The treatment is not expensive unless the glands rupture or get impacted.

You can learn to express them at home, if you want. It isn't difficult, just smelly. I do it to my lab. I wear exam gloves to protect my hands (once that smell is on you, it's impossible to get off), express them outside, and bathe him immediately afterwards. Ask the vet or tech to show you how.

actually anal sac problems are pretty common in poodles too.
Below is a link on how to express the sacs and whether or not you even should depending on the condition of the sacs. if you find yourself having to put the dog through this often, or if the impaction turns infection quickly and has a hard time healing I would definetly consider having them removed by a soft tisse surgeon or at least a vet that is highly skilled in the different techniques of anal gland surgery. Alot of time anal sac problems are also due to other digestive problems, so it's good to keep an eye out for soft or mucousy stools.

Here is a link that might be useful: expressing anal sacs

Ahhh the old rancid fish oil smell. yeeeuck. I have had to express my dogs anal glands on a regular basis since he was young. He does not need to be groomed so I learned to do it myself. If you get your dog groomed the groomer should do it. It can be done once a month or so and with regular anal expressing you will avoid an impaction. If you are not certain your groomer does this, just ask. Weird timing- I was sitting on the couch with my friends malinoius/boxer mix when this very thing happened. She said she smelled nothing. So I told her because of that she should keep an eye on butt scooting.

My groomer will do it if I remember to ask, but I believe she expresses externally instead of -- ahem -- reaching inside, which the vet said was necessary.

If it turns out to be necessary only every couple of months as the vet predicted, then I'm more than happy to pay $15 to have the vet tech do it. The dog didn't seem to mind at all, in fact we had to go back in later for a shot, and he happily pranced on in the way he does.

Thanks for the info, y'all. I'm just happy to learn about this so I know what to look for.

Yeah, my vet charges $15 to do this too. One of my dogs always licks on the left... but is always "full" on the right. My vet taught me how to do this myself. She took out books, showed me diagrams, and patiently explained the whole process. Then she said these fateful words to me: "See? Simple! Isn't this better than paying $15 every time it needs to be done?"

No. No it is not. $15 is a freakin' bargain. It needs to be done. I will continue to pay close attention. But I don't want that schmutz on my floor. You've got a customer for life! ;o)

Just about every place that will give your dog a bath as a service will do the anal glads for free. I just took my boys in for baths ($25/ea) and they did the anal glands.

"Yuck" doesn't even begin to describe it. My now old lab had terrible problems when she was young. Once they were cleaned out and she finished her antibiotic, they'd be impacted and infected again within 4 weeks. We finally threw in the towel and had them surgically removed- the first day was terrible, but 13 years later I think it was a good decision.

One vet warned us that he didn't do it for fear some kind of cancer would develop later in life? We always wondered what kind of problems would occur from constant infections...

One of our cat gets impacted glands from time to time too. I can take care of her though, and once cleared, they don't become infected.

Q

We always wondered what kind of problems would occur from constant infections...
Hi quasifish, in answer to your above question one of the biggest concerns for some breeds such as the German Shepherd is the relationship between perianal fistulas and anal sac problems.
Another problem is damage done to the muscles and nerves in the area by squeezing the sacs incorrectly.

Please make sure your pet has the anal glands cleaned. We almost lost our little dog to impacted anal glands and we had to spend close to 1500.00 for his surgery. The money was not important to us as much as saving his life. They had to reconstruct a new anal hole for him. We thought our groomer was expressing the glands and we had been paying for this to be done and found out later, she never did it when we took him in and he was very ill. This is very important even if they are not scooting.

How many of you are really glad we don't have these? Can't you picture it:

Sweetie....help me, I can't squish my butt sacs!

Or the look on my wife's face as I went scooting by on my butt...ha-ha.