Anal Gland Troubles

Q: Our 1 year old Frenchie girl is routinely dragging her rump, has that anal gland smell and chases her "tail". I expressed about one ml. of gland fluid per side that was watery, cream coloured. Is this abnormal to have this happening so often. Her stools are well formed, no diarrhea. Thank you for a reply

A: Anal glands are one of those problems that really doesn't have clear patterns from dog to dog. The description of the excretion of her anal glands sounds okay, the volume for a typical Frenchy could be low indicating incomplete removal. Normally what is supposed to happen is emptying of small but regular amounts of the discharge with each bowel movement. I believe that since we interrupt the normal pattens of elimination by housebreaking the dog we interfere with the normal emptying. Some times increasing the fiber content in the diet can create bulkier stools helping ti improve emptying. You can acc 2-3 tbsp of high fiber cereal to her regular food and sometimes that helps. It is important to remember that periodic "scooting" is the dogs way of expressing excess material from the glands and is normal. Persistent "scooting" for multiple days is a sign that expressing her glands is necessary. I have one dog of my own that does best with expression over a couple days and that lets her go a month or two.