I have a question about impacted anal glands. My four month old, Leo, had an impacted anal gland about three weeks ago. I've been dealing with soft, smelly stool/diarrhea with him almost from the beginning and then my older kitten, Angus, started dropping soft smelly stool/diarrhea. No parasites, no fever, no infection and eating, drinking and playing normally so I was just keeping an eye on them. I've now figured out that it was the Blue Buffalo dry kitten food (supplementing the wet food they get twice a day) that I'd put Leo on and Angus was eating as well--from what I found through google, other people have had cats and kittens develop soft stool and diarrhea on it. Changing the dry to Nature's Variety Instinct did the trick and Angus' stool is back to normal.
I haven't caught Leo in the box to see if his is firming up yet. After more than a month of chronic soft stool and diarrhea, I'm worried that Leo's anal gland that was impacted before might be so again. No butt-scooting but a little bit of crying although I can't be sure he's in the litter box since he's been in another room when I've heard it. No fever and he's playing, eating and drinking plenty of water so otherwise fine.
Here's my question: if Leo's stool does firm up, could that clear out the anal gland on its own or is there yet another vet visit in his future? Pressing on his abdomen near his butt, one side is squishy and the other side has a firmness that he really didn't like me putting pressure on, but I honestly don't know how to tell if an anal gland is full or not.
I don't want to wait until it's a medical crisis, but if there's a chance it'll resolve itself I think that would be less stressful than going to the vet to have it expressed.
I haven't caught Leo in the box to see if his is firming up yet. After more than a month of chronic soft stool and diarrhea, I'm worried that Leo's anal gland that was impacted before might be so again. No butt-scooting but a little bit of crying although I can't be sure he's in the litter box since he's been in another room when I've heard it. No fever and he's playing, eating and drinking plenty of water so otherwise fine.
Here's my question: if Leo's stool does firm up, could that clear out the anal gland on its own or is there yet another vet visit in his future? Pressing on his abdomen near his butt, one side is squishy and the other side has a firmness that he really didn't like me putting pressure on, but I honestly don't know how to tell if an anal gland is full or not.
I don't want to wait until it's a medical crisis, but if there's a chance it'll resolve itself I think that would be less stressful than going to the vet to have it expressed.
