Are Your Dog抯 Anal Glands Causing a Stink?

---

     Once your vet has expressed the glands It抯 a delicate matter but something all dogs share. If you抮e lucky you may never have to worry about them, but if you抮e not so fortunate you may become more acquainted with your dog抯 anal glands than you ever dreamed.

Just saying hello

All dogs have a small gland located on each side of their rectal opening. Under ordinary circumstances these little sacs never give any problems. Actually, your dog uses them all the time. Every time he potties or meets another dog and raises his tail in greeting the pressure releases a little of his own personal scent from the glands. That抯 why dogs are always so interested in sniffing another dog抯 tail area. And why dogs seem obsessed with smelling where another dog has used the bathroom. These little anal gland excretions are full of important information about the other dog.

This exchange of information goes on all the time, right under your nose, so to speak, and most of the time you never have a clue that your dog is surfing the doggy super highway of information. Us humans can抰 smell any of these scents (thank goodness).

Some dog抯 have to have their anal glands "expressed" every month, and other dog抯 may never have it happen. What did dog抯 ever do in the wild?

The butt-scootin?boogie!

There are times when the anal glands become a problem. They can become impacted, abscessed or infected. When this happens that抯 when you抣l see your dog doing the classic 揵utt scoot.?You know the move. Your dog sits in the floor, usually on your clean carpet, and scoots along dragging his butt. You may think he抯 trying to clean something off that was left behind when he was pottying but he抯 actually feeling a problem with his anal glands. He may have impacted anal glands ?they may be too full and they are not properly 揺xpressing?when he goes to the bathroom.

There are other signs that your dog may have a problem with his anal glands:

* Your dog does the butt scoot
* Your dog may lick or chew around his rectal area
* Your dog may have soft stools
* The rectal area is red and swollen
* Your dog may have a bad odor coming from his rear

When you notice some of these signs it抯 time to take your dog to the vet. Believe me, you do not want the job of expressing your dog抯 anal glands yourself. There are few things that smell as bad as the fluid from your dog抯 anal glands. What抯 more, it抯 not very pleasant to poke around in your dog抯 rectal area! If you do try to express the glands yourself there is always the chance that you could injure your dog or make an infection worse.

you can use a good waterless shampoo like Dry Dog Instant Clean to help your dog keep the area clean. Dry Dog Instant Clean is also good for getting rid of unpleasant odors which can be a problem if your dog has recurrent troubles with impacted anal glands. It can also help sanitize your dog抯 anal gland area ?and your hands when you are cleaning the area.