You might want to consider switching her cold turkey to raw.

The food she is eating is causing her stools to be too soft, and the anal glands are not getting expressed.

 

Too late to edit.
Could be allergies too.

 

go 100% raw

 

I've considered RAW but I don't trust the way meat is processed. If we were hunting and I could feed her my own meat, then I would definitely go that route. I know many people swear by it, and I really do need to research it more, as that might be the best alternative. But seriously, the soft stool issue was fixed with the Wellness food, so I'm struggling to figure out why the glands still aren't working properly. I wonder if the one could have been permanently damaged by becoming impacted over the year's time. I really didn't know it was a problem or I would not have let this go on for so long.

With my second pup, I made homemade dog food for him. It was a wet food and I cooked ground beef, salmon, brown rice, peas and carrots into a meat loaf for him. If I had the time and facilities, I'd try that again w/ Dasha. Grendel thrived on this food for the first two years of his life. I've considered making my own again using canned salmon, cooked peas, carrots, and brown rice. Instead of making it all into a loaf and baking it, I think I could just mix the component parts in her bowl. If the Rimadyl doesn't work I think that's what I'll try unless someone knows of a good low fat kibble on the market that would be a better alternative to the Royal Canin.

 

If the stools are firm, then something is irritating the glands. It would be a good idea to go homemade for a while and see if that resolves the problem. Kibble is full of additives and mycotoxins and storage mites that could be causing this.

 

Techinstructor, there's a middle ground: home cook.

My dog had awful anal gland problems--lots of inflammation from a food allergy in the GI tract prevented them from emptying, and it was terribly painful. After a long odyssey we ended up solving it with a food change.

For us, what we needed was to get the dog off kibble. I went through at least 3 limited-ingredient "allergy" kibbles for 8-10 weeks each to try to figure out the allergy. Nothing worked. The vet wanted to put the dog on RX food (hypo-allergenic). I decided to try getting the dog off kibble first, to see if that helped. Within 2 weeks, all the problems went away. He's totally healthy now.

Raw isn't your only option to get the dog off kibble. Home-cooking works too, as long as you're getting balanced, good nutrition. There are a lot of resources to help with that -- just be careful because many online recipes are terrible.

We used The Honest Kitchen's Preference Base-Mix to solve my dog's problem. There's no meat in it at all. It's designed to make a complete meal when you add your choice of any meat, raw or cooked. We used it with beef, and home-cooked his meat for about a year before I gave up on that and just started giving him raw. The home-cooked + THK base mix worked very, very well though.

The veg in THK bulks up the stool -- you'll get very big, dense poops, but that's really good for this problem. There are times you don't want big poops, but for a dog who needs help emptying the anal glands, the extra bulk is a good thing.

We also used a supplement called Glandex, which seemed to help. I would recommend you consider giving it a try. It contains a digestive enzyme, a probiotic, plus quercitin, pectin, and other ingredients to calm stuff down back there.

Here's the link to THK Preference Base Mix:
Preference Meat-Free Dog Food
(a 10# box lasts me at least 2 weeks for a young male with a fast metabolism...plus the cost of whatever meat you choose to cook)

Also, a company called Balance It offers vet-formulated recipes for home-cooking. The founder of the company is affiliated with UC Davis vet school, I think. They sell a "balancer" that makes the recipes complete -- and you pick the protein and other ingredients from their online formulator:
https://secure.balanceit.com/

I haven't used Balance It, but it was where I was headed next if my experiment with THK didn't work.

Here's the Glandex (which is available through Amazon):
Glandex® for Dog Anal Glands ? Vetnique Labs LLC

The bottom line is that you very likely have inflammation that's preventing the anal glands from emptying. Until you get at the source of the inflammation, it's very hard to fix this problem.

 

Techinstructor, there's a middle ground: home cook.

The Honest Kitchen's Preference Base-Mix to solve my dog's problem.
.....
We also used a supplement called Glandex, which seemed to help. I would recommend you consider giving it a try. It contains a digestive enzyme, a probiotic, plus quercitin, pectin, and other ingredients to calm stuff down back there.

Magwart, I saw another thread last night where you posted some of this same information. Thank you. I found it very helpful. I've already ordered the Glandex from Amazon. It seemed like it was worth a try. The honest kitchen food sounds good, but kind of expensive. I still haven't decided whether to start making my own or just give the Glandex a try first and see what happens.

I also studied the ingredients in the Royal Canin that my vet recommended. She talked about it having both prebiotics and probiotics. I didn't see anything listed that sounds like a probiotic but I did identify the use of brewer's yeast which I found out was a prebiotic. Years ago I used to buy brewer's yeast and put it on my dog's food (can't remember the reason but it pre-dated prebiotics and probiotics.) Anyway, it was easy to sprinkle on and the dogs loved it, so I think I'll try adding that as well as the Glandex.

The bottom line is that you very likely have inflammation that's preventing the anal glands from emptying. Until you get at the source of the inflammation, it's very hard to fix this problem.

Yes, finding the source of the inflammation is the key. I just wish I knew.

It seems to me that if it was a food allergy, both anal glands would be affected. I'm still just hoping that it is a carry-over affect from the previous food.

Gwenhwyfair and llombardo, I'll keep your suggestions in mind as I experiment to solve this problem.

DutchKarin, the Wellness simple ingredient food she is on is fished based - Salmon. She has only only been on it for a little over a month. I'm not totally convinced that it is a problem.

JakodaCD OA, I agree with you, but my vet seemed to think that surgery was more or less a last resort. I suspect it will be expensive too. It is still an option and I don't intend on letting this drag on too long before pursuing that route.

Thank you all for the suggestions. The help is appreciated.

 

I also want to add that THK is hugely convenient. I mix up (rehydrate) about 3 days worth of mix in a large covered bowl, and keep it in the fridge. In a second covered bowl, I thaw about 3 days of his cooked meat mix. At meal time, I have a cup measure to scoop out the right amounts of each, add some supplements, stir, and done.

I was able to cook a month's worth of his meat on a weekend afternoon, then freeze in gallon-sized zippie bags. It's very, very easy since the base-mix takes care of everything else.

 

Add the following to her diet and see if this helps:

Olewo Carrots - good for digestion available at Amazon or Olweo USA directly.
Ground flax seed meal, start with half tablespoon and slowly work up to 1-2 tablespoons per day
Sardines (canned in water, sourced from North America). 1/2 can 2x per week to start. The calcium in the fish (bones) firms the stool and good source of omega 3.

Add slowly so as not to upset her GI further.

My female had chronic problems with her glands not expressing naturally. She too had issues with inconsistent stool quality.

It took awhile for the problem to clear, it was gradual but now she is almost 100% cured of the problem.

This can be done with your regular kibble or any of the suggestions you decide to follow above.

 

Many years ago I had a dog with butt problems. The vet suggested Eagle Pak dog food. I went ahead and switched her. To my surprise there were no more problems. I have no clue what is different in that food and I can't remember why the vet thought to switch her, but it worked.

 

I'm going a different route, sometimes to much expressing of a gland(s) can make them become inviable. (making the situation worse). Rimadyl is not going to 'cure' an anal gland issue. Frankly I wouldn't give rimadyl for a gland issue.

My suggestion, find a good board certified surgeon and have the gland removed, problem solved..At this point since the gland needs continuous expressing you now have to be on the look out that the gland does not produce a fistula which is something that no one wants to deal with (been there done that).

the 'myth' that removing glands make a dog incontinent, is just that a 'myth', if done by a certified board surgeon who knows his 'stuff' and is savvy in this type of surgery is key to preventing that.

 

I would say start by getting her off this food and switching to a fish based? Different protein all together. Use a limited ingredient fish and.... grain free. I use Holistic Select but there are others out there. Add a teaspoon of psycillium husk to each meal to bulk up the food and help it express the glands with bulk. I would use the rimadyl as directed if it helps calm the inflammation.

Our rescue came with full anal glands. She had other issues as well. On the fish diet there have been no issues with the glands.

I too just can't get into raw. Sorry folks.

 

Keep in mind this is a healing process that will take time. So as you research and try different things be aware of that.

My dog improved gradually over a few months.

Reduce inflammation, keep the gut healthy.

 

1) Treat for SIBO,
2) Get the diet right, homecooked is a good option,
3) Watch for signs of turning into a fistula, and
4) If this continues, follow Diane's advice - genetic usceptibility to fistulas show problems occuring at much younger ages than "regular" gsd fistulas, be VERY proactive with this.

Be wary of the action of rimadyl on the gut. These anal gland isues *are* painful...

If it continues, reources include an internal medicine vet, or a good dermatologist, whichever is better near where you are. Don't dink around too much with a regular vet if you are not seeing results.

 

1) Treat for SIBO,
2) Get the diet right, homecooked is a good option,
3) Watch for signs of turning into a fistula, and
4) If this continues, follow Diane's advice - genetic susceptibility to fistulas show problems occurring at much younger ages than "regular" gsd fistulas, be VERY proactive with this.

Be wary of the action of rimadyl on the gut. These anal gland issues *are* painful...

If it continues, resources include an internal medicine vet, or a good dermatologist, whichever is better near where you are. Don't dink around too much with a regular vet if you are not seeing results.

Thanks Lisa. I really don't think it's SIBO. She hasn't had any diarrhea since the beginning of October, and has had firm and less frequent stool since changing foods in early November. Are there any other symptoms that would indicate SIBO? I'm still researching the homecooked option - trying to come up with a diet that will be balanced, nutritional and affordable. I'm reading Dr. Becker's book, Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats and have another one by Monica Segal on the way. The possibility of a fistula is a huge concern, as is the possibility of incontinence following surgery. I check her diligently and so far she's doing ok. For now I'm giving her Glandex and nutritional yeast to help with her digestion and hopefully will have a diet plan soon. I really think she may have an allergy or at the very least food intolerance so diet will most likely be the key to solving this.