I have a frenchie x staffy and he quite often needs his anal glands emptied, his sign for this is to start twirling (as if he's chasing his tail) and as he can't reach his bum he lick the wall closest to it(which I assume has scent on it from him. After taking him to the vets the past few times, he comes home and twirls uncontrollably, he's had steroid injections to try and calm any inflamed/irrated bits, but it never seems to work well. He's been today and has been twirling for the past few hours, with very little breaks, I've had to lie him down with a wet towel to cool him down and he's so worked up. I wondered if anyone elses dog suffers this and if they have any tips to soothe them?
Wrong weather for it really, but when it's not too hot, try having her sit on a warm towel. My Rosie is small enough to sit on my knee which she loves doing and when her anal glands give her gyp, I sit her on my knee on a warm towel and it soothes her. Usually by next day the glands have expressed themselves. If your little lad gets really upset by the vet expressing his glands, you could try emptying them yourself. There are lots of you tube videos that can show you what to do. If he's very troubled after emptying his glands and he will let you, sit on the floor with him and massage around his shoulders keeping well away from his back end. It may help to relax him a little
What are you feeding him? Sometimes dogs who do not have enough fibre in their diet and who do not drink a lot of water cannot express their anal glands when they poo. So the glands get blocked which can be uncomfortable and/or painful for the dog, so they need to be expressed manually.
Quite common in Gsd’s and can be extremely painful. As @Chris suggested you can ask your vet show you how to express the glands so that you can do it at home if you need to, I couldn’t get the hang of it so OH got the job. Years ago a vet explained to me that anal gland problems are actually a symptom of some other problem often inflammation in the GI tract that is not allowing the glands to empty naturally and that emptying them and periodically treating infections is just treating symptoms and not the cause, he also said that if the anus looks red and sore, it was a food allergy symptom. I would look at changing the food This supplement is supposed to be very good. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glandex®-Anal-Gland-Fiber-Supplement/dp/B07513YF3H OR https://www.ancientpurity.com/arabinogalactan-100g-foodscience-of-vermont
Is your vet sure that it is blocked anal glands that need emptying being the reason for your boy doing "twirlies"? Usually blocked anal glands cause the dog to sit on his butt and scoot around. Thinking about your boy "twirling" as if he's chasing his tail trying to get to his bum - could it possibly be that it itches because he has worms and that it is not blocked anal glands that are causing him the problem? Because if it is blocked anal glands he should not have any discomfort or show odd behaviour "twirlies" after your vet has emptied them, as once emptied he should not have any problems.
Rosie always reacted worse just after emptying. She was fine the day after, but the same day she was very uncomfortable. What GSD said about glands often being a symptom of something else does hold a lot of water. With Rosie, once we had her diet sorted out and the allergens removed from it, the problem resolved. She is also fed four times a day - any less and the problems seem to re-occur
I always used to check my Griffons anal glands but I do not remember any of them ever having problems. With Lexi I always asked Ram to check hers, not that she ever scooted or showed any signs of problems, and maybe on rare occasions she did need one side or the other emptied a bit, and she screamed blue murder while he was doing it even though I know it did not hurt her. She was just a bit of a diva... He did check Pereg's anal glands once when she was still on kibble and neither side needed emptying - but she did sometimes automatically express them during seizures once they started. [I had a shoe full once]. I have never asked him to check Tikva as being on raw I do not think it necessary.
