# My Fluff Butt's Butt



## Alvar's Mom (Mar 5, 2007)

My poor fluff butt's butt is not so fluffy right now :smcry: 

Last Wednesday, when I woke up I found Alvar with a rather slimy yellow bum (sorry, no other way to describe it) so off to the vet we went right away. She said there's definitely an infection :yucky: . She emptied the sacs and filled them with antibiotics and a steroid and said she wanted to see him again in a week to make sure everything was looking good.

The yellow discharge continued through Thursday, the vet said that some of it may have been the antibiotics as that's yellow too, and then stopped. Alvar was back to his normal white fluffy self on Friday and Saturday. I gave him his bath Saturday night so that he would be all clean for his Grammie's visit on Sunday (my Mom stopped in for lunch on her way to visit my Nana). 

On Sunday, I woke up to the same slimy yellow bum I saw on Wednesday morning :smcry: . Called the vet, the receptionist said that the vet we saw Wednesday was off Sunday/Monday and did I want to wait until Tuesday!?! I told her NO and saw another doctor who prescribed an oral antibiotic (simplicef) and emptied the sacs again. She said if we don't see at least a reduction in the discharge in the next couple of days that we should come back in as there may be something more complicated going on :smcry: 

Alvar's just had his second dose of the simplicef, no problems with it so far, he has a momentarily clean bum right now following a butt bath. He's been acting normally the whole time aside from not wanting his breakfast for a couple days (that's not so unusual for him though).

Has anyone else experienced this? It confuses me a lot because Alvar hadn't been scooting at all, no indication that his bum wasn't comfortable (until Wednesday morning) and he's never had any problems like this in the past (he's almost 3).
:smhelp:


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## totallytotontuffy (May 16, 2007)

Tuffy had a ruptured anal gland a couple of years ago. I was sent home with the yellow ointment that you are talking about. I had to put it into a syringe with a curved skinny tip and actually insert it into the rupture which upset and hurt me more than it did her but I recall having to use it for several days to clear up the infection. 

Did your vet give you the ointment to take home as well? Tuffy hadn't been scooting either, it just came on very suddenly. Fortunately it hasn't occurred again. I hope Alvar's infection clears up quickly.


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## totallytotontuffy (May 16, 2007)

I also wanted to mention that my vet said that sometimes allergies can be related to anal gland problems. Also adding a little fiber to Alvar's diet might help, perhaps a teaspoon of canned pumpkin (no sugar) to his meals.

This is an excerpt from http://animalpetdoctor.homestead.com/bacterialskin.html 


Anal Gland Problems

If you didn't know it, both dogs and cats have little glands (so do skunks mink, and ferrets) just under the skin right beside their anus. The smelly stuff made by these glands is unique to each pet and a little bit of anal gland juice leaks out of it's duct into the anus every time a dog or cat defecates. 

As I said, the smell is unique to each pet and that is what all that smelling of hind ends is about...it's what pets do instead of saying "Hi, my name's Bob, what's yours?"

Sometimes these glands produce way too much glandular goo or the ducts get clogged up with goo causing the glandular sacs to swell. This is all very irritating to the pet so they scoot along the ground or carpet and are generally irritated back there. Very distracting.

Goo is not a medical term. So sue me.

Why anal glands sometimes produce too much goo is not really known...but here's what we do know: This is mainly a problem with smaller breeds of dogs, especially overweight ones lacking good muscle tone. 

The glands can be overactive due to infection, or they can become infected because they're overactive...but 

The most accepted theory is that the glands are overactive and the secretions too thick because of allergies...especially food allergies.

Here's what we can do about it:

Usually we just express the glands as needed. This means we squeeze the crud out gently with our fingers. I recommend gloves. Once or twice monthly for those dogs that need this. It's easy to tell when they need it...they start scooting across the floor. If you or your groomer have trouble getting the goo/crud out with external squeezing, you may need a vet to do it for you. He or she will use a lubed and gloved finger inside the rectum and will be able to do a better job, but it takes experience not to cause damage to the tender rectal tissue or to the inflammed anal gland tissue, so don't try this yourself.

If the goo that comes out looks like it has some pus in it we'll treat with antibiotics
This treatment usually works, but often only for a while...and that's because the infection wasn't the original cause of the dog producing so much goo. It was an additional problem. 

Because this trouble is often associated with allergies...either inhalant allergies to pollens, molds, and dust mites, or to food allergies...we often have to treat the allergy to solve the problem:

1. Get effective flea control...the #1 allergen is a flea. Fleas on a sensitive dog or cat are like lice or poison ivy to a human. Very allergenic to the skin and underlying glands. Go to our section on Fleas.

2. Consider a special diet to test if a food allergy is involved. For more information go to our section on Foods , Special Diets & Supplements.

3. Try benadryl or other antihistimines to see if we luck out and it helps.

4. Consider a prednisone (steroid) trial. Usually very helpful and unlikedly to cause any serious side effects if not used for more than 4 weeks. 
(See our section on Comments and Warnings about Medications)

5. Consider trying omega 3 fatty acids supplements since they change the nature of the goo...making it less thick and tacky. This treatment is more preventive than cure. 

If all the above isn't helping much:

Put on a higher fiber diet on the theory that more and larger stools will some how cause more muscular eliminations and there-by help empty out the glands on a more regular basis. I don't have a lot of faith in this theory, but it certainly makes sense to put overweight pets on lower calorie, higher fiber diets to get their weight down. That takes time but it will help.

Consider a procedure done under anesthesia where we put a catheter (little tube) up the anal gland duct and flush out the gland and then inject a combination of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and DMSO directly into the gland. This often works well, but it often doesn't work for long. 

And finally, we can surgically remove the anal glands...which you might think simple enough...but what a high risk place for surgery, so we try to avoid this. You see, the anus is full of, well, bacteria, so post op infections can be a big problem. And the anus area doesn't hold sutures well...it's spongy and expandible, and tears easily. 

And the animal doesn't like having sutures in this area. But all these problems are minor compared to the problem of getting the glands out without harming the tiny nerves that control the anal sphincter. This is such a high risk that I like to recommend these pets to a specialist so that if anything goes wrong you can blame him (or her).


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## Alvar's Mom (Mar 5, 2007)

QUOTE (TotallyTotoNTuffy @ Apr 6 2009, 10:02 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=758494


> Did your vet give you the ointment to take home as well? Tuffy hadn't been scooting either, it just came on very suddenly. Fortunately it hasn't occurred again. I hope Alvar's infection clears up quickly.[/B]


No, they didn't. They injected the ointment the one time and said that should clear everything up. Since the discharge came back again they wanted to switch to the oral antibiotic.

I'm so glad Tuffy's OK! 

QUOTE (TotallyTotoNTuffy @ Apr 6 2009, 10:10 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=758500


> I also wanted to mention that my vet said that sometimes allergies can be related to anal gland problems. Also adding a little fiber to Alvar's diet might help, perhaps a teaspoon of canned pumpkin (no sugar) to his meals.
> 
> This is an excerpt from http://animalpetdoctor.homestead.com/bacterialskin.html[/B]


Thank you!!!!! :grouphug: I'll pick up some pumpkin tomorrow! I have a follow-up appointment this Saturday (assuming all goes well in the next few days and we don't need to go in earlier) so I'll print this out and bring it with me. My allergies just started acting up so maybe we're allergic to the same airborne stuff :huh: . I haven't seen any fleas or bites on him, but I'll look him over again. He's been eating Dr Harvey's (we rotate between fish, lamb and beef) for about 8 months now and he always has an Omega 3 supplement with his meals and he's definitely not overweight. Hmmmmm.


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## bonniesmom (Jun 2, 2008)

Aw, poor Alvar! :wub: That must be a real pain in the ... butt! Hope you get it cleared up soon.


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## elizabeth (Oct 31, 2008)

Bella is only 8 months and I am already "expressing" her anal glands 1x weekly. Our "Annie" had CONSTANT infections in the anals so I had the vet teach me how to express them without doing damage. It had sure decreased the visits to the vet. I do it at the sink and then wash her little butt off. 
So sorry you are struggling with this....hope it all "works" its way out!!!!


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## theboyz (Jan 10, 2007)

Our old Jack has always had horrible problems with his anal glands also. Same thing...Vet has to wash them out and fill with medication.
When we changed food because of Chase having colitis Jack's anal glads got better! Has not had a problem since. Yeaaaaaa!!
Food allergy must play a huge part in this problem.


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## ckim111 (Dec 17, 2008)

sorry alvar is going through all of this. hoping for a speedy recovery!


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## LitGal (May 15, 2007)

Aww, I'm sorry you and Alvar are going through this. I hope it clears up quickly and doesn't come back. Alvar's coat is too beautiful to be coverd in yellow slime!


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## Alvar's Mom (Mar 5, 2007)

Thanks everyone! I think the discharge is less today than yesterday...not by much though, he just had his 3rd dose of the antibiotics, hopefully tomorrow will be much better.

QUOTE (LitGal @ Apr 7 2009, 07:13 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=758897


> Alvar's coat is too beautiful to be coverd in yellow slime![/B]


haha, yeah, I tried tying it up out of the way...like curtains...he was not so pleased with that though, looked very embarrassed :blush:


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