Anal Gland & Abscesses, Oh My!
AG issues are undoubtedly one of the most common posts we see on the groups and something I had never seen in my own dogs until now.
It was Christmas 2020 and Darcy came down with a huge abscess on her left anal gland.
I noticed it after darcy kept reaching around to-what I thought at the time, clean herself. Day to day, Darcy keeps herself meticulously clean. She was also due a season at that point so I also put it down to that. But as the afternoon went by, licking changed to biting and that was when I knew we had a problem.
As previously mentioned - I had seen abscesses hundred's of times on the group and never thought I would see it on my own dog since she was fed fresh from 12 weeks. But it happened - and we have dealt with it naturally - and in Darcy’s case, without expressing the glands at all.
What Are Anal Glands?
Anal glands are two sacs filled with oil & sweat glands and are located on either side of the rectum at The 4 & 8 o’clock positions. The purpose of these sacs is to leave behind a scent when your dog excretes - but the secretions also need to be released when your dog does a bowel movement in order to flush out stored bacteria. It is also common for dogs to express their own anal glands in instances where they are very frightened or nervous.
Sometimes when the secretion inside the sacs becomes too thick - they can become inflamed meaning the glands cannot be emptied fully or at all - this causes an abscess to form.
How to treat an anal gland abscess;
Clean the abscess with leucillin or a reputable colloidal silver - which is anti viral, anti fungal and anti bacterial.
Apply a thin layer of colloidal gel and cover the area with a canine nappy to stop your dog from disturbing the abscess or licking off the gel.
If you can see a “head” on the abcess - this is a good time to do a calendula compress. If you can - apply this overnight on a gauze and cover the area with a nappy.
Give hepar sulph 30c and silica 30c. Silica can be used as a general homoeopathic remedy in the treatment of boils, fistulas and abscesses of all types on the body and Hepar Sulph is an effective remedy for painful, tender anal abscesses. They can be given every hour for up to four hours
Usually these steps can help to speed up the healing response and cause an abscess to rupture within 12-24 hours of first symptoms.
Helar sulph does an excellent job of speeding up the healing process and the silica helps to quickly disperse the pus and clear out the abscess. whilst the colloidal silver helped to fight off and prevent infection.
Homeopathy for AG issues
The pain in the abscess may be throbbing, beating or stabbing in nature. In some cases, splinter-like pains may be present. The abscess is also very sensitive to the slightest touch. Fever with chills may be present along with the above symptoms. Hepar Sulph helps reduce pain and speeds up the pus formation to encourage prompt recovery.
It’s also worth noting that with homoeopathy, the correct remedy will kick-start an amazing healing response in the animal so often pain killers aren’t necessary.
I know to many, homoeopathy seems daunting and many have their doubts - but time and time again homoeopathy has proved it’s worth for me. I have the Helios homoeopathy pet kit - which has 24 homoeopathic remedies (in 2g bottles of size 6 pills/pillules) it comes in a neat little case along with a very clear and easy guide. The guide details each remedy along with its common uses but it also contains an A-Z of every ailment, injury or illness your pet may encounter and what remedy to treat it with. It also gives you full dosing instructions - so it makes it incredibly easy to understand and use safely on your pet. It can be used for small animals from guinea pigs right up to farm animals and equines.
Anal Glands - The root cause
Once an abscess has been dealt with it is so important to identify the cause of the abscess for the individual dog. Usually, anal gland abscesses' are caused by one or more of the following;
• Diet – especially dry or canned processed food, poor quality species inappropriate ingredients, preservatives and other chemical agents.
• Toxin build-up in the body.
• Obesity due to a carb-based diet, overfeeding or lack of exercise.
• Overexpressing the glands manually.
From a personal standpoint, the two most common reasons we see in the groups is poor diet and the glands being manually expressed.
It is a shame when they have had the glands manually expressed, even once, as the glands are easily damaged and once you start this they usually need doing regularly for life. Cavaliers are infamous for having anal gland issues. The more the glands are manually expressed, the more scar tissue builds up from mechanical damage. The procedure becomes more difficult to perform and more painful for the dog.
Unless they are incorrectly positioned they should work naturally as long as their diet is correct. Kibble diets are usually the main problem. processed pet food should be avoided. Such food taxes the liver and increases toxin levels.
A kibble diet often can lead to kibble stools that are far too soft. Dr Judy Morgan writes; “ The diet needs to contain a lot of moisture (ie - not kibble), some insoluble fibre, +/- ground bone (yes, if feeding raw). A firm stool will apply pressure as it passes by the glands, causing them to express. A high dose of insoluble fibre, like ground pumpkin seed or psyllium husk, will add bulk to the stool.”
A high moisture diet keeps the discharge in the glands from becoming thick and sludgy. A kibble-based diet is very low in moisture. (Even if you add water to the kibble, it does not re-hydrate to the same level that a raw diet would.) Raw, home-cooked, and wet food diets provide a much higher level of moisture, up to 80 to 85 % in some cases. This added moisture helps keep the anal gland discharge in a more liquid state.
In the wild, wolves eat bones, which make the stool harder. The anal glands of dogs fed raw bones (Or a raw diet with bone-in) get naturally massaged and emptied, which is what you want. The anal glands benefit from a harder stool as it’s when the dog passes this stool that naturally expresses the glands. That being said, and as we have seen in darcys’ case, a dog on a fresh, high moisture diet isn’t immune to such issues.
Blocked Glands
Just before Christmas, (sidenote, why does it always seem to be winter time & out of hours when my dogs start showing issue’s with their glands?!) anyway, I digress. Before Christmas , Teddy (my 6 month old ruby cavalier) started showing signs of distress.
This was particularly worrying for me at the time as though I had experienced AG issues before, the signs Teddy was displaying were completely different to anything I had ever experienced. This time he was presenting;
Nervousness
Signs of discomfort - wimpering
Reaching around to his bottom to bite
Where normally I would proceed to my first aid cupboard and go in with some of the solutions mentioned above - the amount of discomfort he was presenting worried me - I decided to make use of my free First vet consultations just to be on the safe side.
She encouraged me to give Teddy some paracetamol (for small animals - this is something I would usually avoid but as it is less harsh on the body than metacam in this instance I gave it) and book in with my vet.
After a long night in the clinic - the vet confirmed his glands were very full and needed emptying - it was at this point I had remembered we had been feeding a raw food high in bone content which had been causing out of the norm stools. His anal glands had become blocked.
After this event, it took some time to get Teddy’s glands functioning normally and through researching this thoroughly and through trial and error we realised a few things;
Physlliym husk - This is a dietry fibre which is completely natural and often recommended. I have given this recommendation myself over the years countless times and this has always worked with my dogs - until now. A lot of people use the husk without mixing it with a liquid before hand and in this format, physillium husk can be quite harsh on a dogs digestive system. Though I would still use this in certain situations - I would only ever recommend to use it mixed with water to let the husks expand into a fibre gel.
Marshmallow Root - This is an adaptogenic herb and one we have since been using - and have had great success with! It is much more mucilaginous than slippery elm. Marshmallow is a demulcant and demulcents like marshmallow have a calming effect on the mucus membranes they come into contact with because they contain mucopolysaccharides. Esentially, when given, marshmallow root coats the irritated membranes and offers soothing relief.
A marshmallow tea or low-alcohol (less than 10%) tincture is usually the best choice. However, the dried root powdered like supplements we see in popular pet health shops are thought to be better for problems deep within the digestive system, such as the anal glands & things like colitis. This is because marshmallow’s mucilage is highly water-soluble and may not reach the lower end of the digestive tract unless carried there in the root.
Herbs such as Marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis) can help to tone your dog’s digestive tract, resulting in regular bowel movements and fully functioning anal glands.
Detoxing the body - The herb Milk thistle is an excellent herb that can be given for the purposes of cleansing and strengthening the liver. I personally use it in tincture form from phyto pet but powder/capsules and tablets can also be given for 2-4 weeks for a general cleanse.
Rebalancing the digestive system - adding both a quality SBO probiotic & digestive enzymes into your dogs food daily at least for the first few months as this will help to rebalance the digestive system and ensure proper digestion. We like four leaf rover protect & Digest but there are other reputable brands available.
Homeopathy - With Teddy in particular, his glands kept getting blocked and this is the only remedy that I found to actively cure this. We had great success using a combination remedy from Phytopet AG support which is a Homeopathic combination of: Calc carb, Hepar sulph, Silicea and Causticum.
This homeopathic remedy can be given hourly in the event of a flare-up and the great thing about homeopathic remedies is that they really help to soothe that uncomfortable tenderness for your dog quickly often without the need for pain relief.
Alternatively I would recommend to Try homoeopathic Silica 6c or 30c. Give one dose 3x daily for a few days when blocked. If infection is present, try Hepar sulph 6c or 30c at the same dose for 3-5 days and then go to Silica for a few days.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure;
Moving forward, I will be including more healthy fibre in the diet,. But some other great fibre remedies are slippery elm and pumpkin purée. Many vets often advise owners use processed fibre like bran flakes or Weetabix but It is not advisable to give bran flakes, Weetabix or any other human breakfast cereal as they are high in both sodium and salt.
Though a fresh diet didn’t help darcys glands, it is recommended that you do move your dog onto the freshest of diets that you can afford - or the freshest diet that suits you and your dog's circumstances - it does do an awful lot of the legwork when it comes to preventing anal gland issues for the majority.
There are other anal gland supplements on the market (like the popular one sold in blue packaging!) - but I’m not 100% happy on the ingredients list.
Conclusion
As discussed - whilst it may be tempting to have the glands expressed - this must be viewed as a short term fix only and will therefore only provide your pet with temporary relief. That being said, if the underlying problem causing these AG issues aren’t addressed then it’s likely you will continue to see your dog in discomfort and therefore causing frequent vet visits.
Diet and or digestive imbalance is the biggest culprit when it comes to compacted anal glands and this must be addressed first and foremost.
Often it can be a case of trying different remedies to find the answer - which has definitely been the case with Teddy.
Using the information provided in this article, I hope this can help you to find the root cause of your own dog’s AG issues and help you to address them in the most natural way possible.
Though it’s important to state that If your dog continues to display signs of pain & discomfort then always consult your holistic veterinarian.
