My Brussels Griffon turned 6 in May. And we learned an important lesson: maybe you DO need to get your dogs’ anal glands taken care of, even if they aren’t showing the classic butt-scoot sign.
For us, we noticed that there was a bald spot next to Nalu’s butthole, and didn’t understand why it had seemingly suddenly appeared. He didn’t scoot his butt against the floor. He did lick his butt, but I mean, find me a dog that doesn’t lick their own butt, yenno?
Well when I noticed the bald patch and equally noticed that it wasn’t going away, I started to wonder if maybe he needed his anal glands expressed, which I had never done before in his doggie lifetime.
Reflecting back on it, there were two other instances where I ended up with an absolutely foul-smelling mystery substance on the lap of my clothing or the hem of my shirt after having carried him or after he was sitting in my lap. The first time it happened was coincidentally during an apartment fire alarm incident when our entire apartment complex had to evacuate at 3am because something had caught on fire in our garage. Since we were all out on the complex grounds waiting around for this fire situation to be resolved, and literally every dog on property had been out there, I assumed he must have sat or stepped in something gross, which then found its way onto my pajama tank top after carrying him back up 11 flights of stairs.
The second time it happened, he had been sitting on my lap while we drank our Sunday morning protein shakes, which is a family ritual— my husband and I drink protein shakes that my husband whips up for us, Nalu eats his breakfast, then he sits on my lap while I finish my shake. Well one of the Sundays after he hopped off my lap, that disgusting smell reappeared.
Here’s the thing though: that nasty discharge did not smell fishy, the way damn near every website describes the anal gland discharge smell. But it did smell awful and rank. Like a sour, rotten, stink. Not like dog poop, pee, or vomit, but a stink all its own.
So when I noticed that bald patch, which was unilateral, I trusted my dog mama intuition and sensed it was time to inquire if this was an anal glands issue. According to the Petco grooming team, his glands were very full.
So if you experience the same symptoms with your griffy, take him or her on over to the nearest Petco, where they can express their anal glands for $12 + tip.
If the discover that the anal glands are infected, it will have to be a veterinarian’s job, which may cost a lot more than $12 (perhaps between $50-100 by Hawai’i price points. Everything is more expensive here!).
So, that is all for this post. You may not realize it, but perhaps your Griffy glands need a griffy squeeze.
puppy & paradise 