[Rose n Poos]

My brother and his wife have their second mini doxie, now 6 years old, and I think she's spayed. Apparently she has a recurring anal gland issue where they seem to require expressing practically every 2 weeks. The last time or two, there has been blood appearing when they were expressed.

She's currently on steroids and not sure if anything else. The vet is now talking surgery to remove the glands with that outside chance of cancer.

Naturally, they are both pretty freaked out and I'm just starting research by asking here.

His vet says that the frequent need to have the anal glands expressed is not uncommon for doxies.
Does anyone know if this is the case?
The vet is suggesting the surgery sooner rather than later at least partly because whatever meds have been givin don't seem to be helping.
Does anyone have experience with anal gland removal surgery, mini doxie or any brand?

I'm suggesting a second opinion of course but thought I'd check with PF'ers for their experiences. if any, regarding this.
Her name is Daphne

 

[PeggyTheParti]

My last girl was part miniature dachshund and she had her anal glands expressed at every grooming. In her senior years, when I groomed her myself, I never did it and she was fine--no abscesses, impacted glands, or fishy episodes. No concern from our vet either. But she did regularly scoot outside. I'm guessing this was expressing them.

I've never heard of blood appearing in the liquid. That's a bit scary. I'm sorry.

I've read that gland removal can result in incontinence, so I'd hope the vet wouldn't suggest it without very good reason. But I'd absolutely make sure a specialist or extremely experienced veterinarian did the surgery.

 

[Dianaleez]

When I took Normie to our vet with an anal gland issue she said that some (usually) smaller dogs have anal glands too far apart to be expressed when they defecate. Do they have the option of learning to do it themselves?

 

[Mfmst]

What a pretty Dachshund, she is! I agree with you and PeggyTheParti to get a second opinion. I have had exactly one experience with anal glads that needed to be expressed with any dog, and of course it would be this poodle. Buck stood up the entire night, acted unsettled, but didn’t scoot or whine. He just happened to be standing in the middle of our bed and got the first appointment with the vet the following day. I understand how hard it must be for Daphne and her owners to deal with this on such a frequent basis.

 

[Dechi]

Since Beckie has to have her glands expressed often, for a while it was every two weeks, I have discussed this option with her vet. Not seriously though, just enquiring. They said it was a very last resort, as it is a major surgery. That’s pretty much all I know.

 

[wrathfulmom]

My friend had to have this surgery on her beagle. He was only a few years old if I remember correctly. Poor guy was constantly getting impacted and infected so vet decided it was in his best interest to get them removed. This was at least 6 years ago and he’s never had any issues since the surgery.


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[Rose n Poos]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I also checked with my vet and he said that he's seen this in a few of his patients and in two cases surgery was the eventual outcome.
The blood is the concern and whether coming from unhealed abscesses or scar tissue, or something more dire is why the vet is leaning toward the surgery. I'll pass your info to my brother, Thanks again!

 

[Mufar42]

The one rescue chihuahua I had had an issue with his glands, his entire life...The first time he had a rupture, and yes there was blood in that for some time. He actually ended up with a small hole in the gland and the vet and I later stuck a tube with antibiotic in it to clear it. I remember it taking a long time to heal. Soon after it started again but I caught it in time before a rupture. Eventually I put him on a teaspoon of pumpkin 2x a day (sometimes I gave him more). Not the puree but pumpkin like you would use to bake a pie. This helped him and although he would occasionally scoot and occasionally got his glands expressed it became less and less an issue over the years. He stayed on the pumpkin with his meals everyday.