Experience with Ruptured Anal Glands?

[markvs]

Honestly , I don't know. I had never heard of this until this happened. It's only been AFTER the fact that I've been researching it......Today, I bought some cat probiotic chews and also some wellness wet canned catfood which she LOVED!!! I really hope it's okay to give her the proboitic.....I take them for myself and I know how awesome probitics are.....And since these are specifically made for cats I know antibiotics kill good bacterial and you can restore that with probiotics while on antibiotics..... Today I heard her in the litter box kicking around, but when i went to clean it and check, there was nothing there at all......I mixed some distilled water with the wet cat food so she could get even more liquid, which she drank. I also gave her her antibiotic again at 8pm.......Now she's sleeping. I just wish she would go to the bathroom!

 

[markvs]

Oh, I'm so happy! She had a bm, and she did it WITH The cone on......It was not total diarrhea, but between normal and diarrhea, soft.......and it was a good movement I would say. Now she is DYING to lick her butt. I tried to clean it for her, and noticed red blood, but not what I would consider a huge amount......but she has definitely NOT licked the area since I"ve been making her wear the cone and watching her when she eats and it's not on. I was surprised that her but wasn't nasty with poo, but it wasn't......just the blood I had to wipe up......I feel so bad because a cat wants to clean themselves after they go, I'm sure is MADDENING to her that she can't.....even though I know it's best she doesn't lick, I just don't want her to get stressed over it.........but she seems ok....she gives up after a while......I also noticed she had a burst of energy earlier and ran over to the scratching post and tore it up for a minute....AS I type this it's been exactly 3 full days since her vet visit.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

The probiotics are GREAT all the time, but especially while they are on antibiotics, just like us humans

.  However, just like with us, you  need to space them out, so if she gets her antibiotics in the morning and evening, then she should get her probiotics mid day.    The soft stool may be because of the antibiotic,a nd perhaps the probiotic will help with that. 

Sounds like she's doing well, since she's eating and getting frustrated with YOU

 

[markvs]

Uh oh! Again, I learn something AFTER the fact. Just before I read this, I just gave her the antibiotic and probiotic at the same time, although yesterday when I gave her her first probiotic, it wasn't the same time as the antibiotic. Today she has had 2 bm's and they were very loose and as soon as she came out of the litter box, she scooted! What a BRAT!! But there was no blood in the scoot... One of the BM"s was while I was sleeping and I could see where she scooted - GROSS! The second one i stopped her. Thank God I have a carpet washer!......How in the world is one supposed to watch them 24/7 to keep them from doing things like that? It's impossible. At any rate, I think the diarrhea may be because of the wet food I started her on yesterday, because she's never eaten wet food since I've had her for 11 yrs or so. I will make sure to space the probiotic and antibiotic out from now on. I hate this stupid type of ecollar it has velcro on it.........I've seen ones on youtube vids that looked better, although I think they are too long and need to be trimmed just a wee bit

 

[samus]

Anyway, as far as changing their food, if you feed kibble, you should not just switch out to another kibble immediately...you need to slowly introduce the new kibble.  But if you feed canned, you can switch that up anytime, and if you feed kibble you an add wet food to that without issues (supposedly).  the only issues you might have is if they have an allergy to a issue with a certain food, like chicken or beef or corn, etc.

I don't think that's entirely true. I think if your cat's used to eating different wet food (like if you normally give them a different flavor every day) you can switch the wet anytime, but my cat had diarrhea from introducing a little wet food after years of eating almost exclusively dry.

 

[markvs]

Well the mobil vet waggin (a vet who drives around the Lexington KY metro area) in a state of the art mobile vet hospital (really cool) came by the check her today.....He said he wanted her to take the cone OFF because she was getting too dirty back there (DUH!!) She can't clean herself and the few times I tried to get mad at me.....He cleaned her butt area really good and she's happy as can be......I left the kibble out and fresh water with ice (which they love) and she's back to normal eating the kibble and lapping up the water. She hasn't had a BM today and she did throw up about 15 to 30 min's after I gave her the very LAST antiboitic (oh well!) She hasn't BM'd at all today so the probiotic must be working on that diarrhea ........Her butt looks so much better (relative to almost a week ago)......This is such a relief for me for her to have the cone off! OMG!!! I mean, now I don't feel like I have to babysit her every second with that thing on wondering if she gets up to go to kitchen (does she need to eat? Drink?) What does she want? What if I'm alseep? How can she drink/eat?) etc.........I slept today for the first time so DEEPLY it was AWESOME!!! I woke up, and there she was  - MEOW- her usual self.......

OH, PS - she hissed twice at the vet when he came in and picked her up. I was impressed! She never hisses! I was kinda glad to see she had that in her! LOL

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I'm glad things are doing better.  I honestly could not figure out why she had the cone on in the first place, and believe I mentioned that my girl never had to wear one,and that our Vet said she would probably lick at it, but so what. 

Amazing what a good night's sleep can do, huh?  I haven't had one in many months, but I can remember what it was like

  (NO, I don't have a new baby in the house...I have a sick cat...kidney disease

...she needs to eat a couple of times during the night to keep from getting sick 

)

 

[markvs]

How common is kidney disease in cats? Gosh I hope neither of mine ever get that.......But I guess it's a possibility......

She's doing so much better. The thing I couldn't understand was this: If she wears a cone, she can't clean herself. That's an area that is dirty and you have a dirty butt with wounds at the same time? Bad combination. I tried to clean it, but she didn't like it at all! I'm not sure what the vet did to clean it, but her butt looked shiny clean when he was done, and that's when he said let her leave it off so she could keep herself clean. And surprisingly, she has been licking her butt, but not obsessively over and over........so that's good. She's been back eating her dry kibble and drinking water as usual. She seems to have energy too because she drug a few toys out I keep in the corner in the living room and they were in the middle of the living room where she had been playing with them

Anyway - thanks for giving me your thoughts through this past week. I just needed that to help me cope with it since I've never been through anything like this before. At least if it ever happens again, it won't be as horrible because I know pretty much what to expect. I just hope it doesn't ever happen to Leo, my male cat, because, Dear God, I can't imagine because he took this worse than she did. He was upset and scared for days thinking a different cat was in the house and what's going on.....etc

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I'm on my ninth cat, and only one time has any of them ever had any anal gland issues.  That's a pretty good record. 

As to kidney disease...that's another story.  Out of nine cats, THREE of them have had kidney disease

, and it doesn't improve the ratio that my first two were killed by outside influences because we let them go outside.  So in reality, Three of SEVEN have had kidney disease.   Personally, I attribute it to having feed them dry food their entire lives

.   There is no absolute proof of this, but that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.  After much research on the subject, I converted my last three cats to wet food, but sadly it was too late the my older one, she was 12 when I did that.  The boys were only 3, so hopefully they will be safe

 

[nansiludie]

Sorry to hear of the passing of your cats. Actually though, there was a study done by Dr. Becker that found cats fed dry food tend to have Urinary issues and increased risk of FLUTD, so I am figuring that since that system includes the kidneys, its highly likely. I've stopped feeding dry food as well because I lost a male cat due to a urinary blockage.

 

[ms blondie]

Hello all, and I'm so sorry for all the troubles with anal glands, but glad to find such encouraging news here in this thread.  Today I noticed my 2nd black cat, Ms Mommy, was paying a lot of attention to her hiney and I thought, Oh No, it's heat time again.  I haven't had the money to get her fixed yet.  She was licking her hiney and growled at it.  At first I thought that's weird, but then thought better and had a look.  It looked like a gash off to the side of her anus.  I panicked, how could it have happened, they are all inside cats, and have all claws!  Her grown son, Frankie, likes to play rough with Mommy so maybe that?  I dunno, probably ruptured anal gland and she wouldn't quit messing with it.  She did leave a small wet spot on the sheet this morning.  I have a full bottle of Amoxicillin pills from Blondie's last vet visit, but have no money to go to vet now, so had to think fast.  Mommy was licking and making it worse by the minute.  Doctored the wound with Animax ointment then set to giving her an antibiotic pill.  Mommy and Frankie are the ferals I tamed and took in almost a year ago, didn't know Mommy would hate the pill so bad, got bitten to the bone on my thumb.  OUCH!  Had a tetanus shot 4 years ago for another cat bite so should be OK, I think.  (I still have ferals out back, some come and go, but the last 3 kittens are grown and one of the females had 3 more kittens about 7 weeks old now.  I can only pet the female with kittens, ZuZu, and the male, Mo.)

So... she kept licking the wound, I was crying becuase it was now not a small gash, but the size of a nickle.  I googled " how to make an elizabethan collar for cats ".  Found a few instructional things but this soft one was what I chose.  Here's the link below, mine is not as pretty but effective!  She can't lick it now, hopefully giving the week of antibiotics and ointments plus my Catmamma nursing skills a chance to work.  She is a slow moving cat anyway so she acts like she's walking drunk getting used to it.  Poor thing.  Now that I see it works, am going to find pretty fabric in the morning and sew up a new one not so hurriedly this time.  There are directions on how to make it at the link, but it's pretty self explanatory for those who sew.  I made one tonight out of an old white hospital pillow case.  It's ugly.  OH, and I will crush up her pill and put it in her can food.  She eats so fast she will never know it's there, sparing my fingers tonight! 

  I hope the link will help some of you who dislike the plastic collars.  There are also soft ones you can order, just Google what I did in the red ink above. 

http://www.thezenofmaking.com/2011/11/diy-e-collar-alternative-for-my-ocd-cat/

 

[catlover100]

I discovered last night that my 15 yrs old cat had a ruptured anal gland. It scared me so bad I thought his intestines had burst. I took him to the vets this morning and she gave him an antibiotic shot and he seems to be feeling better. His appetite has improved but he hasn't pooped today which worries me.

Also it is about the size of half a dime I guess. How long does it take to heal? He is still licking it although not as much and it doesn't seem to have any discharge anymore. It just worries me that something that large in that area could heal on its own and close back up.

 

[markvs]

Sorry to hear - and yes it is SCARY looking isn't it! My Shadow had to wear a cone but she couldn't clean herself.....I gave her antibiotics, and pain medicine........the vet checked her a few days later and decided to take the cone off and leave it off as she was getting too dirty back there. I tried to clean her back there while the cone was on but she wouldn't let me....I was amazed how quickly it healed.....now looking at her, you would never know......Just make sure she gets all the antibiotics.....Shadow didn't eat a lot the first couple of days because of the pain meds I'm guessing....I think it was 2 days before she went to BM and it wasn't much. I also gave her probiotics for cats to help with diarrhea the antibiotic may cause....

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

 
I discovered last night that my 15 yrs old cat had a ruptured anal gland. It scared me so bad I thought his intestines had burst. I took him to the vets this morning and she gave him an antibiotic shot and he seems to be feeling better. His appetite has improved but he hasn't pooped today which worries me.

Also it is about the size of half a dime I guess. How long does it take to heal? He is still licking it although not as much and it doesn't seem to have any discharge anymore. It just worries me that something that large in that area could heal on its own and close back up.

My old girl's abscess was about the size of a quarter by the time the Vet  cleaned and drained it.  So I'm thinking half the size of a dime sounds pretty darned small

.   Anyhoo, they didn't give my girl any pain meds.  Only antibiotics, and then had us apply warm compresses to the wound a couple of times a day, then apply a ointment to it, which she promptly licked off.  I told the Vet she would probably do that, and they said that would be ok, just to try to distract her for a minute or two, which we did with some loving.  She healed up in no time.  Her followup appointment was one week later, and she was already pretty much healed up! 

Sorry, I don't remember how long it took for her to have a bowel movement, but I suspect your guy hasn't eaten well for a few days, so there might not be much in there to come out just yet. 

 

[catlover100]

 
My old girl's abscess was about the size of a quarter by the time the Vet  cleaned and drained it.  So I'm thinking half the size of a dime sounds pretty darned small

.   Anyhoo, they didn't give my girl any pain meds.  Only antibiotics, and then had us apply warm compresses to the wound a couple of times a day, then apply a ointment to it, which she promptly licked off.  I told the Vet she would probably do that, and they said that would be ok, just to try to distract her for a minute or two, which we did with some loving.  She healed up in no time.  Her followup appointment was one week later, and she was already pretty much healed up! 

Sorry, I don't remember how long it took for her to have a bowel movement, but I suspect your guy hasn't eaten well for a few days, so there might not be much in there to come out just yet. 

You can tell by all of these posts that Vets have their own way of treating this. Mine didn't clean it nor drain it. It seems to be draining on its own and not much anymore. He had had it for a few days at least and was licking himself before I looked and found out what it was. And she didn't say to schedule a follow up appointment only come back if needed. I may just go back in a week anyway. I decided I would put some antibiotic ointment on it although the vet didn't mention it. So far he is not licking it off too much.

What do you use to apply a warm compress to it?

Oh, he has pooped a few times.  Whew, always worried about that. Thanks for your info!!

 

 

[catlover100]

Also maybe I should look into giving him probiotics. His last stool was pretty loose. What kind should I give him and where do you get it?

 

[samus]

 
Also maybe I should look into giving him probiotics. His last stool was pretty loose. What kind should I give him and where do you get it?

I got Proviable DC from Amazon, my cat's fine with it sprinkled on her food. I tried giving her a probiotic with Saccharomyces boulardii, a yeast that is especially good for diarrhea, but she hates the flavor so I had to pill her with it. I tried Vet Science Fast GI Balance paste (comes in a tube), but she's really good at spitting it out unless I basically smear it all over her face so she's forced to clean it off lick by lick. I think the paste is more effective than the Proviable powder (she had diarrhea for about a month on and off before I gave it to her, which cleared up after about three days of treatment), but she has to be chased down to give it to her.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

 

 
My old girl's abscess was about the size of a quarter by the time the Vet  cleaned and drained it.  So I'm thinking half the size of a dime sounds pretty darned small

.   Anyhoo, they didn't give my girl any pain meds.  Only antibiotics, and then had us apply warm compresses to the wound a couple of times a day, then apply a ointment to it, which she promptly licked off.  I told the Vet she would probably do that, and they said that would be ok, just to try to distract her for a minute or two, which we did with some loving.  She healed up in no time.  Her followup appointment was one week later, and she was already pretty much healed up! 

Sorry, I don't remember how long it took for her to have a bowel movement, but I suspect your guy hasn't eaten well for a few days, so there might not be much in there to come out just yet. 

You can tell by all of these posts that Vets have their own way of treating this. Mine didn't clean it nor drain it. It seems to be draining on its own and not much anymore. He had had it for a few days at least and was licking himself before I looked and found out what it was. And she didn't say to schedule a follow up appointment only come back if needed. I may just go back in a week anyway. I decided I would put some antibiotic ointment on it although the vet didn't mention it. So far he is not licking it off too much.

What do you use to apply a warm compress to it?

Oh, he has pooped a few times.  Whew, always worried about that. Thanks for your info!!

 

I'm so sorry I didn't respond.  I must have missed that you had a couple of questions here for me

  It's probably a little late now, but for the warm compresses, we just used  wash wrag, ran it under hot water, then wrang it out, which left it warm. Then we folder it into 1/4 the size and shoved it under her tail as we picked her up and cuddled her for a few minutes.  Worked very well.

As to probiotics, we give our guys Natural Factors Acidophilus and Bifidus Double Strength.  it's made with Goats Milk.  Several people here on TCS use it for their cats. 

 

[catlover100]

 
I'm so sorry I didn't respond.  I must have missed that you had a couple of questions here for me

  It's probably a little late now, but for the warm compresses, we just used  wash wrag, ran it under hot water, then wrang it out, which left it warm. Then we folder it into 1/4 the size and shoved it under her tail as we picked her up and cuddled her for a few minutes.  Worked very well.

As to probiotics, we give our guys Natural Factors Acidophilus and Bifidus Double Strength.  it's made with Goats Milk.  Several people here on TCS use it for their cats. 

That's ok about not responding. I looked up about the Probiotics and thought the kind I had used before from the health food store is a good brand with no additives so I have given him that and it has seemed to help.

It seemed to heal up really fast but today I noticed he was licking himself again and it is starting to look a little red down there again and maybe a little swollen.  I may have to make another trip to the vets. I just hope this doesn't end up being something that is going to take a long time to heal completely or develop into something that is so hard to get rid of at his age.

 

[birdie1953]

Rocky is having anal gland issues. He had them when he was a kitten before I adopted him.  They kind of swell up and get stinky and then go down.

They were quite big last night and had a white spot. This morning after he did his thing the gland had gone down.

I'm really not sure what to do. I don't know if he overproduces anal fluid or what. Seems to be an ongoing problem since I adopted him.

I'm afraid of having the glands removed because I certainly don't want him to lose control of his poops.