The rear end rescue blog - an anal gland surgery diary

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 to follow their surgery and – hopeful – recovery.

Molly
Female Ruby, born 30-09-2006. Weight: 8.2 kg/18 lbs.
April 2009: Infection with 10 days of antibiotics + wearing cone. Two vet visits (first and check-up).
Winter 2010: Infection with 10 days of antibiotics + wearing cone. Two vet visits (first and check-up).
April 2011: Infection with 14 days of antibiotics and pain killers. She had also developed a huge abscess, which caused her a lot of pain, until it burst and then healed. Four vet visits (first acute at vet hospital; then check-up the day after at her normal vet, then the abscess burst, and we had to prolong the antibiotics, and finally the last check-up).
September 2011: Ordinary vet check; had her anal glands expressed there, too.
January 2012: Precautionary check-up, to make sure she was fine, before we put her in the dog pension for our vacation. There was a lot to express out, and it had been a matter of days/weeks before another infection had developed. The vet and I finally made the decision for surgery.

Éowyn
Female Blenheim, born 21-10-2008. Weight: 7.2 kg/15.8 lbs.
July 2010: Infection with 10 days of antibiotics + wearing cone. Three vet visits (first and check-up).
October 2011: Ordinary vet check; had her anal glands expressed there, too.
November 2011: Infection with 14 days of antibiotics and pain killers. She had also developed a huge abscess, and as she is a robust little girl, she doesn’t complain, until she is in severe pain. When I took her to the vet hospital (a Sunday noon), he got so concerned that he had to give her anaesthetics without having time to call in a nurse. I brought her home afterwards, and she woke up at home. It was a really horrible experience. Four vet visits (first acute at vet hospital; then check-up the day after at her normal vet, then then another check-up, but she hadn’t healed enough, and we had to prolong the antibiotics, and finally the last check-up).
January 2012: Precautionary check-up, for same reasons as Molly’s. There was some to express, but not as much as Molly. However, after the last experience, the vet told me it would be a recurring problem at least once a year, and we decided to have her operated, too.