Holy Potatoes with these anal glands

[Pug Leroux]

Does every pug release their glands randomly while they are sleeping in your lap? Julian has defiled numerous pairs of pants and other items, simply by sitting there and releasing his glands. The other day, we were sitting in Sunday morning service, and the rank smell of anal glands almost knocked me over. He must have done it on my skirt at some point, and I never realized it. Had to sit there smelling it for almost 2 hours, hoping no one else would notice.

Coupled with this nastiness is his enjoyment of licking up the products of his glands. Then his little face AND rear, as well as our clothing/furniture, smell wretched and befouled.

I do my golden's glands manually because they need to be done every few weeks. It's no problem, I don't mind doing it. But I don't think Jules will let me do it, and even if he did, he's so tiny. I'm afraid of hurting him. Does anyone do their pug's glands themselves, and if so, how? I need to get some control of this disgusting problem! Any ideas on how I could maybe feed him differently so that his stool does the job for him? His 'output' is always solid, so I don't know what the problem is.

Thanks!!!

[Wally 'n' Leto]

We use pumpkin to increase the bulk of the poop, which is supposed to help.

We do both our guys' glands. Wally is a sneak attacker like Jules, and I've gone to work and then spent an hour wondering what the metallic smell is and where it's coming from (usually my shoulder, he sits there to look out the window). When Leto lets fly, there's nothing to do but get out the sofa cleaner and the febreze and change all our clothes down to the underwear.

I had the vet show me how to do their glands without hurting them. We find it helps if there are 2 of us, one to hold their body still and the other to do the dirty work. We have also found that gently lifting their back legs off the ground and pulling the tail straight up or even over their back helps a bit to do it without having to dig too hard, because then they can't tuck their butts in and make the necessary area of anatomy disappear.

[Lu Ci and Ri Ki]

Try reading this: Anal Gland Thesis it's pretty descriptive and an infamous post here at PV.

[Hellas]

Winston does the same thing. I don't know how many pairs of freshly washed pants have had to go straight to the hamper. We feed him an all raw diet and he has very firm stools, so I don't know what more we could do. He's never had a problem with his glands.

[shaynapug]

Try using psyllium husks.....about 1/4 teaspoon each meal.

[Wally 'n' Leto]

Try using psyllium husks.....about 1/4 teaspoon each meal.

Adding that to the shopping list!!

[Heike]

Try using psyllium husks.....about 1/4 teaspoon each meal.

one of our vets told me that too. been doing it for about 2 weeks now

[Hellas]

Adding that to the shopping list!!

Me too. What a relief it would be to not to have to worry about stinky surprises.

[sugarskullz]

is it ok for puppies to get 1/4 tsp, 3 times a day?

[Gizmodo]

Gizmo does this, too! He'll be sitting on my lap, sleeping or relaxing, and all of the sudden, I get a big whiff of funk. Gah! It's so stinky! Then he wants to pop up, turn around, and lick all over what he was sitting on.

I'm going to try the pumpkin to see if that changes the situation. How much do you give them? I don't want to try expressing the glands. I asked my vet about how often they need to be done, and she said she does not do them unless the dog is indicating it's uncomfortable (butt scooting, licking, etc.), which Gizmo doesn't do. She said she finds that they seem to fill up more and have more problems if you manually express them. Has anyone heard anything like that before?