Today’s tale is about an infected anal gland. No not mine.....my little furry kid Fiz. Don’t read if you are offended by rectal inferences.
It’s been quite the day. It began yesterday evening, twenty minutes before our Wednesday evening hook-in when I noticed Fiz, my little red poodle dragging her little butt across the graveled driveway with a degree of urgency not seen before. There is the occasional willnot that refuses to drop and she’s done this to extricate herself from it, although that usually works against the intent, so it’s not a rare thing to see but there wasn’t something about this action that reeked of desperation.
I could see blood as I ran to her side.
I scooped her up in my arms and rushed to the house with the other three racing behind me to see what all the hoopla was about.
I got her inside and lifted her tail to find a bulbous lump, the size of a large grape below her anus and it was oozing what appeared to be a bloody, liquid liver. I didn’t have a clue what this was and not knowing made it scarier. Between all six dogs I’ve had, not one of them have ever had this problem. The first thing that popped into my head was the anal gland but I thought they were inside the anus, not below it. Their diet is such that it’s always been a natural illumination so I've not had to educate myself about the workings of this area and what I do know you could store in the eye of a needle.
There was a large hole in the center of the orb where it ruptured. I’ve seen abscesses, Honey had one once, and instinct told me to drain it so I applied a bit of pressure. It didn’t take much and it oozed more of the same semi-solid and liquid gunk. I was baffled. It didn’t have any smell and one would assume something called anal juice would have an odor.
I did know that it was something that needed to drain so I got out the Epsom salts and warm water to make a quick poultice to draw out the infection or whatever it was and realized I had to get to the shop to open for the hook-in so I wrapped up Fiz and I left the other three pups wondering what the heck was going on and headed for the shop.
I called for Shane’s fiancé Ashley to come down and see Fiz. She’s a dog groomer with two pups of her own and I knew she’d know more about this than me because I was clueless. One look and she called it; an infected anal gland. Her little girl Sadie had this very problem a few months back.
It was an education for me. I thought anal glands were inside but apparently when they become inflamed they show on the outside around the anus which is good because draining externally is a whole lot better than draining inside the rectum which would lead to serious infections. I felt a bit relieved and knew she’d be okay for the night but planned to make an appointment the next morning for a check up.
Her bottom continued to bleed throughout the evening. Not a gush but a slow steady leak. I rinsed her again at the shop with warm Epsom Salts water and several times before bed. She’s a good little patient and there wasn’t a sound out of her. She crawled into Charlene’s hooking bag, maybe needing a place to cocoon and she left a tiny reddish stain on a piece of wool but Charlene wasn’t concerned and dropped this interesting tidbit. Apparently Hydrogen Peroxide removes blood so I dabbed a soaked cotton ball on a stain on my shirt and sure enough the blood disappeared like magic.
I kept a close eye on Fiz throughout the night and by morning her back end had stopped draining. My lips on her ear told me she didn’t have a fever. I handle them a lot and I can tell when there is a temperature change immediately. When she was at the vet’s they put a thermometer in her back end and I assured them she didn’t have a fever and I was right. No fever usually means the lack of infection but they gave her some pain meds and an antibiotic in case things go south. I hate giving a dog antibiotics when there might not be any need but what do you do?
My fur kids aren’t forgotten, floor dogs. They are on my lap and being caressed and explored for ticks and bumps several times a day. Each one gets a massage on their belly, legs, back, head and ears any time they jump on my lap. They moan when I do it so I know my efforts are appreciated. Sometimes I think it might be nice to have that done to me but none of them seem interested. My eyes and hands are constantly on them so I’m surprised I missed this swelling ball of puss. Hopefully it was an isolated incident, a bit of fecal matter probably got in there and caused an uproar. Obviously the week was rolling by too smoothly so something had to happen to shake it up.
So Fiz is resting after a rather annoying day of being pricked and probed. A shot for pain and the vets finger in her bottom told us she was only swelling on the outside and only one gland was affected so she’ll recovered nicely. The Dr. also told me to do warm aqua cleanses with Epsom Salts so we were on the right course. Already the swelling has subsided and the hole is scabbing over. Her body will reabsorb whatever is left and it’ll be forgotten in a few days. Just another day in The Life of I.
I was going to take a picture of Fiz but she gave me a look that said, “Gee mom, do you really have to put my picture all over Facebook? It’s embarrassing! So this is a darling photo of her as a puppy. Small enough to fit in a pee pot. We can't never say "we don't a pot to Fiz in".
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