Anal glands

[PIGEON]

hi
been advise of vet to feed my german sheperd bitch in her food bran which will help her with her anal glands. at the moment having to take her to vets every month to have anal glands emptied, is there any other other advice can be given

[wildmoor]

they should empty themselves regular, how old is your dog and what do you feed, if they require emptying more than 4x a year then I would look at surgical removal

[Moobli]

Did your vet give you a reason as to why they would need emptying every month? My 3 year old dog has had to have his anal glands emptied twice in 3 years and the vet said he has unusually shaped anal glands. I was told not to feed an oily diet, in order for the stools to be as firm as possible and to help the glands empty on their own.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Moobli

Did your vet give you a reason as to why they would need emptying every month? My 3 year old dog has had to have his anal glands emptied twice in 3 years and the vet said he has unusually shaped anal glands. I was told not to feed an oily diet, in order for the stools to be as firm as possible and to help the glands empty on their own.

My dogs get a lot of fish,..well fish heads really,..from what you wrote above, are my dogs more inclinded to need their glands emptying because of this?,.. their stools are normaly firm

They do not get the fish on its own, but mixed with something else, usualy venison

[Raven]

Raw fed dogs generally empty their anal glands without any problems because their stools are firm and small. I guess it just depends on the dog, how well they're digest their food, some dogs have loose stools from too much fat in the diet which is maybe what the vet meant rather than oily as in fish ?

[wildmoor]

a healthy dog will express its glands no matter what its fed

[kazeti]

a good firm stool is all you need....lol but on a serious note Pam is right actual diet is not the issue as long as the dog is healthy

[Stuart]

Thats all good to know

[Moobli]

Originally Posted by Stuart

My dogs get a lot of fish,..well fish heads really,..from what you wrote above, are my dogs more inclinded to need their glands emptying because of this?,.. their stools are normaly firm

They do not get the fish on its own, but mixed with something else, usualy venison

No Stuart. My vet only said this because Yogi struggled to empty his glands on his own as he has unusually shaped glands. Therefore the firmer/harder the stools the more likely it was they would empty on their own.

[Moobli]

Originally Posted by Raven

Raw fed dogs generally empty their anal glands without any problems because their stools are firm and small. I guess it just depends on the dog, how well they're digest their food, some dogs have loose stools from too much fat in the diet which is maybe what the vet meant rather than oily as in fish ?

Yes that is how I understood it. The firmer the stool the more likely he would be able to empty the glands naturally. It is all down to his unusually shaped glands.