What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt - Now It's Simon's Turn

I've written extensively about Alvin's anal gland issues and his multiple trips to the vet to remedy the situation. See these posts:
Part I of What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt
Part II of What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt
Part III of What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt

Now it's Simon's turn to drag his butt. At least I have a little experience in this "area."

Simon's been scooting on and off for the past 4 days. When we first noticed it, we had friends over who know how to express the glands. We tried it and nothing happened. Then we cleaned his anal area and applied an antiseptic approved by the vet because it looked a little inflamed from the scooting activity.

Poor Simon - this morning I noticed him dragging his butt on the kitchen rug. This time expressing the glands produced some fluid. I cleaned up the area using a pet wipe. We need to keep a lookout for more scooting.

The question is - when does butt scooting require a vet visit? We took Alvin in after a week of discomfort. But with Simon the glands can be expressed, so it's a day-to-day watch and see.

What I don't understand is why the glands are not self-expressing as they should. With every bowel movement, the fecal matter should be sufficiently solid to push up against the glands and release the fluid. It's gotta be a diet thing.

We have a good relationship with the Boyz' vet techs, so I might just call in if things get worse. Sometimes they talk through the problem over the phone.

What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt - Part III

In Part I of What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt, I explained that my doggie son Alvin had infected anal glands. The vet's initial solution - a round of oral antibiotics.

In Part II of What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt, we found out that the oral antibiotics did not work, so we agreed that the vet should inject antibiotic cream DIRECTLY into Alvin's anal glands.

Two weeks later, we were in the vet's office again for a scheduled followup appointment.

Good news - infection had cleared up.

No surgery for the immediate future.

It's a "wait and see what happens" scenario.

Right now, it's a month after the last vet visit and Alvin is doing fine. No scooting across the floor on his butt.

We are continuing the pumpkin once a day in his dinner.

Here's hoping that Alvino will not have another butt exam this year!

What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt - Part II

In Part I of What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt, I explained that my doggie son Alvin had infected anal glands. The vet's initial solution - a round of antibiotics.

The Followup Vet Visit

Two weeks after the initial vet visit for butt dragging, we were seeing the vet again - all of us - me, my partner, Alvin, and Simon. Simon got a shot, and then Al was up for his post-antibiotics butt check.

Bottom Line - Al's anal glands were still infected.

So the pumpkin added to his diet along with the antibiotics did not work. With our permission, the vet put Al out (sorta), injected the an antibiotic directly into his anal glands, and then brought him out of his semi-conscious state with another injection.

A caution if you have never seen an animal get an an anesthetic - it can be upsetting. The process looks like putting a dog down and Al fought the shot but was clearly losing consciousness. Like my partner, you may want to leave the room and talk to the pet owners in the waiting area.

Prognosis

The injection of antibiotics may heal Al's infection, but we may be faced with recurrent anal expression or the removal of his anal glands. Interestingly, both poodles and cocker spaniels have anal gland problems. Since Al is half cockapoo (poodle/cocker spaniel combo) it figures he would have the issue.

Young and middle-aged dogs routinely have anal gland surgery, but a possible side effect is incontinence. Al's vet claimed he had never had that happen. Turns out one of his vet techs called several of the dog owners whose animals had the surgery before her dog had the operation. None of the owners reported incontinence as a surgical side effect. Good sign that the vet does successful surgeries for anal gland removal.

Al's followup visit is in 2 weeks. One step at a time.

What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt - Part I

Recently, my doggie son Alvin, a Bichon Cockapoo, started dragging his butt on the floor every few hours. If you've never seen this behavior, you'd find it a little weird.

In Al's case, since he continued the dragging for 2 days, we took him to the vet. Turns out that was a good thing, cause he had an infection of his anal glands. The dragging relieves the pressure created by inflamed glands.

The vet expressed the glands and tested the fluid expelled. Since the fluid showed infection, he gave us antibiotics and this scenario: if the infection does not clear up, the vet would sedate Al, and inject an antibiotic right into the glands. And that's not the worst scenario - if Al continues to have infected glands, they may need to be removed.

Now, Al's vet always paints the worst possible scenario. Al's currently doing fine - the medication seems to be clearing up the infection.

Turns out many dogs (and poodles are suspectible - Al is part poodle) require anal gland expression periodically. Obviously, it's best that a vet does the expression because if the fluid is infected, testing can occur immediately. But because of the cost, many owners express the glands themselves.

Since the glands help expel fecal matter, a bulky stool is a necessity. So one way to prevent the problem from happening in the first place is to bulk up the dog's stool. Yup - Metamusil works, but you need to get the amount to give your dog from a vet.

One other preventive measure - pumpkin - the kind that's canned but not spiced. That's helping Alvin relieve himself much easier AND make sure the glands are activated with a bowel movement. A little (a tablespoon) in his food seems to work. Al is a 25-lb dog, so my guess is that more is needed for a medium or large dog.

More about Al's anal gland problem - What To Do When Your Dog Is Dragging His Butt - Part II.