# Anal gland leakage????



## Sguinto

Lea is starting to have serious anal gland leakage, it stared just a little bit after I started adding chicken backs, chicken necks and liver to her diet. And after her bath today I noticed she started leaking even more....anyone else have this problem before? Any solutions ? I'm going to cut back on all the chicken stuff for now, and probably buy some canned foods to see if it changes that way, and add some pumpkin to it, and keep giving her the silk balls...help.


----------



## mswhipple

My boy Willie had that problem last fall, and unfortunately, it turned into an infected anal gland. He had to take three separate courses of antibiotics to clear it up.

The Vet told me that common problems with the Vizsla are "ears and rears". He told me that, to avoid the same thing in the future, we needed to make Willie's poop harder or bigger. That way, the anal glands work as they should, emptying when the dog poops. You could try adding canned pumpkin to Lea's food, or Metamucil (just a little). I give Willie the drug store brand of Metamucil and it seems to help. Maybe other posters will add more advice here. 

p.s. Sguinto, if you enter "anal gland" into the forum's Search window (upper right), you will see a whole bunch of previous threads on this subject.


----------



## born36

Mac gets one spoon of sweat potato in every meal. Poop sorted!


----------



## datacan

We never had to face this problem, yet. Perhaps, because we took it seriously form the beginning. 

2nd video is better
http://www.vizslaforums.com/index.php/topic,2246.msg15033.html#msg15033

Read somewhere 2 or 3 dried prunes per day for 5 days may help
Sam gets a dried prune almost daily, if we remember.


----------



## jjohnson

We have the same issue. We just saw a vet, and she checked out Gus and his glands weren't blocked or anything. She said we could try diet changes (it may be an allergy) or things mentioned above (pumpkin, etc.) but that if those things didn't help, it may just be the way his anal glands are positioned. She didn't seem concerned at all and said some dogs just have this issue due to their anatomy. My husband learned how to express Gus' anal glands (there are some good youtube videos), and we do that every once in a while when we notice them leaking, and it clears it up. The vet said this was okay to do..


----------



## Sguinto

Thanks for all of the suggestions... I tried to express her externally this morning, but nothing came out

Jj did u do it internally or externally?

Hopefully things will work out keep u posted


----------



## jjohnson

We do it externally- I don't do it, my husband does, so I don't know exactly what his technique is  Try searching youtube videos- there are some where vets show how to do it. I have read to be careful because you can inadvertantly cause them to get impacted, but the vet we saw didn't seem worried, so we are going to keep doing it. You can also try a groomer-they do it to little dogs all the time- and maybe they can show you how? Just be ready for a yucky mess once you get it right!


----------



## finch

Our dogs get a light sprinkle of psyllium husk in every meal and it keeps the problem pretty much at bay. One of our female dogs (not a V) has a worse problem with it, so sometimes we do have to have them expressed, but not nearly as much now that we put the psyllium in there.


----------



## jjohnson

Excuse my ignorance: what is psyllium husk, and where do you get it? thanks!


----------



## datacan

JJ,
http://metamucil.ca/en_CA/psyllium-fiber-benefits.php


----------



## labar349

Our female 3 year old occasionally has this leakage problem. Can someone tell me how much Metamucil I would use and how often? She is fed twice a day. Her poops usually seem hard but she leaks in morning in our bed every so often and would love to help resolve this without vet. Doesn't happen enough to think is an infection. Thanks!


----------

