A Stinky Answer…Anal Sacs
“My doggie smells…I bathe him regularly, but he still smells. What’s wrong with him?” A common question…a stinky answer. First you should request that your veterinarian do a thorough check-up to ensure that there isn’t a health issue which is causing an odor to emit from your pooch. If your pooch has received a “clean bill of health”, then that foul odor you might be noticing may be due to overly full anal sacs.
What are anal sacs? Anal sacs are two hollow structures that serve as a holding place for unpleasant, very distinctly stinky secretions which are excreted by a multitude of anal glands situated into the lining of the anal sacs. Every dog breed has one pair (2 sacs) which are located between the circular anal sphincter at about the 4 and 8 o’clock position of the anus. Many pooches can empty these sacs themselves via a bowel movement. The pressure of a bowel movement may cause these glands to secrete. Sometimes the pooch will drag his/her “hinie” across the grass (and, unfortunately, sometimes across your carpet) in an attempt to squeeze these sacs and empty them. At one time, the secretions from these sacs may have been useful for personal identification and territorial marking…but for the domesticated dog, these sacs no longer serve any useful purpose. In fact, for some pooches, these sacs can be a source of health problems, ie: abscess, impaction, sacculitis, tumors. If you’re a brave pet parent, you can learn to empty these sacs for your pooch while you are bathing him/her (here’s a pointer for you: direct the “hinie” away from you…otherwise you’re going to get a very unpleasant surprise squirted at you). For those of you who are squeamish about the subject/procedure, you can ask your veterinarian or professional groomer to do it. Ideally, the emptying of anal sacs should be done during the bathing process, externally only, by a professional groomer, and only when the sacs are full. Milking these sacs unnecessarily could cause scarring of the tissue so a reputable, experienced, grooming establishment will only attempt to empty them if the sacs can be palpated during the bathing process. Internal expression of sacs should only be done by a veterinarian. Your pooch may “scoot” a little after the bathing/grooming process because he/she may feel a little “itchy”. If the “scooting” continues, you should consult your veterinarian as there may be something more intense going on in/around the anal area. So, that is the answer to that very stinky question. Love, Norma
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You also might want to check his food because the food he is eating might be making him smell. The reason I’m saying this is because one of my customer of two years has a dog that smelled really bad so he did the vet check and everything and the dog was fine so then i told him about the food i was feeding my little ones its from a company called Flint River Ranch its privately owned and the founder is Jim Flint 1993. Their food is all natural with no additivites or by-products or preservatives. He’s dog had now been on FRR for two years and no smell check out my web page at www.newhorizonproducts.com and if you have any question please send me an email. Thanks Sherry R.
Comment by Sherry — July 1, 2007 @ 6:56 pm
Any dog that has a persitent bad smell needs to be checked out by a veterinarian as bad breath or body odour can be a sign of underlying disease. Blocked anal glands do cause a dog to smell. The dog licks around its rear end as the area is itchy and then licks its fur spreading the smell over the coat. Any veterinary nurse or professional groomer should be able to show you how to empty the dogs anal glands, By the way if you would like to read more about dog care, training or the history of the dog you can download a FREE book available on:
www.k9obedience.co.uk
As I say it is free and is an excellent read with tons of information, wonderful colour photo’s and lots of funny stories.
Regards Marion.
Comment by Dog Training — July 6, 2007 @ 2:23 am
Yeah, dog bathing and grooming is really vital because the physical appearance of your dog influences the way he feels and the way we look at him as well. Remember, a clean dog is a happy and healthy dog!Thanks for posting this. It is very informative. I learned a lot from it.
-andrei
dog bathing-4less.com
Comment by dog bathing — September 28, 2007 @ 2:03 am