Please help. My little doodle licks her rear non-stop and I feel horrible for her. Could it be her food?

[Stacy Armstrong]

Hi everyone.

 

I am so desperate to figure out what is going on with my 2 year old female australian labradoodle. Here's her history. I am hoping that someone can help me figure this out. I am now thinking it might be a food allergy.

 

4/2011 ~ noticed licking in the anal area. Took her to the vets. She needed her anal glands expressed. They were full. Mild infection. Everything cleared up after about a week.

10/23/2011 ~ noticed licking in the anal area. Took her to the vets. Anal glands were expressed. No infection found.

10/26/2011 ~ still licking her butt Took her back to the vets. Her left anal gland was infected. Gave her a cortizone shot and put her on an antiobiotic.

11/4/2011 ~ still licking her butt Took her back to the vets. Both anal glands were infected. Changed antibiotics and added in predisone b/c the glands were very swollen and not able to drain. They also checked her stool for worms/parasites. Negative. She is also on monthly heartgard.

11/5/2011 ~ switched foods to Fromm 4 Starr. 3 kinds. Duck and Sweet Pot., Salmon a la king and Pork and apples. She loves them! She was on TOTW and would turn her nose up every other day.

11/10/2011 ~ Licking like crazy. Back to the vets. No infection. Still swollen glands so gave her another steroid shot. Continue on cortizone at home and antibiotic. Full rectal exam to check for polyps, obstructions, etc. All clear.

11/15/2011 ~ Licking like crazy. Back to the vets. No infection. No swelling in the glands. Checked for mites. Negative. Added benadryl twice per day. Started dewormer even though negative one week ago.

 

Nothing is working. She licked non-stop for hours yesterday despite trying to play and distract her. It's weird, she will run and play and then stop as if someone poked her butt from out of the blue.

 

I am at my wits end. I feel horrible for her. She circles licking all day long. She will stop dead in her track from playing to lick non-stop. Her bottom looks sore and her fur is all wet and matted from where she licks. She licks all around the area including the base of her tail.

 

Could this be a food allergy since TOTW was grain free and Fromm is not?

 

What am I missing?

 

Please help. Thank you in advance for your help!

Stacy

 

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

Stacy... hugs to you.  I feel your stress, worry, and frustration.  Been there done that. Our Remington started with anal gland problems at 6 months old.  After 2 years of battling the issue and trying EVERYTHING suggested to us to fix the problem we choose to have them removed.  Very difficult decision and very difficult recovery... but in the end WORTH IT ALL!  If you check out my page I have several blog posts that I documented his surgery and recovery so others will know what to expect since their isn't a lot of info out there on it.  Also, please don't hesitate to email me with questions or concerns.  Dealing with Remington's issues was awful and so heartbreaking for us... so I don't want you to feel as if you are alone... Best of luck!

 

Kendra

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I was hoping you would reply, Kendra. I posted links to some of your discussions about Remi below!

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

Stacy and Karen... all I know is we tried EVERYTHING ever suggested to us over a 2 year period and nothing helped... NOTHING!  Our vet told us Remington had so many problems because his glands sat farther back than most so it was very difficult for him to express on his own.  Also, our vet said it is better to remove the glands when they are fairly healthy than to remove them after years of chronic infections because of the build up of scar tissue.  After the surgery was done and we were going through the recovery I said I'll never do this again... now after 6 months I'm so thankful we did it.  Remington is happier and so are we :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is such valuable information for others whose dogs have this problem. I really do believe that in most cases where a dog has this much trouble with anal glands, it's a physiological problem from birth and nothing that can be fixed with food.

[Trudy Harlow]

Stacy, I'm no expert, and the recurring infections in the anal glands is interesting, but the simple answer to your question is yes, allergies can cause severe anal itching.  Ask your vet about giving Claritin or Benedryl to relieve the itching.  Allergies can come from foods beyond grains, of course.  I'd certainly go with grain free, but you might try avoiding chicken and beef, since those are also common allergens.  It looks like the Fromm's may have some chicken in it.  Read ingredients carefully.  Allergies, especially food allergies, are tricky.  They often show up in 2-year-old dogs, and doodles are particularly prone to allergies of all types.  If it continues, you might try an allergy panel, but be prepared.  It's expensive and the food part is not completely reliable.

Hope it's something simpler that your vet can handle, but I'd certainly take your dog off anything with chicken, even poultry, for now and see if it improves.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

One question....how are her stools?  Are they firm enough that the anal glands should be expressing naturally?  One of our Doods had serious anal gland issues (weekly vet visits) until we were able to firm up the stools.  He always licked like crazy when the glands were full.

[Stacy Armstrong]

Thanks for your replies.

 

Jane:  Her stools are relatively firm. Recently, very loose b/c of the medications esp. the antibiotics.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Hmm...I think the loose stools actually complicate things with the anal gland issues.  When the stools are loose often the anal glands don't express naturally which is uncomfortable for the dog.  Then the licking becomes "habitual"...at least that's what happened with Murphy.  Once we solved our food issue and firmed the stools, Murph was still left with an irritated, itchy anal area.  My Vet prescribed a hydrocortisone spray that was very soothing and relieved the itching.  I sprayed his anus and the base of his tail a few times a day and it helped a lot.  Is she only licking her anal area or is she also licking paws, etc? 

[Trudy Harlow]

It will benefit her to add some probiotics or yogurt to her diet to replace the normal flora in her gut that are being killed off by the ABX.  They do make probiotics for dogs, which have a slightly different composition than the human ones.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Stacy,

I responded to your other discussion on this. To reiterate:

If the anal gland issue is the only symptom, this may not be any kind of allergy. Some dogs have this kind of problem and sometimes even need surgery to correct it. For some reason, their glands do not just empty normally with each BM as they should, and become impacted. This can lead to infection, abcess, and even surgery. We've had a doodle here on DK who did have to have surgery.

Although it's common for people to think of food as being to blame for allergies (and everything else) food allergies are relatively rare, accounting for only 10% of all allergy symptoms in dogs.

If your dog is not biting, licking, or scratching herself anywhere but her butt, and does not have fur loss, skin damage, red eyes, ear infections, or any of the other symptoms typically associated with allergies, chances are good she doesn't have them. That's not to say that diet isn't related, though. Additional fiber in her diet might be of some help.

Here are some links to discussions posted by one of our members whose dog had the anal glands removed due to recurrent problems:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/anal-gland-nightmare

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/to-remove-or-not-to-remove

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/questions-for-vet-before-anal

Also, this cannot be due to grains in the Fromm Food, because she had the problem before you switched to the fromm from the TOTW.
If despite this, you do decide to pursue the food allergy issue, be aware that there is no reliable test that can be done to diagnose food allergies in dogs. Blood tests are notoriously unreliable for this type of antigen in dogs, and also cost a fortune. The only way to test for food allergies is to do a 2-3 month elimination diet, and I would not advise that with everything else that you dog is going through.

 Let's think of some ways to add more fiber to her diet.
I'm also curious as to what your vet says about all this. Has he/she mentioned a cause?

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Karen -- What do you think about this idea:  Just thinking out loud here, obviously I'm not expert but thinking what I would think if I were in this situation after reading these posts.

(1)  Like you I'm thinking it's not an allergy issue since the licking is solely in the anal area. 

(2)  Since the latest tests showed no impacted glands and no infection, but the licking continues, get some of the topical spray mentioned by Jane and spray the anal area a few times a day and add a cone to keep from licking.  Possibly it is habitual licking from all the infections.

(3)  Get some additional fiber added to diet to try and firm up stool. 

 

If none of this helps, I think I would be looking for a different vet.  Maybe one that has some experience in the anal glad issues.  Possibly Kendra's vet that did Remington's surgery could suggestion someone in Stacy's area.

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

Below are some links people found for me when I was going through this to find a specialist on anal glands.  This was soooooo HELPFUL!  I contacted all of them through email.  Hope this helps.

Reply by Tina & Clover on April 20, 2011 at 2:55pm

Kendra, I've been doing a little research. With the right surgeon the outcome is very successful and considered a fairly simple procedure. Find a veterinary surgeon that specializes in soft tissue procedures. Here is a link to the American College of Veterinary Surgeons to find one in your area:
http://www.acvs.org/AnimalOwners/FindaSurgeoninYourArea/
Also, Purdue U has a teaching hospital. All surgeries are performed by vets and not students. I believe they have a soft tissue surgeon that specializes in this area, but your vet would have to refer you.

Here is a link to article discussing different techniques used. At the bottom is the final quote from it.
http://www.vetlearn.com/default.aspx?tabid=106&ArticleID=3620

The overall rate of complications for anal sacculectomy is very low; therefore, the prognosis for nonneoplastic anal sac disease following anal sacculectomy is good to excellent.

[Tina & Clover]

Kendra, I've been doing a little research. With the right surgeon the outcome is very successful and considered a fairly simple procedure. Find a veterinary surgeon that specializes in soft tissue procedures. Here is a link to the American College of Veterinary Surgeons to find one in your area:
http://www.acvs.org/AnimalOwners/FindaSurgeoninYourArea/
Also, Purdue U has a teaching hospital. All surgeries are performed by vets and not students. I believe they have a soft tissue surgeon that specializes in this area, but your vet would have to refer you.

Here is a link to article discussing different techniques used. At the bottom is the final quote from it.
http://www.vetlearn.com/default.aspx?tabid=106&ArticleID=3620

The overall rate of complications for anal sacculectomy is very low; therefore, the prognosis for nonneoplastic anal sac disease following anal sacculectomy is good to excellent.