Food and Poop - Anal Sacs / glands problem!

Apr 29 2011 - Updates : Orijen Fish + Wellness Simple Food Solutions Lamb Rice.

Jan 8 2011 - Food and Poop - Anal Sacs / glands problem! Pt II.

2012 - Please note we have since change Toto's kibble to ADULT kibbles, read 'Kibbles and Treats' for more updates.

2013 AUGUST 08 - We decide to CONVERT TOto to RAW DIET, and as of now for about 3 months, we hasn't had any ANAL GLAND leaking issue (touchwood).

For the past 2 months, Toto keep having this anal sacs problem and his anal area smell BAD; combination of poopy + fishy smell! And he keep licking his anal area which made his tongue smelly too! And so we know when your dog chases his tail or licking his ass, it is NOT a good sign or remotely FUNNY, it meant he has a problem! And the next stage would be the dog scooting his butt on the ground DRAGGING it across the floor, and the next thing you know he would have a IMPACT anal gland, and that is a SERIOUS problem!

Wikipedia

In dogs, these glands are occasionally referred to as "scent glands", because they enable the animals to mark their territory and identify other dogs. The glands can spontaneously empty, especially under times of stress, and create a very sudden unpleasant change in the odor of the dog. Dog feces are normally firm, and the anal glands usually empty when the dog defecates, lubricating the anal opening in the process. When the dog's stools are soft they may not exert enough pressure on the glands, which then may fail to empty. This may cause discomfort as the full anal gland pushes on the anus. The glands can be emptied by the dog's keeper, or more typically by a groomer or veterinarian, by squeezing the gland so the contents are released through the small openings on either side of the anus. Discomfort is evidenced by the dog dragging its posterior on the ground, licking or biting at the anus, sitting uncomfortably, having difficulty sitting or standing, or chasing its tail.

We research online and everywhere online mention that there are only 2 way to solve this problem; manually using our hand to help express the anal sac OR change his diet so that his POOP is harder and firmer.

But the problem with helping Toto release the anal sacs will not solve the underlying issue and in the long run, he will just DEPEND on us to help with it and that isn't easy; hahaha and disgusting. Hubby tried it once and regretted, hahahaha ...

The Second way is to find ways to harden his POOP! Alot information online have mentioned to increase his fibre intake. But how?

At that point of time, Toto's apetite has DECLINE and we were worried, so we bought Flaxseed meal to increase his fibre intake and it also help to increase his appetite to 2 cups per day (1 in the morning, 1 in the evening). His poop is still soft and slimy and he POOP alot, like 5-6x a day!

We were so lost!

We almost want to change his brand of kibbles as advised online!!

And finally hubby found the answer, we have been OVERFEEDING Toto!! After his neutering Operation, by right we should have convert him to adult food or if not decrease his food intake to 'ADULT' portion! Actually,Toto did it automatically but being 'ignorant' and 'kiasee'(scare to die) adult, we still buy flaxseed to indulge him to eat MORE!

Overfeeding means undigested food = soft poop = impacted anal gland!

And our ignorance caused TOto to have a smelly, FAT butt!

Hahaha he grew so fast, we were so worried because we were aiming for him to be at 16-17lb @ adult weight! And at 7mths he already is at 17lbs!!! We were so WORRIED hahaha, not forgetting his small potbelly which make him look so clumsy cute! And when in dog park he RAN lesser and so much slower too!

But then after the 'Chewed wall episode', the 'fasting' make everything back in order again. He is now at about 16lbs, and feeding so much lesser so we can give him more treats!

We are feeding Toto with One cup of Hundchen Flocken Puppy (lamb) and hopefully will be converting him to adult soon! We also added like a 1/8 cup Pinnacle Holistic Trout & Sweet Potato Dry Formula into his kibbles, we wanted some fish in him, hahaha! We got that Packet free from Pet Supplies Plus when Toto is a 4mth old puppy, he is so cute, the friendly staff gave him a 'FREE' packet!! Hahahaha ~ After he has done with that we be adding his 'fish' supplies from Orijen 6 fish from dog!

Toto eat twice a day, half cup each + 2 teasp of Flaxseed!

When we overfeed Toto, he is so disinterested in his meal, NOW he cannot wait for feeding time! If I am late in the morning, he will sit by his feeding area to WHINE!

One online forummer even 'Fast' her dogs for 24hrs once a month so that her dog has SUPER hard poop! Well whatever you do, I guess this isn't a one solution problem, because there are 1001 solutions online, choose one that is based on you dog's need, and we are lucky that we found that solution!

Please NOTE everything written here is based on personal experience!

Chewed Wall and vomitted!

A few days ago Toto chewed WALL again! So we are very sure he chewed wall not because he is bored because we are right inside the bedroom sleeping! He is just being naughty and angry that we didn't want to wake up! This time round he has a very bad reaction, and vomitted on our bedsheet, and vomitted again and again in the Patio. He ended up vomitting some yellowish bile ...

We were so worried, he refused food and drink; and was so lethargic for the whole day! Even when he is resting in the crate, I have to keep moving him ot make sure he is still breathing and moving!! I hand fed him a biscuit in the evening, and that open up his apetite so he had some kibbles and water in his crate. When hubby came back in the evening, he is so much better. He can play abit but we can still see that he isn't as energetic and was wobbly in his jump.

But the good news is HE LOSE weight!! Hahahaha before this we are so worried of his weight because he is reaching 17lbs @7.5months and already has a small round belly! And we noticed that he isn't running as much or as fast! Gosh, he has become a ALL AMERICAN over-weight dog!

Anyway he become his normal self the next morning eating, drinking and jumping again! He lose almost 2lbs, now weighing a healthy 16lbs! And he can run longer and faster now.

After his neutering Op, we should have lessen his food but we didnt; that is another story altogether. But now we are feeding him about 11/4cup a day.

At the end of the day, he always want to hump and lick a soft toy head, and Hippo is his new love!

He always fall asleep this way!!

Hippo's nose is smelly with Toto's saliva!

But sometime he use Hippo as a pillow ...

Securtiy ALERT!! Security sleeping ON DUTY!

Doing a Zombie Dance in his sleep!?

He look so westie huh!

Looking so intensely being a busybody!

Such a busybody dog!

Neutering Why?

FOr Yanyan or anyone who don't know ...

Actually before coming to USA, I also don't realise that neutering a dog actually does MORE good than not. It sounds cruel but then the 'facts' are we Human wants to live in harmony with our Dogbuddies, so more or less we have to 'sacrifice' them for everyone of us.

Being a 'responsible' dog parents here meant 'Spaying' (for female dogs) or 'Neutering' (for male dogs) when they are about 6months old or older for the BIGGER dogs; because they mature later. But 6months are the 'recommended' age. Best; before the dogs reaches sexual maturity ...

The advantages noted is as far as I can remember :

• Reduce sexual tension thus reduce the chances of your dogs running away because he 'smell' a bitch in heat.

• Reduce Aggression in a dog, VERY IMPORTATNT!

• Prevent territorial urination marking at home or ANYWHERE! This is CRUCIAL to US, haha we don't want him to keep urinating everywhere IN THE HOUSE!

• And then neutering also prevents the embarassing habit of always trying to 'HUMP' other dogs or Humans! (VERY EMBARASSING to the owner, and this habit is the hardest to break!)

• Plus alot of Daycare or Dogs permitted area only allowed Neutered dogs.

From : Y2SPAY.org
WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS TO THE DOG?

There are several health benefits to neutering. One of the most important concerns the prostate gland, which under the influence of testosterone will gradually enlarge over the course of the dog's life. In age, it is likely to become uncomfortable, possibly being large enough to interfere w/defecation. The prostate under the influence of testosterone is also predisposed to infection which is almost impossible to clear up without neutering. Neutering causes the prostate to shrink into insignificance thus preventing both prostatitis as well as the uncomfortable benign hyperplasia (enlargement) that occurs with aging. It is often erroneously held that neutering prevents prostate cancer but this is not true.

Other health benefits of neutering include the prevention of certain types of hernias and tumors of the testicles and anus. Excessive preputial discharge is also reduced by neutering.

WHAT BEHAVIORAL CHANGES CAN BE EXPECTED AFTER NEUTER?

The only behavior changes that are observed after neutering relate to behaviors influenced by male hormones. Playfulness, friendliness, and socialization with humans are not changed. The behaviors that change are far less desirable. The interest in roaming is eliminated in 90 percent of neutered dogs. Aggressive behavior against other male dogs is eliminated in 60 percent of neutered dogs. Urine marking is eliminated in 50 percent of neutered male dogs. Inappropriate mounting is eliminated in 70 percent of neutered dogs.

Of course there are other health benefits, but since the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, there is no choice but to SACRIFICE TOto le. It was a small sacrafice for the WHOLE family, TOto will understand. We will bring him out more often because they aren't any undesirable habit of him that we will be embarassed of! And more people will LUV~ him!

So if we don't intend to breed him, that is a small price to pay for Toto own happiness as well!

PLUS it is in HIS contract clause from his Purchas Contract! Kekeke, yah we have to 'KACHA' him!!
Understand?

AKC certified and Post Op pictures ...

Toto is AKC certified as a pure breed.

This certification is really NO POINT, hahaha. Damn Boliao, but just incase YQ wants to bring TOto for some kinda of compeition!?

Haha, I DOUBT!

Oh and some Before and After pictures of the Wound and Stitches!

Kinda of 'RA' here, so READ ON if you want!

Update on Toto's stitches

Updated a video @ Lewisville Railroad Dog Park on a Sunday!.

Toto's stitches is healing very well! It was so much easier than I thought it would be! We OVER READ ourselves online, and there is TOO MUCH HORROR stories!! Hahaha, it was easy peasy!

I guess there isn't any difficult part about the whole ordeal. The first and second day, Toto is very drowsy but on the 2nd day he got better and can feed by himself in the evening. He didn't eat on the first day of Operation, he didn't even drink. But we kept wetting his mouth with water. By the fourth day, his wound is already caking very nicely and the swelling has gone off. And on the 5th day we brought him down for his evening walk. On Sunday, 7th day, we already wanted to bring him in to remove the stitches haha ~

Actually by the 3rd day he is already back to SQUARE one being himself. There were some slight licking of his wound but he is not overly OBSESSED with the stitches that is there. He is still very paranoid about that area for the first few days but I guess even if the 'external' wound is recovering, maybe it will still feel BRUISED!

OK, so if anyone is reading about neutering experience, it is not as HORRIBLE as it seems to be! And seriously, TOto only worn the Donut for the first 2 days and ONLY at times when I cannot supervised him; like when I am cooking. And I thought he has to wear it 24-7 for 10 days!! Hahaha ...

Maybe we are just lucky ...
But we are glad!

Toto on his Saturday Evening walk after his Neutering Operation!

Toto and his stitches

He is performing better than we expected.

He is not affected by his wound and stitches much but maybe it is not the 'time' yet. But his wound is healing nicely and drying out already! Usually it is when it start to dry up that is when the itching starts? Hahaha, if not we can return the donut! That piece of JUNK is about USD30plus! WTF, my travel pillow is NOT THAT expensive lor! Really killer, just an extra piece of velcro!? Shitty ...

Anyway his apetite is back to normal, and he can jump and run already! It is easier than I thought!! And I keep thinking the wound would tear or bleed, or it might be infected, or Toto might keep wanting to bite or lick the wound. We allow him to sometime lick lick it but he is usually not affected by it.

Hopefully everything continues to go well, and we can go kia kia le.

Toto sleeping in his usual favourite position with his prisoner of Toys next to it!

Toto still goes to that area to sleep when YQ goes to work, and for the whole of the day he will be damn sleepy and lethargic UNTIL YQ comes back home.

SO ODD ...

He seldom disturbs me to play or entertain him, but there will be the 'Knock, Knock', I want to go patio moment but very little disturbance. But as yet I have to give him more attention because of the wound, once that heal nicely, I will have an even easier job :)

@ 6mths and Neutered

We finally bring him in to Ka cha (Neutering Op), we have prep him by contantly 'counselling' him! Hahaha, but we do not know whether he get it or not!! The photos here will are classified as NSFW (Not suitable for work) and VERY RA!

After the run the night before he was too tired to eat but luckily he still manage to eat some at about 11.55pm!! In the morning, he is waiting for YQ to give him his breakfast. I think Toto must wonder how come we don't give him food and drink for so long!! (Not allow to eat the night before.)

Researching the basic cost ...

We are looking at :

Crates : Getting a IATA approved crate is not cheap, and we couldn't go 'look' for the one we wanted in store, and getting from store is so risky! So far, the cheapest we find online is about USD60.00

Pee pee options : Ugodog is one of our options now but I find it freaking expensive for something made of plastic USD49.90!? I am getting a BBQ mesh and a baking cookie pan to DIY!! But HB wants to pamper his new pup, :(

Food : We decide to feed him DRY and Wet food. In the morning he shall have dry kibbles (Wellness), and in the evening I will cook meat and veg plus rice! We wanted him to be used to dry and wet food so that when he is in boarding when we are not around he can get use to the dry food.

Boarding : Hubby has located a few in THE COLONY area and one with VIEWCAM!! We will go back and visit the area before we leave him there!

Pet pen : We found this IRIS Plastic Exercise / Containment Pet Pen, like alot of 'books' mention we wanted to set up the puppy with success, so we need to create an area whereby he won't be a menace and we won't grow to hate him.

It looks like the basic cost -

Puppy : USD905.00
IATA approved crate : USD60.00
Ugodog Peepee : USD50.00
IRIS Plastic Excercise Pen : USD44.00
One year health plan : USD 350.00 (one year incl. neutering.)

A startup calculation : USD1,409.00