My dog's anal glands keep filling up. What food or diet helps?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Anal glands are sometimes difficult to determine what causes them to fill up quickly and why they don't empty on their own. What we typically recommend is switching the diet completely to a different brand / formula and adding in supplementation for the anal glands such as Glandex (which can be purchased online). I've known Glandex to reduce the time between anal gland expressions by months and sometimes the diet switch alone makes a big difference. Try this for a few months and if the problem persists after, I would speak with your veterinarian about other options. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hello. I am sorry to hear about Oliver's problem. How quickly the anal sacs refill truly depends on the dog. Some dogs need their anal sacs expressed every month, others once a year. If your dog has been having problems with anal sacs, your vet may want to recheck them a month or two after having them expressed. They can then make a recommendation on how soon to come again based on how full they are at the recheck appointment. often we will recommend a diet higher in fiber for dogs with this problem or add fiber to the diet in the form of canned pumpkin or psyllium. I would ask your vet which they recommend for your dog as every pet is unique and they know your dog best!

I am sorry to hear about Denver's issue! This does seem to happen in some dogs. Possible solutions can include having the anal glands expressed regularly (your vet can even show you how if you are interested https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951501 ). You can also try increasing the fiber in his diet by adding a few teaspoons of canned pumpkin to his food or switching to ahigher fiber diet, which can sometimes bulk up the stool which can help empty the anal sacs during bowel movements. Some people have also found success with the use of the product Glandex https://www.glandex.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjw98rpBRAuEiwALmo-yj7b-VkFPQifuVWoXI7h8nvWL0l-sS1moW4r1rBGNvqvbze8j_bbDBoCGVwQAvD_BwE

I would try feeding him some canned pumpkin with his next meal. This will sometimes help dogs naturally express their anal glands. By tomorrow, if his condition is not improved I would have a veterinarian clean them out. They can become impacted and infected.

You can put a couple tablespoons of canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) into Evie's food to add fiber to her diet and to make things "move along". If this does not help, it could certainly be due to full or impacted anal glands. In this case, your veterinarian will be able to express Evie's anal glands to relieve any discomfort and to assess if there is any infection causing the problem.

Pumpkin is good because it adds fiber to the diet leading to regular defecation, and when a dog has regular stools, that helps express the anal sacs. In fact, pumpkin is recommended to give to dogs when they are constipated. For her digestive health and anal sacs, pumpkin would be the best to give her, but as a treat, you can switch out to another tablespoon of veggies every now and then :-)

You can get some Glandex for Harry, and give that to him. It's a supplement that can help with anal sac issues. You can also add a teaspoon of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) to his food to give him more fiber. This may help with his discomfort. I hope this helps!