The rear end rescue blog - an anal gland surgery diary

Warning – today it is a very long post with explicit photographs below!

Homecoming today! We had prepared for a few days with dogs without bladder and intestine control:
I and the dogs move to the spare bedroom for the first days; if accidents happen only one small bed has to be cleaned.

• Next to the bed I have placed two of their baskets/cradles, if they feel more comfortable there during the night.
• Lots of clean towels and soft cloths to clean them if accidents

...

It went well!
After a quiet night where the hardest thing was to resist their begging after breakfast, we were at the vet at 8.10 a.m. They love going there, so they headed straight for the door, when we were there. No matter how many pains they go through there, they have always loved to go the vet, no matter who it is.
He listened to their hearts and gave them methadone for relaxing. Before the surgery they had blood tests done, a normal procedure at that hospital. You can choose ...

In 14 hours I will be at the vet with the dogs. I am nervous that something will go wrong¸ so I have spoken a LOT of the dogs at work today. Thankfully I have patient colleagues. Normally I abstain from speaking too much about the dogs, but I couldn’t help it today. I bet it will not be easier tomorrow, while I am waiting for news from the vet. I have a meeting at 1 p.m., and normally I would turn off the telephone, but not tomorrow. I will have to wait for news from the vet.

Today ...

It is Saturday, and their operation is three days away. We have to be at their vet Tuesday at 8 a.m., and I am dreading it. Of course both Christian and I are very nervous that something goes wrong; we have heard a few horror stories. We have also got many responses about happy endings, and I pray that this will be the result here, too.
There is snow in the garden; for the first time this winter. Yesterday I had a morning meeting and then went home to work, but the snow was too tempting. ...

Date of surgery: 31st of January 2012.

Besides all the regular checks at the vet, there have been 2-3 severe infections for both Molly and Éowyn. Both had the last time a huge abscess, and both the vets we have had, have recommended surgery. We wanted to wait, mainly because of two worries: What if they become incontinent afterwards? And what if they don’t survive the operation? The vets convinced us that it is a really small risk; and to calm myself down, I decided to write a blog ...