Poor Mika

Poor Mika has a ruptured anal sac. I feel so bad for her. When I got home from work yesterday, she was not her usual self at all - very subdued. When we went for a walk, I noticed that something about her hind end was off - she was walking with her back legs close together and her tail down. She wouldn't come up on the couch with me and preferred to lie behind it.

I was so scared - my last dog (Jackson) was very similar - not his usual peppy self in the morning - by the time I got home from school, he was completely paralyzed from the waist down. Of course my mind went there with Mika.

I checked her all over and couldn't find a problem. We went to bed with the hopes that she had just had a minor injury and would be fine in the morning. She slept under my bed all night, which was odd. In the morning, I could see that the fur on her backside was wet. When I took her out, I tried to get a look when she was pooping and could see blood.

Came back in, and although she fought me I managed to see she had an injury and was bleeding. I called our vet. Luckily they were in as they were delivering some pups.

The vet quickly established that it was a ruptured anal sac. I felt so bad for her, but it was also such a relief to know it was not something more serious.

Poor little girl has slept most of the day. I noticed she was finding den like places (under the desk, behind the couch), so I put her crate in the living room and she has happily been holed up in there most of the day.

The vet said to be sure she has a high fibre diet. Will definitely be following that advice so she hopefully doesn't have to go through this again.

oh poor mika, that must be awful!

Poor girl - hope Mika feels better soon

Poor little thing, hope she gets better soon!

Our Tarmac also had anal gland problems including a rupture as you described.

I am not sure about the vets advice though.

The more fibre I have in my food the more loose the stools.
Our dogs are on a raw diet including raw chicken wings and necks. I don't think that these are classed as high fibre - however it makes great concrete poop. Which in turn pushes out the anal gland contents, meaning that vets emptying them is less often, and impacted glands is also reduced.

I would be careful what you take on board from your vet. Ours is still very wary about raw feeding - but it is the best thing we have ever done for ours.

Suggest that you read up some more on it to make your own mind on what would help the anal sacs.

Cheers

Hard to say on the vet's advice. I know that she has been missing her morning fruit for a week and I can't help but wonder if that contributed to the problem. Every morning she and my son have a little routine where he shares his fruit with her. He's been gone on holidays for a week, so she hasn't been getting her fruit. I don't know if it would happen that fast though.

He also told me that manually expressing them is not a good idea as each time you do it, it causes a bit of scarring, making them more likely to become blocked. He said that since they've convinced most of the groomers to quit doing it, they've seen a lot fewer problems.

Then, I was talking to my friend who takes her dog to the same clinic (different vet). She said that her vet expresses Henry's every time they go in. So - even 2 vets at the same clinic differ.

This was not my regular vet, as it was off-hours. I'll ask her opinion when I see her next.

The good news is that Mika is much more herself this morning. She's playing with her toys and bringing me balls to play fetch. It is so good to see her like this.

Sorry to be graphic, but the firmer you can get his stools the better. Firm stools will help empty the anal glands. If his current food isn't accomplishing that, I would definitely try changing his diet.

Our vet has recommended feeding our dogs cut up raw carrots for extra fiber in their diet.

Some people give their cavs horse bran, but I'm not sure where to buy it in my area.

I've tried giving them plain canned pumpkin as several US members do, but it has the opposite effect (softer stools) on my cavs and doesn't do us any good.