I've had a rather nasty few days with my youngest fur baby, but fortunately all has turned out well. It all began Tuesday night, when she suddenly began scooting on the floor. I immediately thought, "oh-oh, she needs her anal glands expressed, better call and make an appointment." So Wednesday I made the appointment - they told me to come in Friday morning.
Normally that would be enough time, although I hate to see the dogs in discomfort so would not like to wait that long. However, I figured all would be fine. By late Wednesday night I knew that things were not going well. Misty was very sick, lethargic, and in obvious discomfort. We didn't get much sleep that night, and in the morning I got up to find blood on the kitchen floor and on my living room carpet. Misty was still not well, although was a touch perkier than she had been previously.
I checked things out, and discovered that her gland had ruptured. I've had this happen before (this particular breed is prone to these issues) with both dogs, but I've never seen them bleed that badly, so I was quite panicked. I called the emergency vet on call, and she confirmed my suspicions that it wasn't anything to get too panicked about, but told me to get her to the clinic as soon as it opened.
As it turned out, not only did the gland rupture, it was also abcessed. Now a lot of dogs would give more warning, showing signs of discomfort earlier on. But my dogs? No way. There is usually no indication with them that something's amiss until the last minute. I swear they shave 5 years off my life every time something is wrong! At any rate, she spent the day at the vet's, where they did surgery to clean everything out and get her back on her feet. She was very groggy and wobbly from the anesthetic all Thursday night, but she's been improving greatly since then. She has to wear a cone for a week or so, and she has a bunch of meds. If someone walked in my kitchen right now I swear they'd think I was a druggie - no less than four syringes on the counter, plus two more on the microwave stand, and five bottles of meds (two are for my oldest dog) on the counter, with another big bottle in the fridge!
So all is going well, thankfully. But I thought I'd post this to alert others to the whole anal gland issue. If you have a dog that starts scooting, and/or if there is swelling around the bum, please make sure you have the vet take a look. Very often that indicates anal gland problems, and it's best to catch them before they become a big issue. It's much easier on the dog - and the pocketbook - to catch the problem right away, before surgery is required. This is an issue that tends to be more prevalent in smaller breeds, but I've known several people who've had trouble with large dogs too. There's a misconception that large dogs don't suffer from this problem - don't buy into that, please.
Anyhow, here's a picture of poor Misty and her new piece of jewelry! Have a good night, everyone!
