When I was young, our springer spaniel bolted from our yard
and was hit by a car. The car wasn’t
going fast, but the impact was enough to fling poor Nipper from the road onto
our lawn. I stopped screaming when I realized that my beloved pup was more
shaken up than hurt, and then I noticed it: an unidentifiable foul odor. It wasn’t until I was in veterinary school
that I found out what that stench was: essence of anal gland.
Although cats have these glands, too, our feline friends
fortunately are not afflicted with anal gland problems to the degree that dogs
are. But you may assume that everything
I discuss about this topic also applies to cats.
The anal sacs are the reservoirs for the secretion of anal
glands, which are located on both sides of a dog’s anus at approximately four
and eight o’clock. The sacs contain a
substance that ranges in consistency from a paste to a liquid and is normally
light to dark brown. The contents of the
sacs are emptied through ducts located on each side of the anus, usually during
bowel movements or when a dog is nervous or frightened. The probable function of the secretions is to
mark territory and to distinguish an individual dog from others of his species.
Many in the
pet-owning population already know the facts about these sacs. If this is new knowledge for you, consider
yourself lucky: It means you haven’t had the annoyance of dealing with the
problems these pesky little vestigial structures can cause in your dog.
We see three categories of anal sac abnormalities, sometimes
concurrently: impaction, infection, and
abscesses. All of those conditions
cause varying degrees of discomfort or pain.
The pet owner might notice the dog licking or biting near or under his
tail, and often that area will be red and tender. Also common is the “butt scoot,” in which the
dog sits with his hind legs extended straight forward and propels himself ahead
with his front legs, scraping his anus along the ground (or your carpet). That’s just his way of trying to relieve the
irritation (or pressure, if the sacs are impacted). Some dogs will chase their tails, and some
will strain to defecate. If the sacs are infected or abscessed, the owner may see
blood or pus on the perianal area, on the floor or in the dog’s bedding. And there’ll probably be a pungent odor. Some dogs are depressed and in significant
pain, and will stop eating.
With impaction, the normally thin secretion becomes so thickened
that the sacs don’t express properly.
Expressing impacted anal sacs is like squeezing dry, congealed
toothpaste from a partially blocked tube — challenging! To facilitate emptying the over-packed sac, I
take a tiny tube and place it in the duct.
I then infuse an oily antibiotic preparation into the sacs and express
them. The oil thins and lubricates the
secretion, allowing easier evacuation of the sludge.
Infected anal sacs get the same antibiotic flushing as
impacted ones, after which more antibiotic is infused into the affected sac and
allowed to remain. We recheck and
re-infuse the anal sacs weekly until they’re normal. Although we can deal with infected ears by
taking swabs, staining them, and looking at them under the microscope to help
us choose the correct medicine, doing cytology and cultures for anal sac
infections is a waste of time and money.
Trial and error is the rule here.
Anal sac abscesses can be treated in the same way as
infections, but sometimes they require anesthesia and surgery to deal with
complications such as tissue death, severe swelling, and pain.
I wish oral antibiotics were more helpful for these
infections, but it ain’t so. We tend to
use them as a last resort in cases where conventional treatments have failed, for abscesses, or when we see blood in the anal sac contents. Steroids by injection or by mouth
seem to work best, especially when used in conjunction with flushing. Sometimes sitz baths in warm water help
alleviate the discomfort.
We don’t know all of the causes of anal sac problems, but
there does seem to be an association with allergies (environmental as well as
food), obesity, a low-fiber diet, lack of exercise, and gastrointestinal
disease. Genetics may also play a
role. Diagnosing the cause can be
difficult, but for chronic recurring anal sacculitis, environmental
allergy testing or a food allergy trial using a prescription hypoallergenic
diet may be warranted.
Other than treating for allergies, how can these butt
maladies be prevented? Again, trial and
error rules the day. Weight loss and
increased exercise may help. Switching
to a high-fiber diet or adding fiber such as pumpkin, bran cereal, or Metamucil
to food has helped some of our patients.
Often, in spite everything we’ve tried, both the pet and his
people are plagued by recurring anal sac disease and multiple trips to our
office. I often joke (though I doubt the
pet owner is much amused) that the purpose of anal sacs is to make money for
veterinarians. If your buddy is continually
scooting and you’re tired of dealing with the inconvenience, the expense, and an
unhappy pet, consider the one treatment that’s a permanent cure: surgical
removal of the sacs.
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