'Firming up' a dog..

[mastifflover 10]

if my dog is loose i starve for 24 hours and then feed on bland diet such as chicken and rice. see how it goes. get vet advice if not happy

[Elizabeth13 10]

Yes I always do it the external way. Yes, she first scooted when her anal glands were full but I'm not grossed out by it lol so I laughed at her before I checked her glands for her. So now she does it even when they're not full, just for attention, cos I still laugh and check them every time. She does anything for attention.

 

Can you check externally if they are full? If so, how?

Whiskey's were pretty full the Vet said. Never had a dog that needed help with this. Would be nice to know if there was a way I would know or sense there might be problems again? It might be a one off.. He seemed a bit constipated but it's all normal again now.

 

He didn't scoot on his bottom or anything like that.

[H_Hounds 10]

Can you check externally if they are full? If so, how?

Whiskey's were pretty full the Vet said. Never had a dog that needed help with this. Would be nice to know if there was a way I would know or sense there might be problems again? It might be a one off.. He seemed a bit constipated but it's all normal again now.

 

He didn't scoot on his bottom or anything like that.

 

Yes, if you get the dog to stand and gently lift the tail right up so the anus sticks out a bit (sorry lol), and place your thumb and fore finger either side of the anus, you should be able to feel a bit of a firm swelling if the glands are full. It becomes obvious when you know what the anus should feel like normally.

[mike84 13]

You should never give dogs bones and especially not chicken bones, my old dog once snaffled some chicken with bones in it before I could stop him and it killed him

 

As long as they are raw, most bones are fine for dogs. Cooked bones are a definate no no.

 

My GSD has had chicken wings for his breakfast today, and regularly eats chicken carcasses, chicken and turkey necks, Lamb ribs, lamb necks etc. Just make sure you watch them and make sure they know how to eat the bone, not all dogs know how to chew the bones up correctly.

 

---------- Post added 11-08-2013 at 14:04 ----------

 

Brilliant that's great. Going to have a raw food test run. Do I need to 'break it in' as you would changing commercial food or can I go raw straight away?

 

I'm going to take him to another vet tomorrow as tonight he has started chewing above his tail, which could be the sign of an infection in that region. He's fully wormed etc so can't be that. Sounds odd but I hope it's that so its a solvable problem!

 

 

Call in to Real Pet Grub at Malin Bridge, they'll be able to point you in the right direction. When I switched to Raw i starved for a day then changed.

My suggestion would be to only feed 1 thing at a time, so feed chicken first and add 1 thing at a time. To much to soon might upset the dog.

 

My 2 now eat everything from chicken to squirrels... Don't forget vegetables to, I blend them up with the food processor and mix some in with their meat. I try to avoid feeding any thing like rice, pasta etc. There is plenty of advice available on line. For an easy guide though have a look here, you'd obviously need to adjust portion sizes to suit your dog.

 

http://www.germanshepherdrescue.co.uk/natural-rawfood-diet-for-dogs.html

 

I also only feed my 2 dogs 6 days per week, they have a starve day every saturday, it gives their digestive system a break.

Edited August 11, 2013 by mike84

[REPO MAN 10]

I've had dogs all my life and never had a dog that has needed their glands doing. If fact until I came across the forum I never even knew it was an issue for dogs!

 

My past dogs have all had firm stools as they always had meaty bones at least twice a week , my present dog has chicken carcass as the main stable so plenty of gristle and bone which keeps everything in check! Some people also like to have a starve day, personally I just feed once a day.

 

My vet once told me to avoid giving dogs chicken and lamb bones at all costs, he said because they are brittle and splinter type bones they will cause serious problems if the dog were to get a splintered bone stuck somewhere inside them, the only safe bone apparently is the very big beef marrow bone like what you can get at the meat market !

[CHEZZFAYE 10]

My vet once told me to avoid giving dogs chicken and lamb bones at all costs, he said because they are brittle and splinter type bones they will cause serious problems if the dog were to get a splintered bone stuck somewhere inside them, the only safe bone apparently is the very big beef marrow bone like what you can get at the meat market !

 

only when cooked, my boys eat raw and are curently demolishing 2 whole chickens in the back garden.

 

marrow bones can break teeth so are not really recomended

[REPO MAN 10]

only when cooked, my boys eat raw and are curently demolishing 2 whole chickens in the back garden.

 

marrow bones can break teeth so are not really recomended

 

oh right, so you can feed a chicken carcass when not cooked but once cooked it's a no no !

I have always given my dogs marrow bones and never had any problems with them breaking teeth etc, maybe because they a large dogs and their teeth are quite strong and powerful anyway, I could see a Yorkie or similar struggling with a bone the size of a small dog lol !

[milliardo 10]

Hi all, thanks for the advice. Took him to the vet who got quite a lot out of him and said that he thinks he might have some allergies which apparently sometimes have a link to problems with the glands? He had a steroid injection and is chewing above his tail hardly at all now, but I don't know whether that's due to having the glands emptied or the injection. Does anyone know how long a steroid injection lasts? I didn't think to ask as we were whizzed in and whizzed out.

 

We have put him on raw and started him off with chicken thighs/whole joints of thigh + leg (raw of course) which he went mad for, and also some chicken patties with green beans + kale and maybe a little bit of carrot. He has never licked his bowl before, but now he is, so I think he's liking the change.

 

He has been extra farty, but I'm guessing this will calm down once everything settles? Going to move onto beef patties soon as beef is his favourite I have even written down on our chalkboard a menu plan lol! This is actually quite fun, dog is eating better than us atm!

 

Edit: By the way, does anyone know any butchers that can provide bones? My oh has tried at asda butchers but they throw them away and don't really want him driving all over sheffield with no guarantees!

Edited August 12, 2013 by milliardo

[Elizabeth13 10]

Hi all, thanks for the advice. Took him to the vet who got quite a lot out of him and said that he thinks he might have some allergies which apparently sometimes have a link to problems with the glands? He had a steroid injection and is chewing above his tail hardly at all now, but I don't know whether that's due to having the glands emptied or the injection. Does anyone know how long a steroid injection lasts? I didn't think to ask as we were whizzed in and whizzed out.

 

We have put him on raw and started him off with chicken thighs/whole joints of thigh + leg (raw of course) which he went mad for, and also some chicken patties with green beans + kale and maybe a little bit of carrot. He has never licked his bowl before, but now he is, so I think he's liking the change.

 

He has been extra farty, but I'm guessing this will calm down once everything settles? Going to move onto beef patties soon as beef is his favourite I have even written down on our chalkboard a menu plan lol! This is actually quite fun, dog is eating better than us atm!

 

Edit: By the way, does anyone know any butchers that can provide bones? My oh has tried at asda butchers but they throw them away and don't really want him driving all over sheffield with no guarantees!

 

 

There are some butchers that do, but i don't know any. There's one in Heeley near the little co-op I was going to try at some point, but don't know as of yet if they do or don't.

 

If I was you, I would avoid going and having a steroid injection again.

I have a dog with a lot of itchy issues currently - he bruises himself with grooming, which we thought was hayfever but may not be now. He also has made a large wound to the back near his tail only on Thursday, and is now coned with antibiotics and a steroid cream to the area for a few days - his glands were full and emptied so it's only a matter of waiting and seeing, but I think this was due to the glands rather than his allergy issues as he has never done that before in the 2years of struggling with this itchying problem.

We have been offered steroid injections, but it's a no. There are a lot of short term side effects that are not good, as well as long term side effects of using steroids when you don't need to.

For us, our next step is a skin scrape and then blood tests, as a trial run on a prescribed allergy/sedative tablet has not worked (tried normal antihistamines to no effect). If they find the allergy, they can make a vaccine up for us.

 

So research steroid injections first before jumping into it again. I think Vets suggest it because its a quick and relatively cheap solution that can be effective, but it isn't actually 'curing' the problem.

[milliardo 10]

Thanks for the tip Elizabeth. I'll try and get him booked in for scrape/blood test and see if it's an allergen. We didn't really know enough to reject the steroids, so that really helps!

[Elizabeth13 10]

Thanks for the tip Elizabeth. I'll try and get him booked in for scrape/blood test and see if it's an allergen. We didn't really know enough to reject the steroids, so that really helps!

 

Was it just a one off nibbling? If so, leave it for a while.

The injections can last up to 6 weeks anyway, plus it may well have just been the anal glands.

Keeping upto date with de-flea and a de-wormers are a good idea, as parasites internally and externally can obviously cause itching, and can apparently cause problems with the anal glands.

 

Our Whiskey itches mostly his paws, face, under arms and groin area.

It seemed to occur in summer at first, hence why we thought it was hayfever, but it's just getting worse as time passes. He's already on a more hypoallergenic salmon based diet, as well as numerous oils and herbs for his food to boost omega etc. and on regular bathes with a medicated shampoo - but to no avail.

It is possible our Whiskey has a bacterial or fungal skin infection (through research) which is why I am going to get a skin scrape, but it's more likely some allergens to multiple things I think - which is why we may end up going to for the expensive blood tests and vaccine root.

Our poor Whiskey just itches most of the day, it must be driving him mad.

 

Hopefully your dog is a one off and just anal gland issue which will resolve itself. I wouldn't wish our Whiskey's issue on anyone or any dog!

[milliardo 10]

He only itches above his tail, and he's been itching sort of part-time for a while and doing no damage at all, but one night he really went at it and has damaged his skin quite badly. Now that he's stopped itching it, the area has scabbed over so will hopefully heal.

 

I am sort of suspecting he's stopped as the glands have been emptied. He did start itching there in summer so we initially thought it was hayfever (although he wasn't itching his paws) and were advised to try piriton which had zero effect, so we assumed he was just an itchy dog until the evening he went at it and we thought there must be an underlying cause that's got worse so off to the vets we went.

 

He's fully wormed and fleaed with frontline as we those were the first things we suspected, maybe a flea allergy or worms e.g. the nibbling above the tail, vet did a flea test and was totally flea free and we've not noticed any worms at all.