anal glands express and nutrition connection

Question
Our three year old female mixed breed has had reoccuring problems with her anal glands being blocked. This started last February and our current Vet has said the only thing we can do is to bring her in and have them expressed. They said diet had nothing to do with it and only they can express the glands. We have taken her in about every 3-4 weeks or when she starts licking on an annoying basis. I would like to know if this is something we can do at home and if so, what is the correct procedure? I read the nutritional suggestions made by Jennifer Fry on 8/16/04 and our dog is not overweight and we do give her fresh fruit and vegetables on an occasional basis. She gets Science Diet dry and two table spoons of wet mixed in with the dry as her daily diet. Would it be alright to add acidopholis to her diet? Should we eliminate the wet food all together? What is the best way to add fiber to her diet? She has been on the same diet since we adopted her at seven months so no changes have occured.

Thank you,
Mary Beth

Answer
Hi Mary Beth!  I have a shih tzu that needs his expressed every 2 weeks, so I completely understand what you are going through.
The anal glands are located at 5 and 7 o'clock around the anus.  They hold a substance that is released during defecation.  This substance holds the dog's scent, which in turn, is marking the dog's territory.  The anal glands are naturally expressed during the force of defecation.  Some dogs simply have softer stool, and unfortunately, the stool is too soft to express the anal glands naturally, hence the reason your dog and mine alike, need to have their's manually expressed.
If you feel comfortable doing this, I can tell you how to express the anal glands yourself, for free, in the comfort of your own home, as I do.
There are two ways to express anal glands. Internally and externally.
Externally will be the easiest and less messy, so we'll start there.
As I mentioned before, the anal glands are located at 5 and 7 o'clock around the anus.  Start by having someone in your home hold your dog still.  Gently lift up the tail with one hand, and with the other hand, place your thumb and forefinger at the 5 and 7 o'clock position.  Firmly squeeze.  You will be able to feel the anal glands emptying, and you will notice a brown, foul smelling substance excreting from the anus.  Take a damp paper towel and clean off your dog's bottom....and it's done!  This procedure literally takes seconds.  You may like to have some room spray on hand to get rid of the smell like I do, but even without spray, the smell will go away within a few minutes.
Internally may be a little difficult to do at first.  You will need gloves and some water based lubricant.  You will start out the same way, but instead of externally empyting the anal glands, you will take your gloved and lubricated forefinger and insert it into the anus.  The anal glands are immediately inside the anus.  Start with one side.  By pinching the anal gland between your forefinger and thumb, the anal gland will empty.  Repeat on the other side.
I personally find it easiest to do the external method on my dog. It works wonderfully for him and he is so good about it that I don't even need anyone to hold him.  I hope you will find it as easy as I do.
If you have any other questions or need suggestions, please feel free to write anytime.
Best of luck and if you have time, please let me know how it goes!
Hilary