anal gland infection/removal - Page 1

Our 4 year old intact male GSD has been having problems with his anal glands.   We decided, after having to have the glands expressed and putting him on oral antibiotics again,  that it was time to have the glands removed.   The vet didn't infuse the glands with panalog this time, as he normally would, so that surgery could be performed in two weeks' time.  He'd taken his last antibiotics the previous day and, early on the morning of his scheduled surgery, the problem gland ruptured.   We noticed a small hole in the skin over the gland.  We took him in and the vet expressed the glands, flushed them and then packed them with panalog this time and gave us a different antibiotic.  Now his surgery can't be done until early August. 
What I don't understand is how the gland could rupture if he was on antibiotics.  I've seen photos online of an anal gland rupture from an abcess and his looks nothing like that (thank goodness).    Is it possible the antibiotics weren't working?... or more likely that the gland filled up again that quickly and couldn't express itself through the normal duct and ruptured?
This is all very frustrating because we've been trying to do the right thing, watching for any signs of his glands giving him problems and taking him to the vet right away.   We never even consider that this could/might happen right after having him treated...

Has anyone's dog had this surgery after a gland ruptured?  Did that make surgery more difficult?
Thanks for any input...

been there done this with two male gsd's.   the first one was many years ago, repeated anal gland infections, would not clear up, resulted in pf's, (perianal fistula's, which is what the small pinhole(s) you are seeing are)  finally the gland blew, (most likely for the same reason yours did, gland refilled no way to express had to express somehow) ..

It's better that it blew "out" vs "in".  I had the dogs glands removed right after they blew, surgeon didn't want to put it off, He was 7 years old, never had a reoccurance of pf's .  Lived until almost 14 :))

My second male also blew out a gland from an infection.  This was about 6 years ago, (he was also 7) I decided to go the cyclosporine route, which cleared up the fistula's (which were a result of the gland blowing) had a few re occurances nothing significant, treated with desitin which cleared them up.  I would not have hesitated to have his glands removed had the cyclo not worked.

Both dogs did not appear to have blown glands, as you typically see, it was basically just the fistula's which are tracts that were formed to release the glands since they wouldn't express on their own..

Good luck, I had no problems with removal of glands, hope yours is successfull.

When you say your vet did the surgery "right after they blew" I assume that happened within days? hours?
Our vet doesn't want to remove the glands until the infection / inflammation is gone and the fistula healed because (if I understood him correctly) the borders of the glands are more difficult to see when infected and if any part is left inside more problems can result. 
Glad your dog's surgery worked so well.  Hopefully, our boy's will be fine too.
Thanks so much for your response... most appreciated.

within a week,  keep in mind this was probably gosh, back in 94-95,,I was very lucky to have found a board certified surgeon at that time, who was well versed in fistula's/anal gland removal.  

Today, most vets/surgeons are doing exactly what yours IS doing, waiting to clear things up before such a radical /invasive procedure, IF they even go that route..I was finding with my 2nd male, which was around 6 years ago, the surgeons tended to not even want to do surgery, preferring to go another route first.  Which I mentioned I tried, was happy with the results , no problem.  However, I also mentioned, I would have had no problem if the cyclo didn't work, to have gone for surgery to remove those glands as well.

Again, good luck to you all.

I KNOW OF A DOG WHO DIED AFTER THIS PROCEDURE ..GOOD LUCK