Author Topic: Riley ruptured an anal gland  (Read 3702 times)

Offline macybean

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Riley ruptured an anal gland
« on: May 31, 2008, 10:48:07 pm »
I found a sore on Riley Thursday night. I originally saw it Thursday morning, but it was a small dark spot and looked like he may have made a mess while going to the bathroom. He doesn't like anyone messing around with his tail end, so I figured he'd clean it. :(

When we walked that night, I noticed that it was definitely a wound right by his bottom, maybe an inch or so over. The vet's first appointment was this morning, and I figured it was a puncture or a bite of some sort (he chews up areas when he gets a flea bite, though this looked different with the puncture hole). I said okay and kept the area as clean as possible Thursday night through Saturday morning.

It turns out, one of his anal glands ruptured! They flushed it out, which I thought they said involved cutting him a bit (can't see that part now, just looks like the original wound, so maybe I misunderstood). They expressed his other anal gland, and the vet said the stuff in it was as thick as frosting. She said it would have ruptured very soon. :( Poor Riley! I wish I'd known what that was when I first looked at it. I would have taken him to the emergency vet to let them flush it and give him some pain meds. They said signs of this are dogs scooting their butts across the floor and licking their butts a lot. Riley doesn't do either of these things, nor have compacted glands ever been a problem with him before.

He is now wearing one of those e-collars. He's got antibiotic cream, antibiotics, and pain meds. He's mostly whiny and not acting like himself - not pushing himself on me for attention, but instead just standing there and whining. Also, he's running into stuff, and instead of backing up, which I know he's smart enough to do normally, my doped up dog just stands there-doesn't push harder or pull back, just stands-and waits. Then he'll whine a bit and wait some more until I fix it.

He's got a follow up next Saturday, and the vet said he'll need to come in every 8 weeks to get his glands expressed. If it seems like they are compacting a lot, he'll need them removed. My poor bear...

« Last Edit: May 31, 2008, 10:53:32 pm by macybean »