? Anal Sacs (yucky I know)

[Rachel]

Had to bring my civvie Tigress to the vet. The vet said one of her anal sacs had a lot of buildup and he expressed it and gave an antibiotic. My question for you all...how much should I panic about this? Is there anything I can do to help her? Will it being expressed and the antibiotics make her feel better? This is a new problem for us and I wanted to ask here while doing my research as well.

 

[Squalliesmom]

I have the same issue going on with one of my civvies, we're waiting for an appointment now. I don't think it should be a problem, the AB should knock out any infection, so I don't think you need to panic. Just check from time to time to make sure there's no more buildup. Can you tell I have recently Googled this problem, and also posted a question here about it, lol?

 

[Tuxedo Mom]

My male kitty has had his anal glands expressed twice (he is almost 16) The first time ( about 6 years ago) he had to be on antibiotics, but it all cleared up well. The last time was about a year ago (about 6 months after he was diagnosed as FD) They looked pretty raw to me, but the vet said there was no infection and after the expression it healed up well on its own. The one thing the vet did say was to make sure he had good poops, since this helps to clear the anal glands, so I started adding pure pumpkin to his diet to help bulk up his poops. It has been a year (anti-jinx) with no more problems.

 

[Rachel]

Thanks you two! She seems to be feeling much better tonight (I'm guessing she felt much better after the vet took care of the little problem...). She eagerly ate her antibiotic laced tuna. Mary Ann, how much pumpkin do you give? As far as I know, she's never had a problem with poops, but maybe I should try to give her some pumpkin to help?

 

[Tuxedo Mom]

Thanks you two! She seems to be feeling much better tonight (I'm guessing she felt much better after the vet took care of the little problem...). She eagerly ate her antibiotic laced tuna. Mary Ann, how much pumpkin do you give? As far as I know, she's never had a problem with poops, but maybe I should try to give her some pumpkin to help?

I give my fellow about 1/2 teaspoon. It is his "treat" after his morning breakfast. I started with 1/4 teaspoon to see how he would tolerate it and gradually upped it to the 1/2 teaspoon until he was getting nice normal regular poops. Oddly enough pure pumpkin (not the pie filling) is good for constipation, diarrhea and keeping them regular. Tuxie will eat pumpkin all on its own.. but many people will mix it in with the food one or two times a day.

 

[Squalliesmom]

Squallie loves pumpkin and will eat it by itself or mixed in food. When I was giving it to him he got a teaspoon at breakfast and a teaspoon at dinner. Never had any digestive (poop) problems.