Best food for dogs with anal sac disease

[Lins99]

Hi!

I’m new to this forum and desperate for information. I recently lost Gracie, my 16 year old buff cocker. She never had her anal glands expressed and she never had any problems with them. I now have a 7 year old party cocker and recently had an impacted anal gland the size of a small orange.... I had no ide what it was but now, we are at the vet every month to have them expressed. Her breeder insist on Solid Gold food but I think I need to switch. What is the best high fiber food for them out there? Can expressing them monthly cause issues later....please help!!

 

[Polly]

Hi and welcome. Sorry I don't have any information for you. I have never had a cocker that had anal glad problems. I do home cook for my cockers and have for years. I also give a very high quality kibble sometimes for breakfast. I do know that some dogs may have problems expressing their anal glands and do have to have them expressed either by their vet or groomer.

Do your research online and change foods if you think it would be best. DogFoodAdvisor.com is a great site, they rate all the well known foods.
This is the dry food I am currently using.
Wellness CORE Grain-Free Wild Game Duck, Turkey, Boar & Rabbit Recipe Dry Dog Food

Another option is to feed raw, there are tons on information out there on raw and lots of raw food forums and groups.
Good luck!

 

[manuel]

I feed my cocker spaniel raw chicken. His stool are nice and firm because of the bone. I imagine this is good for his anal glands too. It could be this anal gland problem was just a one time problem that my resolve on it's own.

 

[karenwalksthedogs]

• I have had a dog who had an occasional anal gland issue. He was fed a good food and it was not a common occurrence and only happened a couple of times in his life.

 

[Mel Blacke]

I have had a dog with anal gland problems and had to have them removed. Until then, I never even had heard of ever being an issue. They became infected because of the impaction and they kept getting worse and worse, so surgery was necessary. I tried increasing the fiber and it made no difference that I could tell.

 

[Cockers4Ever]

I also feed raw but have to express the glands every few months. Its really not a big deal to do them yourself externally. ask your vet to show you how. or youtube it......

you can also add fiber to the diet of your choice. things like canned pumpkin are easy to add. apple skins contain alot of fiber as well. I had to add metamucil to a cat's diet due to his ibs so that is another possibility.