anal sacks

Question
Yesterday I had to take my 2 year old shih tzu "Gracie" to the vet. I thought she might have worms since she was rubbing her bottom across the floor. He said that her anal sacks had to be emptied. Please tell me what caused this problem and what I can do to prevent it from happening again. Sometimes we feed her a little bite of something we are eating like popcorn a french fry, or Ice Cream. Her favorite treat is cheese. We never give her any meat, though would this have had anything to do with her anal sacks being swolen? Thank you.

Answer
The anal sacs are a part of a dog and cat's natural anatomy and these glands contain fluid that animals use to give their stools a distinct scent to mark their areas.  Some animals have a thicker than normal secretion which can not be emptied by their own muscles during a BM or from them scooting on the floor.  Therefore, manual pressure is neccessary to empty the glands and relieve the pressure.  You can try adding fiber to her diet to see if that helps, however, many dogs will need to have their glands periodically expressed.