Bum slides

bluejelly

My lab slides her bum on the grass, for a second or 2, every now & then. Always in the morning just before or after going for a poop. It was only happening once a week at most & not worm related so brought her to vet last week. Vet checked her out & said she has a tender bum, gave her 2 injections& thinks it is most likely diet related. as her coat is very good he suggested we cut out all treats. She is on Gain elite range nuts but gets chicken, tuna etc on a regular basis too. For the last 4 days I have fed her nuts only, a little chicken instead of treats & just 1 pointer stick( chicken & rice sticks I get from pet shop), half in morning & half at night. She was doing fine until this morning when she did 2 short bum slides. I'm going to cut out the pointer sticks now too but just wondering if anyone has experienced something similar with their dogs or have suggestions as to what I can replace her morning kong with? This would be mashed banana & yoghurt, frozen. Thanks in advance

Toulouse

Did your vet mention anything about impacted anal glands? Did he need to empty them?

Bum scooting is normally down to the anal glands becoming over-full which means they can then get infected. The scooting is the dog trying to relieve the discomfort. Small dogs are normally affected more than larger dogs.

If it is the anal glands then increasing the amount of fibre in the diet can help as it makes the stool more substantial which squeezes out the anal gland. Giving a raw chicken wing a day also helps.

cgarrad

http://dogsfirst.ie/health/anal-glands/

bluejelly

The vet checked her anal glands, said they weren't blocked but tender as she was yelping. What's the best way of increasing a dogs fibre intake?

Thanks for the link, I'll do a bit more research.

DBB

You may be careful about bulking up her food with cereal-based food, as some dogs react badly to these and the matter is made worse.
I know a couple of posters here recommend psyllium husks, but for me, for a carnivorous animal, you just can't beat giving them a raw meaty chicken bone a couple of times a week. These need to be size-appropriate, a Labrador would be best suited to a chicken leg, although I'd be inclined to get her started on larger chicken wings, just until you know she's good at munching on bones.
Not to put too fine a point on it, what are her poops like, consistency-wise? Are they ever soft, even every once in a while?

Sclosages

Dry food only.

DBB

Sclosages wrote: »

Dry food only.

Not if her dry food is causing soft poops, even on an irregular basis.
I know very, very few fresh or raw fed dogs with anal gland problems. Pretty much every dog with problems in that department are fed dry food.

Sclosages

My dog had this. Vet put her on dry food for 'mature dogs'. He warned me about 10 times, not to wet it. I did. Lol, back in to him again. He then warned me not to buy her a different cheaper brand. I did. Back into him again! Eventually I listened, dry food, twice a day, end of problem.

Sclosages

I felt so sorry for the dog. But I was making her unwell by treating her 'kindly'. I wasn't doing her any favours. As I said, eventually, I listened to the vet.

DBB

Sclosages wrote: »

My dog had this. Vet put her on dry food for 'mature dogs'. He warned me about 10 times, not to wet it. I did. Lol, back in to him again. He then warned me not to buy her a different cheaper brand. I did. Back into him again! Eventually I listened, dry food, twice a day, end of problem.

You seem to be missing my point.
I'm not disputing that it might have worked for your dog.
But "dry food" does not suit all dogs, and more's the point, not all brands of dry food suit all dogs (as you found out yourself). The OP is already feeding their dog "dry food". If a dog is even mildly intolerant of the ingredients that are present in many, many brands of dog food, expensive or cheap, then they're likely to have soft poop.
Soft poop causes anal gland problems.
I'm at a loss to know how wetting dry food can have much impact at the other end, having gone through the entire digestive system. Indeed, if a dog is to be fed a high-fiber diet, for the fiber to work properly it must be enthusiastically hydrated. But that's for another thread.

tk123

Sclosages wrote: »

ut I was making her unwell by treating her 'kindly'.

Wetting a dog's food is treating it kindly?! What next - giving them a blanket to sleep on?

My dogs AG issues all stopped when I took him off dry food. My other retriever who has never been fed dry food since she came home as a pup has never had any AG issues.

Sclosages

Don't ask me either! I'm telling you what worked. After spending a small fortune at the vet. (40 euros a pop!)
It was science plus or something that worked for my dog. Anytime I changed her off that, she was bum scratching again!

Sclosages

tk123 wrote: »

Wetting a dog's food is treating it kindly?! What next - giving them a blanket to sleep on?

My dogs AG issues all stopped when I took him off dry food. My other retriever who has never been fed dry food since she came home as a pup has never had any AG issues.

Certain breeds are more prone to the condition apparently. Mine was a small breed.

tk123

Sclosages wrote: »

Certain breeds are more prone to the condition apparently. Mine was a small breed.

Somebody I know was over in the vets every few weeks when his dog was on that brand of food for his glands... he use to tell us he "had an another appointment with the Attorney General" :pac:

Sclosages

tk123 wrote: »

Somebody I know was over in the vets every few weeks when his dog was on that brand of food for his glands... he use to tell us he "had an another appointment with the Attorney General" :pac:

Are you speaking in code?

tk123

Sclosages wrote: »

Are you speaking in code?

AG - anal gland

Sclosages

I thought I was being cruel to the dog by giving her this horrible food. I was being more cruel giving her 'tasty treats' lol.
Anyway, I'm just passing on my own personal experience. Save yourself 120 quid and go with dry food only. Change brands if there is no change.

Sclosages

tk123 wrote: »

AG - anal gland

I got that, I don't see what you're talking about? Attorney General? Repeated visits to vet for anal gland problems? ya whah?

angeldaisy

We had to take ours every month to get her glands dealt with. we put her on a mix of gluten free dried food and raw. She's been to the vet once this year with them.

bluejelly

Thanks everyone for the replies.

DBB, her poops are rarely soft. This would only have happened if she was ever given something different which didn't agree with her. Their consistency is good & she is very regular. I thought chicken bones were dangerous for dogs because of their sharpness........is this only applicable to cooked chicken bones?

Am I right to think now that everything I cut out over the last 4 days is not the cause of her problem?
Vet said if there is no improvement he will have to sedate her & do a proper examination. Also mentioned moving to Burns nuts if Gain turns out to be the cause.

ABajaninCork

My Shih Tzu has trouble with his anal glands too. Changed his food from RC to Burns, added some psyllium husk to his food, and a little coconut oil and since then, he's been only once to the vet to have the glands emptied. The dog is 5.

Because HH refuses to eat dry nuts, I've had to add some Penlan Grange (Burns wet food) or Lily's Kitchen wet food to them - more nuts than meat, if you see what I mean. Clean bowls every day and solid poops!

columf

bluejelly wrote: »

is this only applicable to cooked chicken bones?

yes when cooked the bones will splinter a raw bone now and again is fine

bluejelly

Just to say also I have no problem moving away from dried food being the main component of her meals. I did add Natures Diet (all natural) to her nuts for a while but stopped recently as I thought soft food was not great. I'm not keen on the idea of RAW tho & this may sound stupid but it's because I couldn't face it myself!

tk123

Sclosages wrote: »

I got that, I don't see what you're talking about? Attorney General? Repeated visits to vet for anal gland problems? ya whah?

The dog was on hills science plan and had monthly trips to the vets with anal gland problems. My point being the food that solved your problem may not solve another dog's problem just because you got it from the vet..And may end up costing somebody more in the long term especially of they're paying extra by getting it in the vets. Food + vets increased price + trips to the vet to empty out the glands caused by the food = vicious cycle

Obviously the guy's humour (he works in insurance) is lost on you so I won't try to explain it again..

OP you may need to just bulk the poo out. Bailey used to get the odd AG problem even on raw but I bulk his meals out with veg and haven't had a problem in a long time. Lucy will scoot her bum sometimes if she's had a soft poo to clean herself - it's def not her glands because she's never ever had a problem with them

Inexile

one of my dogs did this on a regular basis. I did try giving raw chicken wings, frozen then defrosted, to the dogs but I couldn't do this on a regular basis so now I just give her a spoonful of psyllium husk in her evening meals seems to sort the problem.

DBB

bluejelly wrote: »

DBB, her poops are rarely soft. This would only have happened if she was ever given something different which didn't agree with her.

I'm taking it that you've found no correlation between any spells of softer poop and her anal gland problem?

Am I right to think now that everything I cut out over the last 4 days is not the cause of her problem?

Probably not, it's unlikely that any of the fresh food would bother her. I think you just need to get a balance with her food whereby the poops really are quite hard! Raw chicken bones (safe if raw... though I always add the caveat that anything a dog puts into her gob is a potential hazard, but raw bones carry no more risk than anything else) or something fairly benign like psyllium husk should really help... though do make sure she's getting enough hydration with the latter.

Vet said if there is no improvement he will have to sedate her & do a proper examination. Also mentioned moving to Burns nuts if Gain turns out to be the cause.

There's no doubt, if things don't improve then this could be a bigger problem whereby the AGs are ulcerated or damaged. Hopefully not.
Burns is very high in rice and roughage, so should help, though it's not my favourite food nutrition-wise.

bluejelly wrote: »

I'm not keen on the idea of RAW tho & this may sound stupid but it's because I couldn't face it myself!

I think that's fair enough, and if you don't like the idea of it, I'm sure once you find the right dry food you'll be away on a hack. I feed raw to one dog, and fresh, cooked food to another, and sometimes change them about if they're in the mood. But cooking the raw food might be a way of making it all a bit more palatable for you, if it's a road you're keen to go down

bluejelly

"I'm taking it that you've found no correlation between any spells of softer poop and her anal gland problem? "

No I don't think so, the bum sliding has happened more than soft poop but that said she did have soft poop last week due to an upset stomach and there was bum sliding more often then. I'll keep an eye on it.

Based on all the feedback, I'm going to decrease the dried nuts, increase fresh meat (cooked) and add veg & see if that improves the situation. And ill give her a few chicken wings. I'll talk to the vet again on tues too. Thanks again for all the info.

Sclosages

bluejelly wrote: »

"I'm taking it that you've found no correlation between any spells of softer poop and her anal gland problem? "

No I don't think so, the bum sliding has happened more than soft poop but that said she did have soft poop last week due to an upset stomach and there was bum sliding more often then. I'll keep an eye on it.

Based on all the feedback, I'm going to decrease the dried nuts, increase fresh meat (cooked) and add veg & see if that improves the situation. And ill give her a few chicken wings. I'll talk to the vet again on tues too. Thanks again for all the info.

Please do advise how you get on with that.

Whispered

OP I know I'm late to the conversation, but wanted to recommend the raw wings/thighs too. My older boy had terrible trouble with his AGs, it was unbearable for him and for us. I mean really really disgusting. I had his glands looked at in the vet, changed his food numerous times, added supplements, eliminated things from his diet etc etc. The only thing that works, is raw bony chicken.

They will be in kennels shortly for a week and fed on a high quality dry food for the duration. I'll ask the kennel owner not to feed him the night before we pick him up and his first meal when he comes home will be a full (small) chicken to move anything along. Works every time. We rarely have any problems now. I just wish we had tried it before I let the vet poke and prod at him so much, we'd probably have no issues at all now.

aonb

Whispered wrote: »

They will be in kennels shortly for a week and fed on a high quality dry food for the duration. I'll ask the kennel owner not to feed him the night before we pick him up and his first meal when he comes home will be a full (small) chicken to move anything along. Works every time. We rarely have any problems now. I just wish we had tried it before I let the vet poke and prod at him so much, we'd probably have no issues at all now.

wow, your dogs come home from the kennels, peckish because they miss dinner the night before AND THEN GET A WHOLE CHICKEN - excitment overload!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hmnnn are they more excited to see you cos they missed you, or because they know they'll get a whole chicken?!?!)

Whispered

The chicken. I'm under no illusions

He gets between 600- 800g of food on a normal day so a small chicken isn't much more than he's used to, just all fed in one go. It makes for a very snoozy content dog and only works when pick up times are suitable. The smaller fella doesn't get a whole one, he will get a few wings