@tomtomtom How does one express a dogs anal glands? My great Dane boxer mix is ALWAYS licking her butt and she stiiiiinks sometimes. But I've never had this happen with my staffy. I wonder if she needs it done?
@raphael_bagot Take your dog to the vet and ask them about it. Done incorrectly expressing the anal glands can harm the dog. Most big dogs don't need help from us, but some, like OPs dog are set further back so bowel movements don't always do the trick.
A vet can tell you if it's an issue for your dog, and direct you to a solution; either visits to manually express the glands or dietary changes that might help.
@raphael_bagot You're not a bad dog parent. Anal gland health isn't generally on the checklist when you take a dog home, it's not something we really want to think about. So if you're concerned or have noticed something give the vet a call. In my experience a good vet office is happy to educate and of course talk over concerns.
Like I said, most big dogs do just fine without human intervention. Your dog is probably fine.
@raphael_bagot I would highly recommend having a vet or groomer show you first. YouTube also has very helpful videos. I learned from a groomer. Some dogs need it and some can do it naturally.
@tomtomtom So I would get another vets opinion. My vet said the canned pumpkin thing doesn't give enough fiber as some dogs need. Like you would realistically need to feed more pumpkin than they can eat to bulk it up enough. She recommended psyllium husk, like Metamucil type stuff. That and the Glandex products work well for us. There's also a ground up carrot supplement I've seen on Amazon, and something called "Bernies Perfect Poop" I've also heard good things about but have not tried.
One of my dogs did the same thing, I found he was sensitive/allergic to anything with fish oil in it. The fish oil made it SO much worse. It's possible you need to try something like raw organic unrefined coconut oil instead. Once we made diet changes to non fish proteins, in treats and everything, it made a world of difference.
@tomtomtom Glandex and sugar-free shredded wheat. A few biscuits in their meal in the am helps with hardening the stool so they are expressed while she is pooping. We have 2 big dogs who struggled with this and it’s worked well. Unfortunately our other senior big dog needs to see a vet tech for internal expression every 4 weeks to prevent them from getting clogged and expressing at home. Good luck!
@tomtomtom My dog is the same way and it suuuuucks. I have tried adding pumpkin, glandex capsules, and no scoot chews to his food. They all help somewhat but nothing has fixed it totally. He’s still expressing at least weekly. We do also use the glandex wipes when he starts to smell fishy. And we have angry orange spray for when he does express. Sorry you deal with this also.
