Only Only Doodle Kisses Can I Ask this but...

[Heather & Brinkley]

Brinkley's butt smells metallic.  Every once and awhile he'll lick his butt and it'll get kind of wet (obviously not just from licking... something else has to be leaking out).  Could this be his anal glands... and did he express them by licking them hard? How often do I need to get these expressed? He was groomed a little over a month ago and they did it then. 

 

Brinkley and his metallic butt thank you!

[F, Calla & Luca]

It sounds like his anal glands are leaking. It's best to try to get them to express themselves naturally than to have them expressed. That only starts a vicious cycle. Firm stools tend to help empty anal glands.

[Heather & Brinkley]

Okay, thanks!  He doesn't need to poo now... we just got back from a late walk.  It's weird but he's on a schedule (7am & 5pm)... so we'll wait for the morning. :)

 

[April Cliber]

Hmmm....Metallic makes me think of blood.  Have you had a stool sample checked lately?  He may have picked up a parasite at the groomer.  Some parasites will cause trace amounts of blood in the stool.  I'd drop a sample by the vet.  If it is a parasite, it's an easy fix. :o)

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I am wondering if April might be right.  Anal glands are a disgusting fish butt smell that is very potent and offensive.  You can smell it the minute you walk into a room.  Gracie Doodle had sort of "soft serve" poops and would get the fish butt smell every few months.  We added green beans to her diet and we have had perfect firm easy to pick up poops since January and no fish butt!  She eats Acana which is grain free and that and the green beans are the perfect answer for her.  I buy the big bag of frozen cut green beans, add about 1/2 a cup of defrosted (I microwave them not to cook them but to defrost) and I add them to her kibble.  She picks out every green bean first.  She was never interested in her food and would leave it but once we added the green beans she now asks for her meals!  Life is good!!

[Ginny Nightingale]

Pumpkin is good to add to the food also--canned without the pie spices!

[Heather & Brinkley]

Well, this has happened since he was young every few months and brownish clear liquid comes out a little bit (not a lot)... and he was at the vet for updates of shots two weeks ago-- after he was at the groomer-- and he came up clean. hmmmm...  i certainly doesn't smell great but it's not so bad that I can't be in the room with him.

[Heather & Brinkley]

Maybe it is fish smelling though. Gosh, I don't know!  I just know it's gross!

[Heather & Brinkley]

Okay, I'm confirming... more fish, less metallic! Ha ha! Don't ask how I came to this conclusion in ten minutes.

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

My Oliver does the exact same thing when his anal glands need expressing.  Either he does it himself or I have to do it (my vet showed me how to do it).  A good firm poop will express the glads naturally.

 

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

You are very brave Barbara!

[Lynda Kamrath]

Probably his anal glands.  One of my doodles never needs expressing and the other (the ALD) does need some help.  I express his glands into my hand during his baths and it is brownish but not so smelly in the shampoo.  I lather up his butt and then express the glands and he doesn't even suspect a thing.  The vet has expressed both of the dogs.  Just to be safe, however, I would take a stool sample in for testing at the vets.

[DeeDee and Sheila]

I'd go with what April says.  She has dealt w/ so many dogs she has an instinct.  I've always found that getting to a problem right away makes things much easier.  Good luck.