a means of transportation to other dog.
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However, what is not well known is that dogs will also use the scent from these glands as a defense mechanism when they are frightened.
By communicating in this manner, other dogs can tell when they have crossed into man else's territory. Every time your dog passes a stool, a small portion of this scent goes out. Other dogs can identify a single dog by smelling their scent. That is why you will see your dog go up and smell droppings, even in their own yard.
If you have more than one dog they will check it out just to make sure that it is there companion. It is also why you see dogs roughly immediately go to someone else dog's rear and smell it. They are identifying the smell of the anal glad.
How Anal Glands come to be Impacted:
Anal glands in your dog produce a liquid that is a dark brown, although in some cases when something is wrong, this secretion may come to be thick and turn yellowish in color. There are several reasons why these glands come to be impacted or basically close up.
These glands have a normalcy in shape, and when that shape becomes something other than general is carefully to be a conformation. This can cause the gland secretion to come to be thicker than general and cause the glands to clog up. Clogging will also occur with soft stools as small particles will stay in the glands. Whatever other than a general bowel movement can also cause the glands to clog.
When the glands do come to be impacted, there will be two very distinctive signals that your dog will show you. The first is what is referred to as scooting. As owners, we have all seen it. Your dog will sit down on their hindquarters and drag their anus or rear end along the grass or even your carpet.
The other sign will be a very distinctive and prolonged licking at their posterior. They know something is wrong and they are trying to clean it out; the qoute is they can't.
However, there is a third sign that you should watch for. If your dog starts to bite or scratch their anus, or if they snap at you when you try to eye them, something more serious has developed. These glands have now come to be infected.
Bacteria can very honestly enter these glands and cause both infection as well as abscesses. Once the ducts come to be clogged, it becomes a potential breeding ground for bacteria. This will come to be a very painful condition for your dog, and it can come to be a very smelly situation. When these glands come to be infected, they produce a very strong odor. If they are severely infected, they will have to be surgically removed.
How are the Anal Glands Cleaned?
In most all cases owners will take their pet to the veterinarian to have the glands cleaned. However, if not infected, it is not that difficult of a process to do yourself. These glands can honestly be cleaned whether internally or externally.
Raise your dog's tail and look for the glands. They will be in lower left hand and right hand corner of your pet's anus. If you were seeing at a clock they will be in the 4 o'clock position, the right gland, and the 8 o'clock position, which is the left gland.
In the external formula of cleaning simply take some paper towels and squeeze on both sides of your pets anal area. If it is not infected, it will burst out. It is a miniature messy, but not too bad. However, watch this very closely. If it is not a pure liquid form but instead is more of a paste form, you can not get rid of all of the secretion to empty the sacs properly on your own.
With the internal formula you will need to get some rubber gloves and lubricate them with Vaseline. Than you put your finger into the rectum of your pets and simply squeeze the sac in the middle of your thumb and forefinger. Drain the liquid onto some paper towels and repeat the process on the other gland.
However, again watch it very closely, as the glands should appear firm. If you get any type of dismissal that is not clear, your pet will have to go to the veterinarian. In most cases the dismissal will be just a clear fluid, but if it is not they can rupture and damage your pet's skin and spread infection.
This is a general process for all dogs and will save you a lot of money once you learn how to do it. However, if they come to be clogged more than 2 to 3 times every consolidate of months, you may have to have the glands surgically removed. The surgical dismissal will not harm your dog but it does take away one of their most prized talents; the marking of their territory and transportation to other dogs as to who they are.
Prevention and Treatment:
If your pet anal gland impactions do not come to be infected, they are no real threat to your pet health. However, lasting impactions in most cases will come to be infected. Abscesses must be lanced by your veterinarian followed by antibiotics. Abscesses may also cause scaring that may sway your pets nerves and muscle tissue in the anus. When this does occur, it can lead to incontinence where your pet can not hold the stool in.
The best formula of medicine is to turn is to turn your pet's diet and supplement them. High fiber diets will make your pet's stool much firmer and more bulky which reduces the pressure on the glands.
Several nutrients will also help with anal gland impactions. Omega fatty acids help to be a very miniature laxative to your dog but do not make the stool watery, just easier to pass. A small teaspoon of olive oil in your pet's food will also bring a lot of relief in your dog as it accomplishes the same thing as thing, allowing the stool to remain firm but pass easier.
Summery:
Anal gland impactions will happen in your dog; but studying to understand the symptoms and the ways you can help to sell out or eliminate it will save both your dog and yourself a lot of agony.
Anal Gland Impactions in Dogs