anal gland infections

[mmgy]

Four unrelated dogs living in one household all get anal gland infections. Can anyone offer a suggestion as to why this is happening?

[Trinitii]

That does seem odd. Are they all the same breed? The only thing I can think of is I have heard that with some of the new foods that cause smaller stools are also causing more anal gland problems as the stools are not big enough to release the gland. Anal gland problems are the stinkiest!

Trinitii

[Judi W]

I would suspect diet as well.

[Rott-Wiley]

Diet and exercise are the two most common places to look at for anal gland problems. Are all four eating the same thing and what is it?

[mmgy]

Three unrelated labs, and one cocker spaniel. The cocker just entered the family in September, and had been in rescue for a year eating Purina. No infections on record during that time. Two eat Canidae, two eat Canidae Platinum. Common treats are carrots, apples, and oranges.

[Rott-Wiley]

That is weird. I've never known of any anal gland infection to be contagious. I wonder if it's possible that the addition of the cocker also brought something into the household causing the others to contract the infection also?

[samanthac]

I'd look at diet as the suspect. It seems to be what all three have in common. If they are overfeeding it can result in loose or soft formed stools, although I experienced that with my own and I was not overfeeding. If the stools are not hard or large enough then the anal glands will not be expressed naturally as they normally would with a harder stool, thereby leading to impaction and infection. Anal gland infections are not contagious.

It is believed that increased stool volumes keep the glands "expressed" and reduce the likelihood of impaction and subsequent infection. And early studies are showing that there is a correlation between higher increases in anal gland impactions/infections and foods that promote low stool volume. I'll see if my friend who works in R&D can get me a copy of those prelim results.

[mmgy]

The infections go back a year or so. The cocker didn't get them till he moved into the house.

Technically, they're eating two different foods....I know the foods are similar, but Platinum has more fiber, so you would think those two dogs wouldn't have them?

But how did all four dogs get infected? Can you think of any viral association?

If it was the food, don't you think I would have heard of other dogs out there having the same problem?

[Judi W]

Originally posted by mmgy
If it was the food, don't you think I would have heard of other dogs out there having the same problem?

Not necessarily. It is somewhat considered bad form to say anything that might be critical of what is assumed to be a superior food that has many adherants. Also, it is unlikely that it affects all dogs, just happens to get yours.

[Rott-Wiley]

I am inclined to think it is not the food. If they were impacted then maybe I would reconsider but the fact that there is an infection, that is leading me to wonder if somehow they are passing the infection around. I've been around working dogs ever since the mid 60's and I've never heard of them passing an infection around like this but that would be where I would be looking. Have they seen a vet and what has he/she thought?

[mmgy]

The vet is the one that blames the food. He/she says that the infections apparently started not long after they started eating this.

These are not my dogs by the way.

I feel like it's in the environment somewhere. Judi, this is one of my customers, and trust me, if there's a problem I usually hear about it!

[Rott-Wiley]

I don't think the vet is right in their diagnosis here. If it were me, first thing I would do is have the dogs stool checked for parasites. After ruling that out I would check for a bacterial, yeast, or other type of infection in the glands. If all else fails, I would put the dogs on a ststenuc anti-inflammatory to see if that would help.

[samanthac]

Anal gland infections are not contagious. It is not a virulent type infection it is a bacterial type infection, that causes inflammation and irritation. They are caused by impacted anal glands that do not get expressed and instead get infected because the fluid sits in the sacs and festers. They can lead into abcesses and ruptures if not treated.

The reason the glands do not get expressed is that the stools are too soft. Hard stools press against the glands forcing them to secrete the fluid when the dog defecates. When the stools are small or soft, this does not occur and the fluid builds up in the gland and becomes infected and perhaps even abscessed.

Remember, there are two different typed of fiber: dietary fiber and crude fiber. For years the major information available about food fiber was the crude fiber content, that is, the residue remaining after the food sample was treated with the solvent, hot acid and hot alkali. The crude fiber content is usually much smaller than the actual fiber content of the food, averaging one fifth - one third the total value in diets containing a wide variety of foods. Dietary fiber is the term used to describe the total fiber content of the food. Dietary fiber represents the content of substances that cannot be broken down by human digestive enzymes or absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract. Nearly all, dietary fiber content is contributed by the insoluble structural matter of plants.

The amount and characteristics of dietary fiber may be affected by food processing. Refining of grains, for example, removes nearly all of the fiber. Preparing juice fruit or vegetable does likewise. Peeling apples, peaches, potatoes, and the like removes a fiber-rich part of the plant. Most dog foods are very high in crude fiber and very low in dietary fiber.

Even though some of the high end companies scoff at such things, this is exactly why you see many mfgs adding soucres of dietary fiber that act as stool hardeners such as beet pulp, tomato pomace or cellulose to their foods. These plant based dietary fibers add the needed bulk, slightly increase stool volume and harden up the stool so that the glands get expressed properly.

My guess is that these dogs need more dietary fiber! ;)

Hope that helps! :D