anal glands

I wanted to know how to express my dos anal gland.

[Jaybay]

It's not really a good idea to try to express anal glands without having someone experienced in the technique to show you how it's done.  Either your vet or groomer can help you with that.  In most dogs, the passage of stool keeps the glands expressed and they never have a problem.  In others, they're not so lucky and need help keeping them drained or they'll get an abscess.  Actually, that's what those glands are for: to lubricate stool and make it easier to pass.

There are 2 methods that I'm aware of, and you have to be careful or you'll end up with a face full of really nasty smelly stuff.  :-)

One method is to grab a handful of kleenex, hold up the dog's tail, and place your kleenex-covered fingers and 10:00 and 2:00 relative to the rectum.  You have to push in and fill the pillow-like glands and then squeeze behind them as you pull outward.

The other method definitely requires medical gloves because you use a finger inserted into the rectum to express the glands.  Of course, the dog usually doesn't appreciate this procedure and some will put up quite a struggle to avoid it.

Those tissues can be pretty delicate so you really need to know the dog's anatomy before you go messing around down there.  It's also not for the squeamish as the smell can be overwhelming.

Another good reason to have your vet do this procedure is to check for anal fissures and abscesses.  Dogs who regularly need their glands expressed can have these issues as well.

I had my vet show me several times how to do it and he'd even grab my hand and push my fingers where they needed to go.  I just never could get the hang of it because I could sense what I was feeling for.  It's worth the $15 to have a vet or groomer take care of it for you.  At least, it is for me!

[chihuahuagrandma]

If you are unaware of procedure in anal gland exsponge, you could hurt your dog and its very painful if done wrong...
You need to be shown, what makes you think you need to release the anal gland?
Most dogs will scratch the anal across the yard or floor to expell, people say, "that dog got worms, its scratching his butt across the ground", no, the dog knows to do that, so thats a dog's way of grooming themselves...
And impacted anal gland, will swell up like a big hard knot right next to the rectum, and a real infected one you cannot sqeeze, it will swell w/knot and show reddness, that has to be extracted a needle at the vet...the vet uses a needle and releases the gland....
Be careful, I have one dog out of five, that has a spell once a year...we go to vet for extraction...