Friends I Need Advice and Encouragement - Page 2

Hi Ruger, glad to see you back!  Sorry to hear about Prince!
You mention Prince always had a dirty butt, did he drag it on the floor?  That is a sign of blocked anal glands.
I've never had a dog with AF, however, I did have one that was prone to blocked anal glands, and changing the diet did help that.  



 Wishing you all the best!

RUGER1 ,STOP ANTIBIOTICS, SWITCH FOOD TO ORIJEN 6 FISH . I HAD THIS HAPPEN TO A FRIEND,AND AFTER A YEAR OF PILLS,WIPES, ETC I TOLD HIM IS DIET,AND LIKE 3 WEEKS LATER,IT WAS GONE...LET ME KNOW..GOOD LUCK

Deanna, so good to see you back. Sorry you are going through this with Prince.  Good luck dealing with this condition with your boy, sounds like you are getting good advice and support.

Hi, Deanna!  Sorry to hear you're going through this with Prince but it's probably a good thing that you caught it early.  I've had two dogs with PF so I have lots experience with it.  In my experience, there are two distinct phases in dealing with the condition, fighting it when and if he has a flare up and managing it the rest of the time.  As mentioned above, the only thing I found effective at fighting the condition has been suppression of the immune system using cyclosporin.  Fortunately, there is now a veterinary form of this drug so, while not cheap, it is somewhat less expensive than the human version of the drug that I had to use with my first dog.  Right now, it sounds like you're in the management phase and I would strongly encourage you to consider adding a topical tacrolimus compound (Protopic) to your arsenal to help keep the PF's under control.  Now that you know he has the condition, it is important to never become complacent about it and think you have it beat; it is much easier and cheaper to keep it under control than it is to fight it.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Sorry to hear about Prince.  Hope treatment goes well for him.

I never tried the Protopic for my PF dog, but I do know others who have had some good success with it. My dog's were relatively minor and I think I caught them early on due to his constantly licking the area. The Desitin seemed to keep them under control; zinc oxide helps some dogs, but not all.

Sorry about your boys diagnosis. I hope all goes well with treatment. I will agree with Abby Normal as a breeder friend of mines stud dog had it and it was treated the same way as Abby described. It was managed rather than cured. Unfortunally in her case it was genetic and several of the offspring developed it and it continues in the line as well. I wish you all the best with him.

Deanna, A friend had a male who had this, but it showed up after an impacted anal gland that he had surgery on. Maybe it was there and starting due to the other issue. Perhaps that is what is going on with your dog as someone suggested the vet check for. That dog was older, 6 or 8, not 2. Good luck.

Hi Deanna, wishing you and Prince all the best, good luck.

Ibrahim

The bitch I had with a problem ended up having the problem most of her life, at that time I did NOT feed a raw diet which I think helps.  In this bitches case the condition started out with IMPACTED ANAL GLANDS and at one point those tracts were all around her anus;  really tender and really a stincky mess.  I had her glands expressed by my vet at the time and he mentioned removing the anal glands which CAN create another issue, incontinence, which I did not want so opted NOT to remove the glands.  The treatment was oral antibiotics when the conditon was out of control or open and draining; the rest of the time I had the glands expressed about once per week and then flushed with I believe it was nolvasan solution that did the most good.  Then packed with antibiotic ointment of zinc oxcide and some other stuff, I will try to remember what stuff to keep it draining and medicated. 

When she died at almost 13 the conditon was totally under control, all was healed up around the area; but I had to keep expressing those glands for the rest of her life which was done about every 2-4 weeks, regularly and that kept everything cleaned out and healed up.  So it may not be as bad as you think and as Hexe stated about I believe it was Hexe, make SURE you get those glands expressed as my girls stuff that came out was the consistency at first like toothpaste.  It became more normal later in consistency but at first very, very thick and nasty stuff came out and had I left it, I am sure the condition would have not been managable.

Best of luck with Prince, the treatments now are much better than they used to be, and I am not sure about the diet info that is out now but allergy COULD not help the situation.  I know he had some food sensitivities early on has that been solved or did you go on a raw diet.  My girls was changed to a mostly raw diet/fresh diet, homecooked and that also seemed to help her as the fiber was definitely better for her;  raw or slightly cooked brocalli, and carrots, other raw vegi's but cooked chicken breast and for the last 8 years of her life, Solid Gold (the green bag) but only probably 1 cup per day or so, mostly human foods and mostly raw except for the chicken breast which was cooked.  It worked for her.  Best of luck  Nan

Even if it is NOT the anal glands themselves, make sure you have them expressed several times as you want to be sure that there is nothing like a foreign object up there to help create this problem;  things can get up there when they scoot their rears and you mentioned he has always had a problem from a young puppy, it can even be hair or WHIP WORM around the area, they imbed in the skin and do not leave.  Ugh, but it happens, this same vet almost had to remove some area on one dog to get rid of the whip worms.  Ugh.  Nan