[melissaw140]

We gave one of our dogs a little grooming yesterday (natural oatmeal and aloe bath-no chemicals) and trimmed him up around the butt area. He started to wimper and drag his butt after that and keep trying to get to his butt area, it continued all day and night. also was screaming , panting etc.... At first i thought he might have been a little itchy from the trim and then since it did not stop I took him to the vet this morning to get his anal glands expressed. They were full. I thought it was an odd coindence that he was showing distress symptoms the same day but whatever.

After they were expressed he was even worse. Jumping screaming, scooting and whimpering. It is like he is possessed & this has still been going on since 8 am and continuing since yesterday!!! the vet said he did not see any irritatation from the shave and the glands were not ruptured or infected

The last time i got his glands expressed (diff place) he reacted the same. It lasted for 3 days and the prior vet gave him a painkiller to sedate him since it was so severe.

I explained this to the new vet and they said no, to put a warm compress against him and to use some preperation H

i have done that along with 1/2 benedryl and still NO relief! they even saw how he reacted and just said that even though he was freaking out some dogs are just sensitive. i told him what the other vet had to do and they didnt think he needed anything. i was very upset

I feel horrible and dont know what to do. i am thinking about going to an emergency vet to just get a sedative so the dog can rest. (if they even give him one) another exam or exrays wont show anything rather than some major discomfort and a huge bill...

is there anything over the counter that people have done?? I am besides myself and feel so bad for him.

Thanks
Melissa

 

[kbigge]

I would call the vet you saw before, and see if they can call something into the pharmacy (like Walgreens). I have a Walgreens card that gives us a discount on certain medications, and all our family members INCLUDING the dog are covered (I couldn't believe it!) But anyway, if dogs can have prescriptions filled at a people-pharmacy, maybe you could explain the situation to the vet you saw the first time and see what they can do. Otherwise, I'd take him to the ER vet if he's that miserable. If you have the invoice/record from the visit where he got meds, you might want to take that in as proof.

Also - I would be getting a new vet. If my dog is suffering, and my vet won't do anything about it, then I'm outta there.

Good luck - I hope your dog feels better soon!

 

[AnnaRiley]

Call the vet and make an appt. there is an infection. I do not know how old your dog is but mine had a very bad infection at 6 months. I get his anal glands expressed each month. Get to the vet!!

 

[crazyboutdogs]

there is definitely an infection!!! i work at a grooming shop and i've seen dogs that when their anals fill up and they can't express them in a timely fashion they do get infected. you can put some canned pumpkin in his food. not the kind you make pie out of, but pure canned pumpkin. put a tablespoon or so in his food. he should eat it as it has a kind of sweet taste. the fiber should help with his anal glands. could be a diet issue also. the anal glands are used to lubricate the stool as a dog's rectum has no lubrication built in as ours does, so they rely on their anal glands to do the job. if they are not excreting their stools the way they should, that could also cause anal gland problems. i would definitely get him to a vet for a look see....good luck and hope your baby feels better!!!

 

[GSDLoverII]

Kaiser had a HUGE problem with anal gland infections. (Like every other month). Antibiotic's wouldn't clear them up completely and they kept coming back.
Expressing them seemed to make matters worse.
We had them removed and haven't had a problem since.
Best money I ever spent!!!!

 

[melissaw140]

Thanks
i just came back from emergency...even though they were expressed in the morning they did another anal exam and nothing! he looked totally fine, no infection or anything. but vet could see the discomfort and gave a narcotic/antibiotic. she said this should help but if it does not it is prob behaviorial and she will prescribe somehting stronger to sedate him....

i gave him a pill while i was there approx 1 hour ago,....and he is under the bed still wimpering.!!!! i wonder if i can get them removed even though he does not get infections??

thanks for everyones replies

 

[BrennasMom]

This is kind of a gross question, but did you see what color/consistency the excretions were? A thick toothpaste consistency would indicate an impaction/infection, a watery brown would indicate that they aren't impacted.

To me it sounds behavioral if two different vets examined him and didn't see a problem. Another gross question, did they do an external or internal expression? With an external expression they may not be completely emptied and with internal it may have freaked him out having a finger in his you-know-what.

 

[EastGSD]

When you say "we trimmed up the butt a little bit" What does that mean? Scissored? Clipped? Razor?

It is possible it is not the gland at all but could it possibly be irritation from clipping, scissoring or a razor burn?

Cherri

 

[Brightelf]

It continued all day and night, screaming and panting? Doesn't sound behavioral to me, unless he does this with every lil owie. I think he has real pain. Good for you for going to the vet again! You really care about how he feels. He is so lucky to have you-- too many owners would not rush to help him! I hope getting them removed, or getting a different opinion, seeing a specialist, etc-- whatever works-- will soon help your wonderful dog. You clearly love him so much! Good for you for taking his pain seriously. He is so lucky to have you!

 

[GSDLoverII]

How is your dog doing today?

I agree, it does not sound like a behavior problem to me either, and what a painful place for him to hurt.
Poor Baby.

I know he is in good hands though.

 

[Daisy1986]

I hope he is doing better today.

I unfortnatly well (unfornate for my dog) had experience with this. I picked up a beagle off the hwy. Her gland exspresses. were like toothpaste like Brenna's Mom posted earlier. I took her back almost every wk for a long time, she was on antiboctics, even if there was nothing there or it was clear, She still scooted and complained. (not sqealing or whimpering though, but GSD can be more vocal) Until her bottom actually bled.
So, I had them removed. She has allergies and occationally scoots, I am still working on that with diet. The vet said those glands being removed is just one more place she cannot get irritated. So it is better.
Have you tried a diet change? The removal surgery here was $700. Pretty exspensive. I am still glad I did it. It gave her relief. I hope my working on her diet with the help of this site (my GSD is getting diet changes too) give her complete relief.
Hope this was helpful and he gets better soon.

 

[melissaw140]

Hi everyone
thanks for all the kind words. I was not back there when they expressed them so i dont know what consistancy it was. Unfortunatly they had to give him an invasive exam at the emergency (poor guy) internally
no razor burn. This is one of my Japanese chins and he always had the long fur in back by his butt so maybe he does not like the way the air feels?? he was knocked out with the pill last night which is not the way i like to go, but i actually had to go back to get something stonger, the vet said what i got the first time was a narcotic so if that didnt help it is not a pain issue,....
he is a little groggy but was going for the butt the same way this morning so i gave him another pill.
I really dont want to continue it longer than today but i will see.... this is truly bizarre to me.
Thanks

 

[arycrest]

Is there an Anal Gland list or Japanese Chin list you can join to see if others have had the same experience your little guy is having and if so how they resolved it? Hope he's feeling better now!!

 

[Daisy1986]

Bummer sorry to hear it is no better today. I know it is hard to sedate them. It is hard to have to give them any meds or to see them in disstress. I hope this gets better soon.
What did the last vet at the ER say was wrong??? Anything?

 

[melissaw140]

Both vets said that there was nothing wrong....probabally just didnt like having his hair cut off around the butt...not to be gross but before he had long fur and now it is short like a puppy cut and now his butt is exposed...maybe it feels wierd against the carpet and floor.....vet from the 1st office called and said that the front desk was wrong and should have told the vet to squeeze me in since the dog reacted like that and she will address it with them. I guess in hindsite i should have been demanding. I have really liked this vet so far with how they have treated my other dogs...she also said that i should not get his glands expressed anymore unless he is scooting or shows a problem. i asked about the removal and she advised against it since the recovery is very uncomfortable and he would be in terrible discomfort from just how he reacts to the glands being expressed.
well, lets see what tomarrow brings. thanks everyone
Melissa

 

[Daisy1986]

So is it Spike? Anyway how is he today??
It does make more sense that it is a small breed dog, instead of a GSD like I thought earlier. Maybe things do go wrong in that area with lg breeds but less common.
Hope he is coming out of it.