I didn't want to post this in the health board since it's about a dog, but I guess it could happen to cats, so please move if needed!
OK, I'm researching this on behalf of my mom's good friend, Joy. She has a male English Setter, Wilson, who's about 5 or 6 years old (he was a rescue). A little while back, her groomer noticed his anal glands needed to be expressed and Joy had noticed that Wilson had been licking his bum more than "normal" so the groomer seemed to have found the problem... well the groomer and the vet have expressed them a few times and it seems like almost a chronic problem for him... is the vet missing something that could be causing the frequent blockage? Is there anything Joy can do or give to Wilson to help alleviate the problem so she doesn't have to keep taking him to have the glands expressed? Right now, Joy is on unemployment after being unfairly fired from her job (long story, she's fighting it) so having to go to the groomer/vet often just to have this done isn't really an option... oh and she does keep him cut pretty short, so he doesn't have like a problem with matted hair anywhere on him... he's also not having any problems doing his business... I believe she feeds him a dry diet but I don't know what brand of food
Any advice would be great! Or if anyone could point me somewhere that I could get some help on the issue, that'd be awesome too... I used to work at a vet and understand like what expressing the glands is and the general concept of how, but I never had to do it myself and don't feel comfortable trying it without professional supervision/guidance... thanks in advance!
OK, I'm researching this on behalf of my mom's good friend, Joy. She has a male English Setter, Wilson, who's about 5 or 6 years old (he was a rescue). A little while back, her groomer noticed his anal glands needed to be expressed and Joy had noticed that Wilson had been licking his bum more than "normal" so the groomer seemed to have found the problem... well the groomer and the vet have expressed them a few times and it seems like almost a chronic problem for him... is the vet missing something that could be causing the frequent blockage? Is there anything Joy can do or give to Wilson to help alleviate the problem so she doesn't have to keep taking him to have the glands expressed? Right now, Joy is on unemployment after being unfairly fired from her job (long story, she's fighting it) so having to go to the groomer/vet often just to have this done isn't really an option... oh and she does keep him cut pretty short, so he doesn't have like a problem with matted hair anywhere on him... he's also not having any problems doing his business... I believe she feeds him a dry diet but I don't know what brand of food
Any advice would be great! Or if anyone could point me somewhere that I could get some help on the issue, that'd be awesome too... I used to work at a vet and understand like what expressing the glands is and the general concept of how, but I never had to do it myself and don't feel comfortable trying it without professional supervision/guidance... thanks in advance!