Scooting

[Cavvygirl]

Rio does this alot and this morning he scooted the entire length of my utility room!

He is completely up to date with worming treatment and I asked my groomer how to see if his anal glands needed emptying and she said that if I gently felt either side of his bottom then there would be a lump either side if they needed emptying but there isn't!!!

He tucks his tail under himself quite alot and always when he is sat down his tail is underneath him! He does this when he growls at Ashton if he comes near his food.

He is quite nervous sometimes and he can cower and tuck his tail underneath him when you put his lead on etc its quite upsetting but I put it down to nerves and we have been working on it...does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks

[Cathy Moon]

I would take him to the vet. It sounds like he has something that needs attention.

[Yvonne117]

I have to have Alfies anal glands emptied once every couple of months and he starts to scoot all along the concrete in the garden when its due. Even when they are full up we cant feel anything, just the scooting and he will try and lick his rear a lot. He has us in hysterics when he starts to scoot as he looks at you and can go round and round in a circle. We have to be very watchfull as last time we left it for about 12 weeks and they were very full and painful for him and we are worried they may become impacted. The vet has now prescribed granules to bulk up his poo as she says this may help.

[Cavvygirl]

I would take him to the vet. It sounds like he has something that needs attention.

For the scooting?

[Davy]

If the anal glands get impacted they can become infected, which is why they need to be kept a check on.

My brothers Cocker kept having the same problems with scooting, in her case the anal glands had filled up with air and where stopping her going to the toilet.
Once hers were empty, natural took it course and she empty her bowels, unfortunately she was still in the vets waiting room at the time.

This video gives some good info, shame they are using a black dog as its hard to see the area she is talking about.

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/8453_dog-grooming-basics-glands.htm

[Cavvygirl]

Thanks. He goes regularly to the toilet and is fine apart from the scooting but I will get him checked over on Monday. The other issue is just behaviour which is no problem to correct. I was just confused as the groomer gave me a bit of a lecture about how alot of people get the glands emptied when they don't need to!

[Cavvygirl]

Well he had his glands emptied today by a really good vet who explained it all to me (i even got a diagram!), he said that its really unusual to get them like that at only 5 months old and that fingers crossed it would be a one off but his experience is that often dogs who have this problem always tend to suffer with it!