Check for Anal Gland issues

Hey All, I have a bit of advice: when you bring your cat in for a check up, ask the vet to check his or her anal glands.

Mazy cat's anal glands were FULL to bursting, and I had no idea. I knew she'd been off, she was playing much less than usual lately and I thought it was her food. She's on a prescription kibble food. The other cats are all on high quality expensive canned food.

I've been researching foods like crazy and stressing over how to get her on a better food without her FLUTD acting up.

Mazy had no symptoms of blocked anal glands. Common symptoms of blocked or full anal glands are:

Scooting, bad odor, licking down there a lot, and constipation often accompanies the problem.

Mazy had none of that. Her only symptom was not wanting to play hardly at all and not seeming as cheerful as usual. Right before her scheduled 6 month check up I did notice a dark spot on her anus, looked like it was poking out, so I had the vet look at it.

As it turned out, Mazy's anal sacs were so full my vet squeezed and squeezed and squeezed and we were all stunned at how much stuff came out.

My poor Brave Lovey cat! She was sore for a day or two afterward. But now she's like....Va Va VOOM! All her normal energy has come back! She's so jolly and playful I get tears in my eyes watching her, I didn't realize how much worry I was carrying about her lack of interest in play, until she started acting normal again.

What with Queen Eva being all better, and Mazy back to her normal self I am doing a lot of smiling the past few days. It feels good.

Lots of Fun and Games here now.

Thanks for pointing this issue out....
My boy Dexter, has had scent sac issues since he was young.
His main symptom, when they become full with an unexpressable thick fluid, is depressed energy and his anal area looks kind of puffy.

There are quite a few members who's kitties have this issue,
including a couple of cats who have had their glands removed -
a complicated surgery, with a difficult recovery.
Dexter sees a vet every few months to have his expressed.

OMG! Claude goes to the vet tomorrow for his annual check-up and shots. I guess I'll be asking the vet about somethings I knew nothing about before now. Just what I need, another thing to worry about.


Robin

Jennie has a real problem with her anal glands and I've even discussed the surgery with my vet, though I don't think it's gotten that far with her. Jennie also has constipation problems which I've tried to control with diet.

Incidentally, since I started Jennie on a regimen of psyllium, she recently has more energy too. I had been attributing it to the feliway diffuser I had plugged in during Queen Eva's ordeal, but that's been unplugged for a few days now and Jennie is still extra lively.

It took time, I had to figure out a dose that works for her without her getting too much fiber, which can backfire into megacolon. So Jennie is getting 1/4 tsp of pure psyllium two days in a row, every four days and this has been so far keeping the anal gland problem under control.

My vet wants me to bring Mazy cat in for a recheck in six weeks to make sure her sacs have not filled up again. If they have, Mazy may need to start the psyllium, too.

I'd be interested in hearing from people who have had this surgery done on their cats.

I have one with unusual symtoms.. Dahlia get s a different haircoat on her back legs when hers need to be cleaned

^Weird. Everyone with dogs and cats needs to know how to check and take care of this. It's really not that messy (on a cat), so people being grossed out by that really shouldn't be.

If you notice that your cat's anal glads look swollen/inflamed at all, try a warm compress on them before trying to express them or let the vet express them.


I cleaned Sho's out yesterday morning, though they weren't even full. He was the only cat up and I heard an odd squawk that woke me up. I'm still not sure if he was trying to use the litter box or just making noise because we (other cats and I) were all in bed - very rarely he'll make noises and meow to get someone up. Either way those were taken care of when I was inspecting him to make sure there was no reason for his weird noise.

And with some cats you really can't tell at all. I now know to always tell a vet specifically to check anal glands, but my girl once had glands starting to be infected. How did we find out? Only when she was knocked out for her dental. During the regular exam, she looked ok to the vet, and she never showed any symptoms at home. While she was under for her dental, I had also asked the vet to double check anal glands, trim her claws, etc (she's terrified at the vet, and wiggles wildly - even the vet needs an assistant to trim those nails!).

Anal gland expression is a pretty low cost procedure at the vet - I think around $15.

Good reminder! I want to ask this from the new vet to learn better technique. I have one scoot/squirt butt who I can fairly easily keep in control myself.

One word of warning though. I once took Ossi in because I thought his were infected. We happened to have locum vet and I already sensed the vet was hesitant. She must have been really rough because the procedure did more harm than good. Ossi had partial incontinence for a week after that! I was really freaked out and now make sure the person really knows what they are doing.

I do not stick anything inside Ossi's butt. I can get him to express just by pressing around his hind area - he hugely dislikes it but is obviously relieved afterwards. His symptoms are very clear - scooting!

I cannot express Dexter's at home...
his fluid is thick so it is a very uncomfortable procedure for him.
It requires 2 determined techs, one to hold him, the other to do the expression.
His anal area is very tender for a couple of day after.

This is all very interesting.

I asked my vet about it when i went in today. He said unless there is "scooting," visible oozing, or the cat is overly attentive to "down there," it is nothing to worry about.

Just one man's opinion, but I've been going to him for 25 years and he's got a BIG practice and is very conscientious. So, I'm not going to worry about it until I have reason to.


Robin

Originally Posted by xocats

His anal area is very tender for a couple of day after.

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He shouldn't be left that sore, if they're needing to use that much force they risk causing some tearing/bruising.

Try using compresses on him. Maybe daily to every other day. It may be possible to loosen the glands up enough so that some expresses naturally when he poops - more so if you could time using the compresses before he goes. If it doesn't help, at least it causes no harm.

But remember...Mazy had NO symptoms. Nothing at all until right before her check up there was that protrusion. But...by the amount in there, she was harboring it for a long time. The only symptom was that she was less active and I attributed that to food.

Cats are just so good at hiding things that are wrong, even the most attentive among us (and I consider myself one of those) can miss things. I hate it that she has been in some discomfort for quite a while and I didn't even know it.

I would not recommend anyone ever try to express a cat's anal glands on your own unless you ahve been trained to do it by your vet. I've never gotten the knack ever, and Mazy is my third cat over the years to have this problem, but I won't, ever, try to do hers, though I do try to do Jennie's, I've been trained but I still don't do it right.

Robin, I hope your vet listened and took your questions seriously and did not say that in a dismissive way. A vet should always be open to a clients concerns and ideas.

I intend to have my vet always check anal glands of all cats at every check up now. NOT express them every time if she doesn't think it's needed, but certainly check them and if they need expressing, do it.

My vet goes into lenghthy explanations for most every question I ask. If he didn't satisfy my questions, I still wouldn't be taking my cats to him. I have high expectations. And I'm quite assertive.

Robin

Originally Posted by bastetservant

And I'm quite assertive.

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Good for you Robin.
Because our cats can't speak for themselves, it is up to us to speak for them.

Originally Posted by bastetservant

My vet goes into lenghthy explanations for most every question I ask. If he didn't satisfy my questions, I still wouldn't be taking my cats to him. I have high expectations. And I'm quite assertive.

Robin

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Me too. When it comes to my cats and their care that is. It took me a long time to find my vet, one who, like yours, listens and explains as long as I need her to.

Originally Posted by bastetservant

I asked my vet about it when i went in today. He said unless there is "scooting," visible oozing, or the cat is overly attentive to "down there," it is nothing to worry about.

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I would think that sounds sensible. From this thread someone could get the idea that one should be ready to express cats' anal glands on regular basis. I think it can be recurrent for some pets but I tend to think most cats don't ever need their glands expressed. And one should always have the first time done/shown by someone who knows what they are doing. It's a delicate area and one can certainly do damage.

Originally Posted by piikki

I would think that sounds sensible. From this thread someone could get the idea that one should be ready to express cats' anal glands on regular basis. I think it can be recurrent for some pets but I tend to think most cats don't ever need their glands expressed. And one should always have the first time done/shown by someone who knows what they are doing. It's a delicate area and one can certainly do damage.

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What I was suggesting is that in a routine check up I now think anal glands should be carefully checked too, along with heart, ears, eyes, teeth, and respiration, etc.

If you read the thread in it's entirety you will see that no one is being an alarmist and no one is suggesting anyone start randomly squeezing cat butts.

In fact I stressed this in a couple of my posts.

Originally Posted by otto

Hey All, I have a bit of advice: when you bring your cat in for a check up, ask the vet to check his or her anal glands.

Mazy cat's anal glands were FULL to bursting, and I had no idea. I knew she'd been off, she was playing much less than usual lately and I thought it was her food.

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Originally Posted by otto

But remember...Mazy had NO symptoms. Nothing at all until right before her check up there was that protrusion. But...by the amount in there, she was harboring it for a long time. The only symptom was that she was less active and I attributed that to food.

Cats are just so good at hiding things that are wrong, even the most attentive among us (and I consider myself one of those) can miss things. I hate it that she has been in some discomfort for quite a while and I didn't even know it.

I would not recommend anyone ever try to express a cat's anal glands on your own unless you ahve been trained to do it by your vet. I've never gotten the knack ever, and Mazy is my third cat over the years to have this problem, but I won't, ever, try to do hers, though I do try to do Jennie's, I've been trained but I still don't do it right.


I intend to have my vet always check anal glands of all cats at every check up now. NOT express them every time if she doesn't think it's needed, but certainly check them and if they need expressing, do it.

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