anal glands - oat bran or weetabix?

[siam]

Alfie had to have his anal glands emptied last year before he was 1 which I thought was quite young fo him to start needing that done. I tried weetabix initially as suggested on COL then went onto oat bran from a further post. I sprinkled a dessert spoonful onto his tea each night. A further recommendation here was to change over to the Arden Grange food, as then he might not need any added bran. I changed Alfie over to the AG food and his glands  have been fine since, though it very much seems to depend on individual dogs what works best for him/her. It was also suggested that dogs are more prone to being intolerant to wheat rather than oat bran.

[JennyBee]

Hi everyone, we're still looking for a puppy, and as I've never owned a cocker I have a quick question. I've been reading on here about anal gland problems, do cockers suffer more than other breeds? Can anyone give me a bit more info on this, any help/advice always appreciated,

Thx guys x

My aunt lost her lovely cocker Bliss a few weeks ago to anal gland cancer - we were told by the vet at the Royal Dick Vet in Edinburgh that cockers are prone to this type of cancer and to having problems with their glands. My Brodie also has problems, not too bad thankfully and adding bran to her food seems to help.

[Sheryl]

I have had lengthy discussions with the vet after one of my girls had trouble with her anal glands.  Helen here helpfully suggested Bionic Biotic which I intended to use after both girls got over their Campylobacter.  Whilst I was at the vets he suggested something called Pro-Fibre which I bought even though I had already bought the Bionic Biotic.  The ingredients are almost identical so I started them on the Bionic Biotic and there is a definite difference.  Stools are much firmer and touch wood, no trouble so far.  You can get it from PoochandMutt or from Amazon.  I will give the Pro-Fibre a whirl too but he told me it is £7 or £8 and it cost me £17 (which shows how much of a mark up there is ) and then go back to Bionic Biotic.

I did ask about Cockers and anal gland trouble and my vet didn't think it was Cocker specific but he did suggest that they saw it more in small dogs than the larger ones

[hoggar]

Indie had her glads removed when she was just 3 very young to have problems. I read a lot of stories about how bad it was and how painfull for them and was really worried. She sailed through it no real pain and pretty much back to her old self in a couple of days.My friend who I go walking with has a English bull terrier and she had to have her glands removed two months ago she sailed through it too. the only thing I will say is that I wish I had not taken so long to have her done because she is like a diffrent dog soooooo happy .