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A/gland Advice Required

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NormanStanleyFletcher

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Hallo, im after a bit of advice regarding my 3yr old whippet, who has recently had his anal gland cleared by the vet (supposedly). We took him to the vet after he became rather smelly and was walking funny (with his rear end lowered), and the vet said he had a bit of an infection so she gave him a course of antibiotics. This seemed to help, although the smell was still there, faintly. This was a couple of weeks back, and now he has started to walk funny again and the smell is increasing. Should I go bak to the vet? or can anyone recommend a thorough way of clearing this up. Its never occurred before, and I want to have him cleaned and back to normal. He's my first whippet, and im wondering if this is a common occurrence in whippets also. Any help or tips would be appreciated, or links to threads that have covered this in the past.

Many thanks.
 
I don't have any advice re anal gland clearing (although there is a video on You Tube showing how to do it :x ) but I would advise that maybe you use a different vet.

What area are you in?

There are lots of excellent sighthound vets across the country and I'm sure other K9 members in your area would be glad to recommend a good vet for your whippet :thumbsup:
 
Definitely go back to the vets as soon as possible!!!!

My whippetX Bryn had to have major surgery a few months back after his anal gland became infected and ruptured into his pelvic cavity, it caused lots of damage to internal tissues and he had to have all the damaged tissue removed along with the ruptured gland....he was very poorly for six weeks.

Please don't underestimate the kind of pain and discomfort that an infected anal gland can cause and the damage that can result from not acting quickly enough.

If infection is still there, your dog will need to be anaesthetised and to have the gland/s flushed as well as ongoing pain relief and more antibiotics.

I really hope your little dog recovers quickly. xx
 
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I'll get him back to the vets straight away. Thanks very much for the prompt replies and advice.

Im in the North Tyneside area, and my vet has always been helpful, so i'll give it another go, but am open to suggestions of other good vets if anyone has any.

Is the anal gland problem common in whippets?
 
Does your whippet possibly need more fibre in its diet? That helps the anal glands to empty naturally. But obviously not as a substitute for the help of a vet when they are causing problems!
 
Suerose said:
Does your whippet possibly need more fibre in its diet? That helps the anal glands to empty naturally. But obviously not as a substitute for the help of a vet when they are causing problems!
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he eats well, and we feed him fish now and again (pilchards etc), and he also gets chicken and occasionally other meat which we are having, but mainly he eats his dried food. I assume the dried food has the right amount of fibre in it (its Bakers by the way). Once again im open to suggestions on supplementing his diet with other stuff. Thanks for pointing this out.
 
Take him off Bakers now, it is full of addatives and artificial colourings. Put him on James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange, any food with no colours or artificial flavourings.

That would help for a start!

But first get his rear end sorted. Good luck with him.
 
I know that everyone has differing opinions on feeding, but one of the foods which is full of artificial colouring and all sorts of preservatives etc is Bakers :blink:

It isn't the best for your whippet :(

I feed a raw diet to all mine, but if I was going to feed a complete food I would use one from the Burns range. James Wellbeloved is also a good complete food range too. I have never had any digestive or anal gland problems with mine.

They have a raw chicken wing (frozen and defrosted first) in the morning and then their evening meal consists of a variety of minced meats (which my butcher makes up from all the offcuts and offal he produces), Wafcol bonemeal and a tiny handful of small mixer biscuits to add some bulk. They also get raw meaty bones once a week (my butcher is a star!!!!!) You can add all sorts of different things too - pureed veg, raw egg, a touch of fish oil (for coat shine :) )

They also have free access to as much horse/sheep poo as they want (provides probiotics for their guts) and they can eat grass if they want to. I do find that they have lost interest in horse poo as they have got older, probably because they don't need the additives it offers them :thumbsup: The only thing they would like to eat but I dont approve of is the cat poo :x :x

A good diet is probably the single most important thing to avoid health problems so if you get a chance, maybe try a new complete food for your boy - or even change to raw (but if you do, introduce it gradually :D )

Good luck with the vet and I hope he is fully fit again very soon :thumbsup: :luck:
 
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jinnyfizz said:
I know that everyone has differing opinions on feeding, but one of the foods which is full of artificial colouring and all sorts of preservatives etc is Bakers :blink: It isn't the best for your whippet :(
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Bakers is the worst food on the market imo- they should spend their huge marketing budget on food quality!!

Hope your whippie is better soon!
 
It was only by getting advice from people on here that I realised how the quality of food differs - when I was young, giving your dog Bakers/ Pedigree etc meant you were quite upmarket!! Don't be offended if people are quite abrupt in their denuniciation of certain brands, it's not personal! However, when I got my pups they were on Pedigree and after advice from people on K9 I gradually switched to James Wellbeloved and haven't looked back. It is not really more expensive if you buy in bulk (costs me about 40 quid a month for two dogs which I think is brill) and my dogs look fantastic, even if I say so myslef ;) :b

Good luck at the vets - can't imagine a poorly bum is much fun :eek:
 
A change in diet will help enormously, but back to the vets for now and get them expressed again, ask the vet to show you how to do it for yourself, externally, as there are two methods of doing it. Ive heard two schools of thought about expressing anal glands regularly, one says the more often its done the more it will need doing because the dog then doesnt do it naturally - the other being, the longer its left to fill up once there are problems the more distended they become, thus causing further problems with emptying naturally and therefore regular expressing will help it to shrink back to its normal state.

I personally favour the latter, until things improve. How the glands naturally expell is via the dog passing stools, so as the poos come out the glands are expressed, if a dog had loose poos for a while this can cause the problems of the glands overfilling. Dogs can also express them when scared, you know smelling that metally fishy sort of smell after a dog has jumped etc.

I feed Skinners field N Trial, duck and Rice, very comparable to James Wellbeloved in quality and its hyperallergenic too. although about half the price!!
 
Sorry if I came over abrupt - I certainly didn't mean to! :b

I feed Trophy to my 3 girls and they all do really well on it. Its available by delivery from your local rep and you can find out who that is by googling Trophy Petfoods.
 
Hi

Hope your whippy feels better soon.

My two were very fussy and on tins (Butchers) with Pedigree small bite mixer, but it was costing me a fortune!!!

In the last fortnight they have been on Skinners Field & Trial Puppy which is a complete food, and I can already see a difference in their coats which are now nice and shiny and also their poos (less quantity and less mushy! :D )

It's also working out cheaper in our case - although the bulk bag is 15kg and takes up about half of my kitchen!!!

Whether you choose to go raw (BARF) or stick to a commercial dog food remember to change his diet gradually. :thumbsup:

Good luck (and we'd love to see come pics) ;)

zahra
 
NormanStanleyFletcher said:
Hallo, im after a bit of advice regarding my 3yr old whippet, who has recently had his anal gland cleared by the vet (supposedly). We took him to the vet after he became rather smelly and was walking funny (with his rear end lowered), and the vet said he had a bit of an infection so she gave him a course of antibiotics. This seemed to help, although the smell was still there, faintly. This was a couple of weeks back, and now he has started to walk funny again and the smell is increasing. Should I go bak to the vet? or can anyone recommend a thorough way of clearing this up. Its never occurred before, and I want to have him cleaned and back to normal. He's my first whippet, and im wondering if this is a common occurrence in whippets also. Any help or tips would be appreciated, or links to threads that have covered this in the past.
Many thanks.
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I had a cat that occasionally had impacted anal glands and I became quite adept at clearing but I wouldn't recommend it. If it is badly impacted it can be tricky to clear (rather like thick toothpaste!), not to mention smelly and if it's infected your whippet will need more anti-biotics.

Regarding food, I steer clear of the supermarket shelves, especially Bakers which, as everybody else has said, is full of rubbish and additives with very little protein. All the other makes suggested are great and I feed my two dogs Burns which I have found to be very good. It has a high protein content, is additive free and comes in different meats, chicken, venison, fish etc and some for weight control etc. Good luck and I hope your boy's feeling better soon.
 
Many thanks again for all the input here. Im not offended at all by the replies about the food (its nice that people feel so stronly about it, and im happy for them to reply in any way they see fit). I'll change it straight away.

Vets tomorrow with a bit of luck, and i'll let you know what they say/do.
 
NormanStanleyFletcher said:
Many thanks again for all the input here. Im not offended at all by the replies about the food (its nice that people feel so stronly about it, and im happy for them to reply in any way they see fit). I'll change it straight away.
Vets tomorrow with a bit of luck, and i'll let you know what they say/do.
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Good luck at the vets :luck: Another couple of good, natural dog food brands are Burns and Naturediet.
 
Thought id pop back and let you know how it went. Hes had another course of tablets (2 a day for a week) and ive had him back again today, hes much better and it seems ok, fingers crossed.

Thanks again for the help by people here, its very reassuring to be able to come here for opinions and tips on how to get things sorted. Much obliged.
 
Glad to hear he's feeling better and let's hope that's the last of it.
 
HI

One of my girls had the occasional problem with her Anal gland. She let me know by sliding along thje carpet (just like o dog woth worms!) LOVLEY!!!!!!!

I now have the dogs on Aukarty which I buy at Costco (if you are a member). It is organic and VAT free so not quite as expensive as James welbeloved. The anal gland problem seems to have vanished and my dogs are all fit and healthy with lovely shiny coats.

Hope your whippie is better soon

eve
 
Glad to hear your dog is improving. I used to feed Bakers, among other dried supermarket varieties - I thought the coloured bits were full of goodness (ie the green bits were vegetables etc!) oh how naive was I? My dogs are now fed raw and the difference in their condition is outstanding. No more flaky coats, smelly breath, plaque covered teeth or raw scabby outbreaks on their skin or ear infections. I truly believe the improvement came from feeding raw.
 
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