Anal gland

johnnyb6

Hi I have a 3 year old King Charles and every now and then he drags his backside along the ground for few seconds. My vet says its problem with his anial glands. We have put him on special high fibre royal canin food and this is mixed with spoon of bran. This problem is going on since we got him. However when we get his anial glands cleaned out , he still does. I would appreciate ant help.


Thanking You

scudzilla

I recognised the thread title :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Any help here? http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056898900

ABajaninCork

Don't give him any more Royal Canin! Sounds as if it doesn't agree with him. Mine had the same problem, and we've switched him to Burns with some psyllium husk (not bran) added. Since then - no more problems!

pookiesboo

Burns dry food. It does work

ABajaninCork

Bran is difficult to pass if the dog doesn't drink enough water. Psyllium husk is much better for firming up and passing the stool without too much bother, as it's soluble fibre.

Brown rice is good too.

tk123

chicken wings/backs ftw

johnnyb6

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Don't give him any more Royal Canin! Sounds as if it doesn't agree with him. Mine had the same problem, and we've switched him to Burns with some psyllium husk (not bran) added. Since then - no more problems!

Hi I have decided to change his food and am wondering where you get the Burns and psyllium husk.:)

ABajaninCork

Burns, I usually buy online from Zooplus.co.uk as it's cheaper on there. I buy the Psyllium husk online too from My Protein, as even with postage, it's much cheaper than Holland & Barrett.

Hope this helps.

johnnyb6

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Burns, I usually buy online from Zooplus.co.uk as it's cheaper on there. I buy the Psyllium husk online too from My Protein, as even with postage, it's much cheaper than Holland & Barrett.

Hope this helps.

Yes its a great help. One last thing, how much of the Psyllium husk would you put into his food.

ABajaninCork

Literally, two good pinches mixed in with his food. I bought a bag of the husk onsite for £20 and it's barely been touched. A half kilo bag is about £5 I think, and that lasts me about six months. I only bought the kilo bag, as the half kilo was out of stock.

Gitb1

could be completely wrong but isnt that a sign of when to empty their gland?

Nody

Gitb1 wrote: »

could be completely wrong but isnt that a sign of when to empty their gland?

The real question would be to ask why the gland needs to be emptied in the first place (i.e. why feed something causing the glands to be filled rather then food that don't fill it).

lorebringer

Cavaliers are notorious for gland issues - they have particularly small glands for their size so they fill up quickly. A change of food to something higher in fiber should help, along with extra fibre in his diet.

The reason your dog is still dragging his bum after the glands have been emptied is because he is conscious of them, they probably feel a bit weird (as they would) and the only way he knows of stopping it is dragging his bum. Some dogs needs their glands emptied more often than others (some never need it done) so keep an eye on him for bum dragging, and a nose out as they can become smelly if left for a while or are particularly full (fishy smell).

johnnyb6

lorebringer wrote: »

Cavaliers are notorious for gland issues - they have particularly small glands for their size so they fill up quickly. A change of food to something higher in fiber should help, along with extra fibre in his diet.

The reason your dog is still dragging his bum after the glands have been emptied is because he is conscious of them, they probably feel a bit weird (as they would) and the only way he knows of stopping it is dragging his bum. Some dogs needs their glands emptied more often than others (some never need it done) so keep an eye on him for bum dragging, and a nose out as they can become smelly if left for a while or are particularly full (fishy smell).

Hi thanks very much for your reply. My vet has put our dog on high fiber Royal Canin food which is only available through vets. Along with this I am putting a spoon of bran on his food as well to increase his fiber.This doesnt seem to be doing alot and this is the reason I am thinking of thking him off Royal Canin all together. When I say he dragging his bum, it might only be for a few seconds at a time.

Thanking You:)

ABajaninCork

johnnyb6 wrote: »

Hi thanks very much for your reply. My vet has put our dog on high fiber Royal Canin food which is only available through vets. Along with this I am putting a spoon of bran on his food as well to increase his fiber.This doesnt seem to be doing alot and this is the reason I am thinking of thking him off Royal Canin all together. When I say he dragging his bum, it might only be for a few seconds at a time.

Thanking You:)

That in itself should tell you something!

Putting bran in his food will make passing the stool more difficult if he's not drinking enough.

maggiepip

Sometimes, and I say sometimes, bum dragging isnt actually a problem with the anal glands at all and can be an itchy bum due to allergies or mites that gather and breed underneath the tail.

Gitb1

Nody wrote: »

The real question would be to ask why the gland needs to be emptied in the first place (i.e. why feed something causing the glands to be filled rather then food that don't fill it).

Ah I thought it was just something that occured over time, must check out what pops is feeding the dogs

lorebringer

johnnyb6 wrote: »

Hi thanks very much for your reply. My vet has put our dog on high fiber Royal Canin food which is only available through vets. Along with this I am putting a spoon of bran on his food as well to increase his fiber.This doesnt seem to be doing alot and this is the reason I am thinking of thking him off Royal Canin all together. When I say he dragging his bum, it might only be for a few seconds at a time.

Thanking You:)

Hi! Personally, I don't find Royal Canin to be all it is often cracked up to be - it is fine but there are much better foods out there. I have found with one of my guys, it doesn't really agree with him and causes some ear irritation (he has funny ears anyway) so I tend to not buy it. Also, your vet may be recommended it for your dog because they stock it (and know most about the food, but may not be aware that there are better foods out there for your situation).

Because your dog is having anal gland problems, I would go for a food that is more aimed at digestive health. Burns (already mentioned) or James Wellbeloved are both brands I would recommend for your little guy - get things moving and hopefully sort out the bum issue. In a young dog, there often shouldn't be a need to add extra fibre to their diet but some dogs just need it to keep their glands clear so if you find it helps your dog, go for it!

johnnyb6

lorebringer wrote: »

Hi! Personally, I don't find Royal Canin to be all it is often cracked up to be - it is fine but there are much better foods out there. I have found with one of my guys, it doesn't really agree with him and causes some ear irritation (he has funny ears anyway) so I tend to not buy it. Also, your vet may be recommended it for your dog because they stock it (and know most about the food, but may not be aware that there are better foods out there for your situation).

Because your dog is having anal gland problems, I would go for a food that is more aimed at digestive health. Burns (already mentioned) or James Wellbeloved are both brands I would recommend for your little guy - get things moving and hopefully sort out the bum issue. In a young dog, there often shouldn't be a need to add extra fibre to their diet but some dogs just need it to keep their glands clear so if you find it helps your dog, go for it!

Thanks alot for the help . Burns seem to be the way to go for me. Would you know if this food comes in diat form as my dog seems to be putting on weight and I could kill two birds with one stone.

beertons

We use Hills Prescription Diet, duck and rice for our king charles. She's been on it about 1.5 years now. Am getting her a high fibre one on Friday, she's been bumming alot since she was last groomed.

lorebringer

johnnyb6 wrote: »

Thanks alot for the help . Burns seem to be the way to go for me. Would you know if this food comes in diat form as my dog seems to be putting on weight and I could kill two birds with one stone.

Burns, as a food, is quite low in calories so this may be enough to get some weight off your dog. There is a version called Weight Control + Chicken and Oats (I think it used to be called High Oats) that is designed for getting the wieght down so you could try that if you wanted to get more weight off. Try the original first though because I found it did get a few pounds down on my guys without even trying.

To be honest, the best way to get weight off of your dog is reducing portions of food (and not giving tid bits, which can be hard - try to ignore the pleading eyes!) but trying a weight control food wouldn't hurt either. Feeding your dog twice a day (morning and evening) will ensure they are not hungry during the day, as opposed to feeding only once a day and the dog can be left for a whole 24 hours without food.

lorebringer

beertons wrote: »

We use Hills Prescription Diet, duck and rice for our king charles. She's been on it about 1.5 years now. Am getting her a high fibre one on Friday, she's been bumming alot since she was last groomed.

Hi! Just a quick word - how long ago was your dog groomed? Most groomers will clear the anal glands as part of a groom, but sometimes can cause a bit of bruising to them so this could be why your dog is dragging their bum (just in case it was a few days ago, might save you having to buy different food - if it was longer, please ignore post!)

ABajaninCork

lorebringer wrote: »

Burns, as a food, is quite low in calories so this may be enough to get some weight off your dog. There is a version called Weight Control + Chicken and Oats (I think it used to be called High Oats) that is designed for getting the wieght down so you could try that if you wanted to get more weight off. Try the original first though because I found it did get a few pounds down on my guys without even trying.

To be honest, the best way to get weight off of your dog is reducing portions of food (and not giving tid bits, which can be hard - try to ignore the pleading eyes!) but trying a weight control food wouldn't hurt either. Feeding your dog twice a day (morning and evening) will ensure they are not hungry during the day, as opposed to feeding only once a day and the dog can be left for a whole 24 hours without food.

Although I agree with most of lorebringer's post, I would add a caveat.

I wouldn't give the dog the High Oats variety just yet. Get the gland problem under control first. So I would try one of the other varieties first.

Burns is a good quality food, which is fairly low calorie, so you should be feeding less to the dog. As Lorebringer says, that'll bring down the weight quite nicely, so you may not need to go to the weight control.

I only feed my dog once a day, and his weight's perfect. But then, I also add some cooked veg, chicken, fish, liver or hearts to ring the changes. He's not a big eater, but will happily accept as many tit bits as you want to give him!

paultf

OP, maybe get in touch with a Burns customer advisor - I find them to be helpful.

There is some useful information on the Burns website about anal glands:

www.burnspet.co.uk/petcare/burns-pet-nutrition-advice/full-anal-glands.html

www.burnspet.co.uk/assets/files/downloads/leaflets/AnalGlands.pdf

With Burns food the output is very low and this can help your anal glands problem. I give my dogs chicken & brown rice which has over 60% rice. In the 4 years I have been feeding this flavour I have had no problems with anal glands. (On previous foods where the poo was alot more I had to go the vet a few times.)

Zulu

does he ever get a raw bone? I find the raw bones produce very hard stools which are in turn great at empting the glands on the way out - if you know what I mean.

Fibre softens the stool btw, afaik.

baktag

I brought Patch to the vet in Lusk yesterday he needed his kennel cough vaccination and also to be wormed.
i also said he had been dragging his bum lately so the vet checked and cleaned out the gland, then he goes "sure come here and i will show you how to do it, so you can do it at home"
So now i have the pleasure of doing it when needed lucky me

Also we usually feed burns dry food which is €12.90 on zooplus our vet sells it for €11.00 worth the trip

spurious

ultwen wrote: »

I brought Patch to the vet in Lusk yesterday he needed his kennel cough vaccination and also to be wormed.
i also said he had been dragging his bum lately so the vet checked and cleaned out the gland, then he goes "sure come here and i will show you how to do it, so you can do it at home"
So now i have the pleasure of doing it when needed lucky me

Worming and gland clearing - a couple of those things that while at the vet I secretly think - ah yes 550+ points in the Leaving for that. Lovely.

We've also found Burns to be good.

johnnyb6

Hi i back again with my Cavelier, I went to check out the Burns food but they didnt have a diet version so the vet gave me Hills prescription diet food. My dog seems to love it, so I wondering has anyone any openion on this.

Thanking You

ABajaninCork

Didn't you go online for the Burns? Hills, I don't really have an opinion on, but someone else will, I'm sure.

johnnyb6

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Didn't you go online for the Burns? Hills, I don't really have an opinion on, but someone else will, I'm sure.

Yes I went on line and all Burns seem to have is a weight control food which is designed to keep dog at his weight after he is nutered. They dont have a weight reducing food. The vet I went to sells all Burn products and they said same as above about the food.its very unusual they dont have one.

ABajaninCork

Did you look here??