Scent Glands

I took my kitty to the Vet this morning. When I returned from vacation I noticed that her bum was red. At first I thought it was blood but upon further inspection I noticed that she had holes around her anus filled with puss. I squoze them like zits and the expelled the puss. When I took her to the vet he told me they were scent glands and that they may occassionaly get clogged. He said this happens more often in dogs than cats, but having raised both, I've never seen or ever heard of this. He squoze the rest of the puss out and gave me some medicine to squeeze into the two holes on each of her scent glands since her behind is so red and irritated. I was just wondering if anyone has ever heard of this happening before to their cats, and I wanted to find out how often or even how this happens. My cat is an indoor cat and I don't know why this would happen to her. I've had her almost 4 years and this hasn't happened before. The vet told me to just squeeze them out myself next time this happens. But what about medication for inflammation? Any suggestions on what to do next time this may happen so I don't have to spend $50.00 at the vet?

It's a real common problem with dogs. Some need to have thier anal glads expressed every month. Cats usually don't have a ongoing problem with thier anal glads. I think I would just keep an eye on her and see if it happens again, it may not. Usually unless they get infected, they don't need any ointement or antibiotic. Once they are expressed, they are fine.

I had a dog whose scent glands were infected so much that we had to have them removed. The smell was ungodly. I've never heard of cats w/ this problem, but maybe you could have your cats anal glands removed as well.

I guess you learn something every day! I have never known about scent glands in the anal area!!aranoid2 That sounds so grose! I'm glad I haven't had to deal with anything like this.

This happened to our Winnie last year. They were not badly infected, the vet just finished cleaning them and put some ointment on, and that was it.

Now we clean them every few weeks using two people and several baby wipes. My husband holds her under his arm like a football and points her butt toward the light. I attack and yank off all the yukkies I can with the baby wipe. Sometimes she is startled enough to clear them herself (I stand to the side for the first few seconds lest I get squirted), and then I just clean up the mess. Other times I have to push and squeeze them myself. It's a gross job, but the stench if we don't do it is terrible, and ends up on the blankets and furniture as well as her butt, so it's worth it.