Author Topic: Post anal gland surgery issues.  (Read 896 times)

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Offline Stansmum

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Post anal gland surgery issues.
« on: May 18, 2017, 09:53:44 PM »
Hello,
My 5 year old boy, Stan, has had problems with his anal glands for about 3 years. We tried everything to alleviate it but had to resort to surgery which he had last Tuesday. One of them burst on removal and the vet said they were extremely hardened and fragile. We had a biopsy done which showed one of them was severely ulcerated and the other was hardened and diseased. We now know we did the right thing in having them removed as they were at the point of bursting inside him. The surgery was nine days ago and he is doing well now although the first five days were terrible for all of us. Stan has had his post op check and the vet is very pleased with how well they have healed. However, following the surgery we seem to have a couple of new problems. When he barks or gets excited he poos a tiny bit (like a malteaser). We were expecting this and we know it can last a few weeks after surgery but he has started eating it, something he never did before. This started when he had a nasty reaction to the tramadol he was given post surgery and he had the runs. He had no idea he was doing it as he was still very swollen and we believe he may have been trying to clean up after himself, he has never soiled in the house before. He has finally started to poo normally but he still tries to eat it if I cant get to it first. The other thing is that when he sometimes sits down suddenly, mid walk, meal, etc. He sits very suddenly and very hard. Has anyone else whose dog has had this surgery experienced these problems. I would be so grateful for any input at all.
Thank you!

Offline Mari

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Re: Post anal gland surgery issues.
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2017, 10:26:54 PM »
Don't have experience with the surgery but for the poo eating pineapple is supposed to help. Apparently they tend to like it in their food but  digested it makes the poo less appetizing (dog logic). Never actually tried it, but that's what "they" say.

The sitting down mid walk could be from irritation or pain maybe? If it's only 9 days post surgery there is probably still some healing going on. Just guessing here, but it could be an explanation.

Edit: I think it can be a painful healing process. My friends dog had the surgery last year and he was a nightmare during recovery. Screaming and barking and pooping all over the house, not wanting to walk at all. For two weeks the poor thing was driving her to tears at least once a day. Got proper pain management and follow ups with the vet, but he's not a tough guy so he made it clear that he was uncomfortable. However the surgery was necessary and he is perfectly fine today though, so I'd say give it time ;) 
(And ask you vet if you are unsure as not all cases are the same).

Offline Stansmum

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Re: Post anal gland surgery issues.
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2017, 08:35:00 AM »
Thank you Mari. Yes the recovery is nasty. We were pre-warned but we were still shocked at the state he got himself into a couple of days afterwards. We resorted to calling the emergency vet in the middle of the night to see if we could give him anything else for the pain. Thats when they said to give him another tramadol, obviously we did not know at that time that they can make a dog stressed, restless and give them diarrhoea and thats exactly what happened. We had to take it in turns sleeping on the floor downstairs for the first five nights as he was so distressed. He is almost back to his old self now, one day he was crying, restless, etc and the next he was bringing us his toys to play with. I did actually try giving him pineapple yesterday. In five years we haven't found anything he doesn't like....until pineapple! He won't touch it. The vet wasn't worried about anything when she saw him on Wednesday so I'll give it another week and see how he goes. As you say, it is a painful healing process and he has been through a lot in the last couple of weeks.
Thanks for your input, it's been reassuring.

Offline lescef

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Re: Post anal gland surgery issues.
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2017, 09:28:31 AM »
Hi. It sounds like you did the right thing having them removed.
Maddie has trouble with her glands so I always follow these posts . I've heard of the pineapple thing too.
Re sitting down - when Maddie is suffering with hers she will often sit down very quickly,  so I would imagine he's feeling uncomfortable.
Sending healing woofs to Stan (and you!)
Lesley, Maddie and Bramble

Offline Patp

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Re: Post anal gland surgery issues.
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2017, 04:52:07 PM »
Jinley had hers removed in January and I found that she acted as though she was bruised for a couple of weeks.  Altogether it took about 4 weeks for her to stop worrying about them.  I also gave some Arnica tablets from a health shop to help with the bruising. 

Cant help with the eating poo side of things, but she occasionally trumps when she is going up stairs and looks round in disgust!

Just give it a few more weeks x



Offline MIN

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Re: Post anal gland surgery issues.
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2017, 05:47:20 PM »
Gemma had hers removed. She had a baboon bum for a while. Pooping was painful also so she did little ones and often rather than squat  down and have a good one.  Sitting down i think will be due to at being painful still especially if the stitches are still in.  That is another thing, i found it just as distressing as Gemma did when she had them out. It took 2 visits to the vet and 3 of us to hold her still. 
 We wiped her bottom for a good few weeks afterwards as we found she would not complete the job.  As for eating it, she was a poop eater anyway and still will if she finds a freshly baked one. 
   
Run free and fly high my beautiful Gemma
2011 - 2023 

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Offline Helen

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Re: Post anal gland surgery issues.
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2017, 10:52:49 AM »
Jarvis had his done last year.  He was 11 and a bit and fortunately had none of the side effects you all had.

His stitches were dissolvable, he had minimal pain and he was back to normal in a week - I was lucky (and had a very good vet )

I think Stan is not eating his poo because it's delicious, he's eating it because he's a very clean dog and not used to soiling as he has been.  Keep on picking it up really quickly and distracting him from it and hopefully as he gets control back over his rear end.

Yes, he still has pain so that is why he's sitting so suddenly.   

Give him time - I'm sorry he's had such a bad time with it   :-\
helen & jarvis x