Anal Glands Leaking

[Pork n Pickle]

Hi everyone,

We have a 2.5 year old male English bulldog named Pork n' Pickle that we absolutely adore. He is in great overall health (for a bulldog ) but over the last ~year he has been having periodic issues with his anal glands leaking. He doesn't scoot, but will start sniffing the rug or a blanket and the smell becomes very obvious. He's embarrassed by it and we wipe his bottom and he was usually good for a week or so.

We asked our vet and some other bulldog friends for advice and tried adding a scoop of organic pumpkin to his meals (Fromms trout and whitefish dry kibble). That seemed to have positive results for about ~2-months and then the issue reappeared. I took him to the vet this week to have his glands expressed (they said both were backed up) but was curious if anyone here had any suggestions beside a quarterly trip to the vet. I've heard a couple people suggest the supplement glandex, but the trip to the vet would be less expensive (not that that is the deciding factor) and I would think more effective.

Appreciate any suggestions!

 

[Bulldog2001]

Hi everyone,

We have a 2.5 year old male English bulldog named Pork n' Pickle that we absolutely adore. He is in great overall health (for a bulldog ) but over the last ~year he has been having periodic issues with his anal glands leaking. He doesn't scoot, but will start sniffing the rug or a blanket and the smell becomes very obvious. He's embarrassed by it and we wipe his bottom and he was usually good for a week or so.

We asked our vet and some other bulldog friends for advice and tried adding a scoop of organic pumpkin to his meals (Fromms trout and whitefish dry kibble). That seemed to have positive results for about ~2-months and then the issue reappeared. I took him to the vet this week to have his glands expressed (they said both were backed up) but was curious if anyone here had any suggestions beside a quarterly trip to the vet. I've heard a couple people suggest the supplement glandex, but the trip to the vet would be less expensive (not that that is the deciding factor) and I would think more effective.

Appreciate any suggestions!

View attachment 124513

Welcome!

My French Bulldog had the exact same isssue with the glands. It got to the point where I ended up expressing them myself at home every day(gross but better than the vet fees), now if you do express it by the vet, those glands won’t express on their own and will rely on you or the vet.

I also tried Galndex- no success and it actually made my dog leak even more!!


If there is a lot of inflammation in his body it will make the glands swollen and leak and not express the way they should.
Does your dog have any allergies?

Are you open to changing his food to higher quality??

Or even switching him to raw diet?

Diet is usually the cause of these issues.

If your not open to switching foods, try adding a high quality probiotic like Four Leaf Rover brand Protect Probiotics.

The better his poop is the more the glands will express naturally cause it forces the glands to express on their own.

What I did was switch him to raw diet and that alone solved the problem but I added in the Four Leaf Rover Protect probiotics for keeping his gut health good(I was gonna do that no matter what I fed him.)

Since he has been on raw diet, no more issues with the anal glands leaking. He has been on raw diet for 15 months now and still no anal gland issues.

I recommend giving it a try if your open to switching to raw or even a higher quality kibble like Natures Logic or Carna4, Natures Logic is the most affordable of the 2 brands though.
Both these brands have probiotics in it and no synthetic vitamins all whole food based.

That is the worst smell ever when those glands leak.

Keep us updated

 

[1Chumly]

I had changed Buster's food to one with ancient grains, same brand, same protein and his anal glands started leaking. It got to the point I had to put a doggie diaper on him as he was getting it everywhere. Yuck. I changed him back to the previous recipe and the leaking stopped.

 

[2BullyMama]

@Manydogs @oscarmayer -- was it one of you that stated this could have something to do with the wrong food... either the protein or not enough fiber?

@Pork n Pickle - what a great name and an adorable boy! Since you are feeding fromm you can easily switch foods without issue to the belly.... have you looked at trying a different formula of Fromm's? get a small bag and see if it helps

 

[Bulldog2001]

@Manydogs @oscarmayer -- was it one of you that stated this could have something to do with the wrong food... either the protein or not enough fiber?

@Pork n Pickle - what a great name and an adorable boy! Since you are feeding fromm you can easily switch foods without issue to the belly.... have you looked at trying a different formula of Fromm's? get a small bag and see if it helps

@2BullyMama - I was one that mentioned to switch foods as that’s the most common cause and how Rusty’s leaking anal gland issues was fixed.

 

[2BullyMama]

@2BullyMama - I was one that mentioned to switch foods as that’s the most common cause and how Rusty’s leaking anal gland issues was fixed.

Yep it was you in this thread, but I was thinking of a few years ago we had a member with similar issue so I was looking to just have them add more suggestions if they could

Also, something else I remembered -- once you start doing the manual expression too much the glands would then need it don all the time as I think they stop functioning as normal

 

[Bulldog2001]

Yep it was you in this thread, but I was thinking of a few years ago we had a member with similar issue so I was looking to just have them add more suggestions if they could

Also, something else I remembered -- once you start doing the manual expression too much the glands would then need it don all the time as I think they stop functioning as normal

Yes they do eventually rely on manual expression, that’s why I improved Rusty’s thru diet and supplement and no issue since👍

 

[Pork n Pickle]

Welcome!

My French Bulldog had the exact same isssue with the glands. It got to the point where I ended up expressing them myself at home every day(gross but better than the vet fees), now if you do express it by the vet, those glands won’t express on their own and will rely on you or the vet.

I also tried Galndex- no success and it actually made my dog leak even more!!


If there is a lot of inflammation in his body it will make the glands swollen and leak and not express the way they should.
Does your dog have any allergies?

Are you open to changing his food to higher quality??

Or even switching him to raw diet?

Diet is usually the cause of these issues.

If your not open to switching foods, try adding a high quality probiotic like Four Leaf Rover brand Protect Probiotics.

The better his poop is the more the glands will express naturally cause it forces the glands to express on their own.

What I did was switch him to raw diet and that alone solved the problem but I added in the Four Leaf Rover Protect probiotics for keeping his gut health good(I was gonna do that no matter what I fed him.)

Since he has been on raw diet, no more issues with the anal glands leaking. He has been on raw diet for 15 months now and still no anal gland issues.

I recommend giving it a try if your open to switching to raw or even a higher quality kibble like Natures Logic or Carna4, Natures Logic is the most affordable of the 2 brands though.
Both these brands have probiotics in it and no synthetic vitamins all whole food based.

That is the worst smell ever when those glands leak.

Keep us updated

Thank you all!

He was previously on another Fromms recipe (large breed gold) with chicken but was having some skin irritation issues, so we switched him to the fish recipe and the skin issues stopped. He still had the anal gland issues (to the best I can remember) on the old recipe.

We're certainly open to switching brands or formulas to see if that helps. I was under the impression that Fromms was a pretty high quality kibble. The two you mentioned aren't sold locally, so I'd be reliant on having them shipped which isn't my favorite but it's an option. Does anyone have a good link to explaining raw diet options for bulldogs?

 

[benny]

Thank you all!

He was previously on another Fromms recipe (large breed gold) with chicken but was having some skin irritation issues, so we switched him to the fish recipe and the skin issues stopped. He still had the anal gland issues (to the best I can remember) on the old recipe.

We're certainly open to switching brands or formulas to see if that helps. I was under the impression that Fromms was a pretty high quality kibble. The two you mentioned aren't sold locally, so I'd be reliant on having them shipped which isn't my favorite but it's an option. Does anyone have a good link to explaining raw diet options for bulldogs?

His head is beautiful!

Fromms family is a high quality food brand, IMO, but some dogs just don't do well on it (as other foods). My dog's stool was eventually quite soft on Orijen (she started on it just fine) but she has done very well on ProPlan. My dog starved herself instead of eating the Carna4. I had luck with Fromm on my previous bulldog but not this one.

What is the consistency of his stool? Can you try your best to describe it in terms that a child (me 🤣) would understand?

What else are you feeding other than the Fromm? Are you giving any supplements, treats, etc? Can you list them all here? Also how much food are you giving and how much does he weigh.

Other than finding and fixing the cause, I would also get the vet to teach you how to express his glands. It's not difficult and if you feel ok doing it you'll be helping him out tremendously while you nail down the cause.

 

[Cbrugs]

Thank you all!

He was previously on another Fromms recipe (large breed gold) with chicken but was having some skin irritation issues, so we switched him to the fish recipe and the skin issues stopped. He still had the anal gland issues (to the best I can remember) on the old recipe.

We're certainly open to switching brands or formulas to see if that helps. I was under the impression that Fromms was a pretty high quality kibble. The two you mentioned aren't sold locally, so I'd be reliant on having them shipped which isn't my favorite but it's an option. Does anyone have a good link to explaining raw diet options for bulldogs?

Fromm's is a decent kibble but unless they changed their formulas (I haven't fed it in 6 years), they do have potatoes which I like to avoid for yeast issues. Some dogs have an intolerance to chicken and some are fine. I would suggest trying a different brand if you can. Some brands you can look at are Open Farm, Zignature, Earthborn Holistic, First Mate, Stella & Chewy's just to name a few. Have you tried adding in some extra fiber or pure pumpkin puree to help firm up the stool so the glands can try expressing naturally?

And as others have stated, it is common to have to forever express their anal glands once you start.

 

[Pork n Pickle]

His head is beautiful!

Fromms family is a high quality food brand, IMO, but some dogs just don't do well on it (as other foods). My dog's stool was eventually quite soft on Orijen (she started on it just fine) but she has done very well on ProPlan. My dog starved herself instead of eating the Carna4. I had luck with Fromm on my previous bulldog but not this one.

What is the consistency of his stool? Can you try your best to describe it in terms that a child (me 🤣) would understand?

What else are you feeding other than the Fromm? Are you giving any supplements, treats, etc? Can you list them all here? Also how much food are you giving and how much does he weigh.

Other than finding and fixing the cause, I would also get the vet to teach you how to express his glands. It's not difficult and if you feel ok doing it you'll be helping him out tremendously while you nail down the cause.

Thank you! Stool is very firm (especially with a scoop of organic pumpkin in it). He gets 1.5 cups twice a day with a healthy teaspoon of pumpkin in it with each meal. No other regular treats or supplements beside the occasional treat, piece of fruit, steak, etc. He's pretty regular going to the bathroom (1 and 2) twice a day right after each meal.

 

[Pork n Pickle]

Fromm's is a decent kibble but unless they changed their formulas (I haven't fed it in 6 years), they do have potatoes which I like to avoid for yeast issues. Some dogs have an intolerance to chicken and some are fine. I would suggest trying a different brand if you can. Some brands you can look at are Open Farm, Zignature, Earthborn Holistic, First Mate, Stella & Chewy's just to name a few. Have you tried adding in some extra fiber or pure pumpkin puree to help firm up the stool so the glands can try expressing naturally?

And as others have stated, it is common to have to forever express their anal glands once you start.

Thank you. Yes to a scoop of pumpkin, but that didn't seem to solve the issue. Will look into some of the other food brands you mentioned.

 

[Manydogs]

Apples and carrots are fiber,blueberries and strawberries.You could add them to his food. You could use an apple peeler to mix apple, and the carrot in.cut up beans. @Pork n Pickle