Question about Anal Glands

My cats are at the vet being boarded until Saturday. While they are there I remembered to ask if the groomer could get rid of the fur mat on one of Spencer's hing legs.

Tonight when I got home from work there was a message from the vet saying that when the groomer shaved Spencer's hiney, that she noticed a sore near his rectum. Apparently he has an infected anal gland.

I gave them permission to treat it of course. My poor boy

Spencer is my first boy kitty and my first experience with anal gland issues. Are anal gland problems found more in male cats than female cats?  I've never had this issue with any of my girls.

That hair mat wasn't just a hair mat; it was matted because of the anal gland secretions, which means it has been like that for several months. He wasn't acting any differently. Didn't have signs of fever or lethargy, and the area was never wet.  So I thought it was just a hair mat that would eventually grow itself out a bit so that I could clip it off, but it never did.  I'm glad that I remember to ask the groomer to have a look at it this time.

So they shaved the area, gave him a 2 week antibiotic injection and he's good to go.

I dont know if its more common in males or females I havent noticed anything like that on either of mine

It could just be a one off rather than a recurring problem.  You could always ask the vet when you pick them up

Our older cat Midori does the typical "scooting" behavior critters with anal gland problem do, but luckilly we've never had an infected gland.

The vet told me today that anal gland issues are not very common in cats; they're more common in dogs.  So she wasn't at all surprised that I had never encounted the problem in a cat before.

They gave him an antibiotic injection. I asked if I should be putting anything on it, and they told me not to; just to leave it open to the air and let it heal on its own.  And I asked if I should be expressing the glands, and they told me I didn't need to.
 

Gosh, suddenly I'm seeing quite a bit of stuff about anal glands here.  Could it be because Callie just had a ruptured anal gland?  I still don't really understand the function of anal glands , don't understand why one would need to express them, etc.  All I know is that it sounds really painful to have one rupture!  Ouch! 

Anyhoo, glad Spencer's was discovered, and treated!  Hopefully it will never happen again.  (hmmm...  wonder what DOES make them go awry)

From everything I've read, anal glands are used for marking territory.  Usually when a cat has a bowel movement, the stool is hard enough to express the anal glands as the stool passes outside the body.  If the stool is too soft, the glands aren't expressed.