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Emptying Dog Anal Glands
We own 2 shnugs (1/2 pug 1/2 schnauzer; we made up the name, he he) ourselves and they both have very active anal glands. We have to drain them every about every 2 months. Go to the vet and it's $25 a dog plus all the time and travel for the appointment. Too much hassle. Fortunately, our vet showed us how to empty (express) the sacs externally of which a nicely made video is displayed below, courtesy of youtube. I find this method of externally squeezing the sacs impossible to perform satisfactorily (at least on my dogs); so I use the easier, but not for the squeamish method, that our vet prefers to use as it insures the complete emptying of the glands. This method involves surgical gloves (I buy them by the case at Walgreens), some lube ( ky jelly, which I prefer or vaseline), a bathtub, and the ability to insert your finger where the sun don't shine. I like to put my dogs in the bathtub when doing this because the fluid can spray out pretty far and wide. Plus you can rinse your dog's butt off a little easier as well. We'll do the left gland first, so put a little lubricant on your right index finger. With the dog's behind facing you gently insert that finger into his behind (don't worry, it goes in easily) and now your going to gently feel around for kind of a flattened pea sized, semi-hard gland on the left side. Use your index finger and thumb in a pinching motion to locate it, but be gentle. When I first started emptying their glands, it was every 2 weeks and I would be forewarned by the smell, usually when they were excited and the occasional boot-scoot-boogie my smaller one would do. It seems the frequency of draining decreased over time to now, maybe once every 2 months. ..... next dog food and anal glands |
on another note, sometimes training can be challenging....
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