Re: Anal sacs, and a couple of tips!

In Reply to: Anal sacs, and a couple of tips!
Category:   Medical
Posted by:  Vicky
Posted on:  August 28, 2002 at 13:36:40

: Here's the question:

: Romi had a funny fishy smell one day last week, so I looked it up on here and found it might be anal sacs and decided to call the vet the next day. Next day the smell had gone. Does that mean it sorted itself out? Should I take her to the vet anyway, or hang on to see if it happens again?

: And a couple of tips I got from my great trainer:

: We weren't very good at recall, so I trained Romi to touch the palm of my hand - first from very near, then moving it round and then from gradually further away. She now comes running to me when I hold out my hand and say 'hand' - well, most of the time;-)

: And to give her some mental exercise or when we can't get enough physical exercise because of the weather (and after she was speyed, when she had stitches still) I put some tasty treats (smelly ones) inside scrunched up newspaper sheets. Just a tiny bit in each sheet and some scrunched up with no treat. Make a big pile, show the dog, stand well back and watch the paper fly! There'll be scraps of paper everywhere, and it's no substitute for a good long walk, but Romi loves it and it keeps her busy for 15 minutes or so.

: Great site, keep up the good work.

Response:

Hi Vicky,

Well it does happen sometimes that a dog will get go its anal glands. One of mine did it just last night....PHEW!! LOL! Just keep an eye out for butt-scooting which can be a sign of full glands. Normally if you are feeding a high quality kibble, it helps to keep the anal glands expressed on their own.

Anal glands need pressure from firm stools in order to release the fluid properly, this is one of the reasons we recommend a quality dry kibble. My rescue Brody came with some anal gland problems but once we switched him over to a good kibble, he hardly ever has any problems now.

Thanks for the training tip and a great idea for another cool game to play with our JRTs!