Anal Glands in Dogs: What Helps and What Harms

In brief

There are five things you should know about anal glands. First: Scooting doesn’t automatically mean anal glands. Worms, allergies, fleas and skin inflammation in the area under the tail trigger exactly the same behavior. Second, and this is the key sentence: Recurring anal gland problems are a symptom, not a diagnosis. In studies, soft stool and skin problems are the factors most often named as predisposing—if all you do is express the glands, you treat the result every time. Third: Expressing is a treatment for a finding, not a grooming routine. A healthy anal gland doesn’t need it. Fourth: Small breeds and short-nosed dogs are affected considerably more often—in an analysis of 104,212 dogs from UK primary-care practices, short-nosed dogs had roughly 2.6 times the risk (O’Neill et al., 2021). Fifth: An anal gland that is firm and can’t be expressed is not a case for expressing but for a thorough examination.

Anal glands are an unappetizing subject, and one of the most common ones in veterinary practice. This article explains what goes on there, why expressing the glands so often helps only briefly, and how to recognize the cases that are something else entirely.

Note: This article is general information and does not replace an examination by a veterinarian. A painful, swollen or ruptured spot next to the anus should be seen promptly.

👉 All about prevention and health: dog health at a glance

1. What the anal glands are and what they’re for

To the right and left of the anus sit two small sacs, at roughly four and eight o’clock, each with a fine duct opening at the edge of the anus.

One clarification first, because it will explain two things later: anatomically, these are the anal sacs. The actual glands are microscopic and sit in the wall of these sacs; they release their secretion inward, where it collects. So what gets expressed is the contents of the sac, not a gland. And a tumor does not arise in the secretion but in the wall. In everyday language—and in the rest of this article—both together are simply called the anal gland.

Depending on the dog, the secretion ranges from thin and runny to pasty, and it smells remarkably strong.

Its biological function is an individual scent mark. When a dog defecates, the pressure of the stool can push secretion out of the anal sacs—which is why dogs sniff other dogs’ feces so thoroughly. In a moment of intense fright, the contents can also empty all at once; that is normal and not a sign of disease.

What matters for everything that follows is how this emptying comes about. It is supported, among other things, by formed stool and the natural movement during defecation; the anatomy of the duct, the muscle tone in the sac wall and the consistency of the secretion also play a role.

With persistently soft stool, natural emptying can therefore be impaired—the secretion tends to stay put, thickens, and can block the narrow duct. That is a predisposing factor, not an inevitable chain: not every dog with soft stool develops anal gland problems, and not every affected dog has soft stool.

In practice it is still the most important starting point—because it is the only one of the factors mentioned that you can change in everyday life.

1.1 What’s normal—and what isn’t

Before we get to problems, it’s worth drawing the line. Much of what worries owners is part of normal function.

The smell during defecation is normal. So is the fact that other dogs sniff it at length—that is exactly what the secretion is for.

Sudden emptying when frightened is normal. A dog that “smells fishy” at the vet, during New Year’s Eve fireworks or after a sudden encounter doesn’t have an anal gland problem; it was scared. That tells you something about the moment, not about the dog’s health.

Occasional scooting after defecating is not necessarily a sign of disease either—as long as it stays a one-off and nothing else comes with it.

It is not normal when the scooting goes on for days or becomes more frequent, when the dog licks or bites intensely, when the area is red or swollen, when the smell appears for no apparent reason—or when the dog shows pain while defecating.

So the line is not drawn at a single event but at repetition and accompanying signs. That holds for the rest of this article as well.

2. How to tell there’s a problem

• Scooting: the dog drags its rear end across the floor
• Frequent, intense licking under the tail
• Biting or chasing its own tail, suddenly whipping around
• A conspicuous smell—fishy, pungent, on furniture or blankets
• Signs of pain when defecating or a hunched posture
• Swelling or redness next to the anus
• Sensitivity when you lift the tail or touch the area

It becomes serious with a tense, hot, red swelling next to the anus, or if an open, oozing spot has formed there. That points to an abscess that has ruptured or is about to—painful and in need of treatment.

2.1 What you can check yourself—and what you can’t

Between “my dog is scooting” and the examination lies a question you can answer at home: does the area look unremarkable, or is there something to see?

What you can look at. Gently lift the tail and look at the skin around the anus. Normal is evenly colored, smooth skin. Things to note are redness, swelling, bald or licked-raw patches, matted fur, fecal residue, and an oozing or open spot next to the anus.

What to watch for. Tapeworm segments look like small, pale grains of rice and still move at first—you’ll find them at the anus or on the dog’s blanket. Flea dirt shows up as black specks that turn reddish when they run on damp paper towel.

What you can smell. A strong, fishy smell with no visible cause suggests that secretion has been released.

What you can’t judge: whether the anal sacs are full, inflamed or hardened. That can only be assessed from inside the rectum, and that belongs in the clinic—the point from Section 3.

The value of these ten seconds is that you arrive at the clinic with an observation rather than a guess. “He’s been scooting for three days, the skin is red and there’s a strong smell” leads to a different approach than “he’s scooting.”

3. Scooting isn’t always the anal glands

This reflex costs many owners time and money: the dog is scooting, so the glands must need expressing.

In fact, anything that itches or burns in this area triggers the same behavior:

Worms, especially in young dogs and dogs imported from abroad—tapeworm segments at the anus itch considerably.

Allergic skin disease. The area under the tail is one of the typical sites, and rubbing relieves the itch.

Fleas, particularly with flea allergy dermatitis—the base of the tail is the classic region.

Inflamed skin folds or matted fur, common in long-haired and overweight dogs.

Fecal residue in the fur, especially after a bout of diarrhea.

Pain in the hind end, for instance in the lower (lumbar) spine.

That is why the first step is an examination, not a squeeze. Assessing the anal glands includes palpating them from inside the rectum—only then can anyone say whether they are full, inflamed or hardened at all.

👉 Why parasites are ruled out first: deworming or fecal testing?

4. Recurring problems are a symptom

This is the core of the article, and it follows the same logic as with ears.

A single impaction can be chance. A dog that has problems again every few weeks has something else going on—and in studies, two factors stand out in particular: soft stool and skin problems. Small breeds and excess weight come on top of that.

That gives a clear order for looking for the cause.

First: stool consistency. Because emptying depends, among other things, on the pressure of the stool, chronically soft stool is one of the most direct routes into recurring impactions. In a dog with persistently mushy stool, natural emptying can remain insufficient again and again—no matter how often someone helps out. Here the treatment is not expressing but getting to the bottom of the digestion.

There is a simple, inexpensive tool for this: fiber that increases stool volume. Ground psyllium husk is the most commonly used option; it swells in the gut, binds excess water and can thereby produce formed stool with more volume—and with it the pressure that supports emptying of the sacs during defecation. Insoluble crude fiber in the food works in the same direction.

Two conditions go with it: the dog has to drink enough, otherwise bulking material can have the opposite effect, and the amount should be agreed with your veterinary clinic. With chronically soft stool, this is only half the answer anyway—the other half is the question of why the stool is soft.

Second: the skin. An underlying allergic disease can change the skin at the duct as well—it can swell and narrow, so the secretion drains less easily. A similar mechanism to the one in the ear canal.

Third: weight. Excess weight has been described as a predisposing factor, presumably because the fat padding can change the position of the glands and the mechanics of defecation.

From this follows the most important practical sentence: From the third time on, the question is no longer “when do we express them again?” but “why again?”

👉 The same logic in the ear: ear infections in dogs

👉 When the skin is behind it: itching in dogs

👉 When the stool is the problem: diarrhea and vomiting in dogs

5. Which dogs are affected

An analysis of 104,212 dogs in UK primary-care practices found anal sac disorders in 4.4 percent of the dogs within one year. A survey of veterinarians even arrived at an estimated frequency of around 16 percent for non-tumor anal sac disease—the range shows how strongly the figure depends on how it is recorded.

The distribution by breed is striking. The risk was clearly increased in, among others, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the King Charles Spaniel, each at a little over three times that of a mixed breed, the Cockapoo at 2.6 times, plus the Shih Tzu, Bichon Frisé and Cocker Spaniel.

It was clearly reduced in larger breeds: the Boxer, German Shepherd, Lurcher, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Border Collie and Labrador were in some cases at a third of the risk of a mixed breed.

And a pattern that runs through several diseases: short-nosed dogs had 2.62 times the risk compared with long-nosed dogs, spaniel types 2.09 times (O’Neill et al., 2021).

The Cockapoo on this list is the same finding as the Labradoodle with ear infections: doodle crosses are often sold with the promise of better health, and for these conditions that promise does not hold.

5.1 What the breed figures mean

Breed lists get misread in both directions, so here is some context.

They say nothing about the individual dog. Three times a low baseline risk is still a modest risk, and most Cavaliers did not develop anal gland problems in the year studied.

They say something about attention. If you have a dog from one of the affected groups—small, short-nosed, spaniel type—you shouldn’t brush off scooting, and you should take the look described in Section 2.1 now and then.

And they say something about looking for the cause. In the breeds that are frequently affected, allergic skin disease is common too. That is probably no coincidence; it fits the connection from Section 4—and it is a reason to check the skin early in these dogs rather than only after the third emptying.

The reverse applies to larger breeds with a markedly lower risk: when it does occur there, it’s worth a closer look. A Labrador with recurring anal gland problems is more unusual than a Shih Tzu with the same complaints.

6. What happens at the clinic

The process is short, but it follows a fixed order—and the first step is the one most often skipped at home.

Examination from inside the rectum. Only this way can anyone judge whether a gland is full, inflamed, hardened or unremarkable—and whether it is the problem at all. You can’t see this from the outside.

Assessing the secretion. Color and consistency tell you something: brownish and liquid is normal, thick and pasty suggests an impaction, purulent or bloody suggests inflammation. With repeated inflammation, a laboratory examination of the secretion can be useful.

A look at the surrounding skin, the base of the tail and the perineum—the actual cause often lies there.

And the search for the reason, if it isn’t the first time: stool consistency, parasites, skin, weight.

7. Expressing: when yes, when no

This is the practical core, and it is often misunderstood.

Expressing is a treatment for a finding. If the glands are palpably full and causing the dog discomfort, emptying them makes sense and often brings immediate relief.

A healthy anal sac doesn’t need routine manual emptying. In most dogs, defecation takes care of it well enough. Routinely expressing the glands at every grooming appointment, without any finding, has no proven benefit—and it is unpleasant for the dog.

Whoever does the expressing should know how. The gentle method works from inside the rectum, because the gland can be emptied in a targeted and complete way. Simply squeezing from the outside often gets only part of the contents and is considerably more unpleasant.

And doing it yourself is not a good idea. It sounds like a small thing, and it isn’t: handling it too roughly can irritate or injure the gland, and an already inflamed duct makes matters worse. On top of that, a dog that has been hurt in this area may resist the next time—and that then affects the examination at the vet as well.

If it is needed regularly in your dog’s case, have someone show you how, and have it investigated why it is needed regularly.

7.1 When handling becomes a problem

This section doesn’t apply to every dog with anal gland problems. It applies to those that, after repeated painful experiences, start avoiding being touched on the hindquarters—and there are more of them than you’d expect, because it starts gradually.

The side effect is underestimated: a dog that has been hurt in this area may resist the next time. For an issue that can keep coming back for years, that has consequences.

What can develop from it. An unpleasant procedure can turn into a dog that fends you off as soon as you lift its tail. Then it takes two people, then a muzzle, then sedation—and each step can reinforce the next. In the end, even the examination meant to find the tumor from Section 9 becomes difficult.

What helps before it becomes necessary. Lift the tail, touch briefly, treat, done—at moments when nothing hurts. A few seconds, a few times a week. For the breeds from Section 5, this belongs in basic training, not in the run-up to an appointment.

What helps when it’s already difficult. Raise it at the clinic instead of just putting up with it. Options include an anti-anxiety medication before the appointment, splitting the procedure into several short sessions, or building it up with food over weeks. That isn’t coddling; it is the precondition for this dog remaining examinable for years.

👉 Desensitization and Counterconditioning in Dogs

8. When it’s inflamed or bursts open

If an impacted gland stays blocked for too long, it can become inflamed—and the inflammation can turn into an abscess.

Signs: a painful, swollen, often reddened spot next to the anus, fever, marked sensitivity to touch, reluctance to sit. If the abscess ruptures, an open, oozing wound forms—alarming for owners, but at least the pressure is relieved.

Treatment consists of careful emptying through the duct and flushing—under sedation if the pain is severe—plus pain relief and, depending on the findings, antibiotics. Warm compresses over several days support healing.

And here is a safety note that matters more than anything else in this article: never press on a hot, swollen, very painful spot next to the anus yourself. Forceful pressure from the outside can make an inflamed sac tear inward instead of emptying outward—with the result that the inflammation spreads into the surrounding tissue of the pelvis. That turns an unpleasant problem into a serious one. An acutely inflamed anal sac belongs in a veterinarian’s hands, not your own.

Important for the further course: after an abscess, the likelihood of it coming back is increased—all the more reason to look for the cause now.

9. The lump that isn’t an impaction

Every owner of an older dog should have read this section.

A malignant tumor can arise from the glandular tissue. It typically occurs in older dogs, and a predisposition has been described in the English Cocker Spaniel.

What makes it treacherous is how it presents: it is often not painful, and it is often noticed late. The decisive warning sign is a firm, enlarged anal gland that cannot be expressed—not even after flushing.

A second, entirely different route to the diagnosis runs through calcium balance: these tumors can raise the calcium level in the blood, which shows up as increased drinking and urination. An older dog that suddenly drinks more gets checked for kidney disease, Cushing’s and diabetes—and the anal glands should be palpated as part of that examination. Depending on the study, an elevated calcium level was found in roughly a quarter to half of affected dogs at the time of diagnosis.

Other possible signs are difficulty defecating, thinner stool and swelling in the perineal area.

For context, so this doesn’t cause unnecessary worry: the vast majority of changes in this area are not tumors. Impacted sacs, inflammation and abscesses are many times more common, and a dog that shows discomfort and can be expressed almost always falls into that group. What every firm or unusual change does deserve, though, is a proper workup—not more force.

So the practical rule is: An anal gland that can’t be emptied isn’t squeezed harder; it gets examined. That includes palpation, ultrasound to assess the lymph nodes in the abdomen, and a calcium measurement.

👉 Why increased thirst calls for a broad workup: Cushing’s disease in dogs

9.1 What this means for preventive care

The previous section leads to a recommendation that costs little and appears on no preventive-care checklist: in a dog from middle age onward, palpating the anal glands belongs in the annual checkup—even without any symptom.

The reason is the combination of two characteristics. The tumor is often painless, and it sits in a spot nobody looks at voluntarily. Together, these explain why it is often found only after it has already spread.

What you can do: ask for it explicitly at the annual appointment. It takes half a minute and adds no effort for a dog that is being examined anyway.

And there are two occasions when it shouldn’t wait until next year: when your older dog suddenly drinks more—the calcium route from the previous section—and when the stool looks thinner than it used to, without any change in feeding.

In the English Cocker Spaniel, for which a predisposition has been described, this attention is especially worthwhile.

10. When nothing else helps: surgery

In dogs with stubbornly recurring problems, surgical removal of the anal glands can be an option. They are not necessary for the dog’s health, and as a rule the dog gets along fine without them.

Two things matter here.

The surgery is demanding, and the reason is anatomy: the anal sacs lie directly against the external anal sphincter, and the fine nerves that supply this muscle run right along the sac wall. Anyone removing the sac is therefore working within millimeters of exactly the nerves that determine whether a dog can hold its stool. Accordingly, impaired fecal control is considered a possible complication—rare in experienced hands, but not ruled out.

That explains both why the surgeon’s experience counts for so much here, and why surgery is not performed while the area is acutely inflamed—inflamed, adherent tissue makes it far harder to tell these structures apart cleanly.

Timing matters. Studies suggest that the outcome is better when the area has first been treated conservatively and the inflammation has settled—rather than operating while it is acutely inflamed.

That is why surgery is the last step and not the shortcut: first look for the cause and treat conservatively, then, if that isn’t enough, operate.

10.1 When this decision actually comes up

Because, as described above, the surgery carries risks, it’s worth asking when it is nevertheless the better choice—and when it isn’t.

In favor: a dog that has had problems every few weeks for years even though the causes from Section 4 have been worked through—stool formed, skin treated, weight within range. Repeated abscesses. And a quality of life that noticeably suffers from the constant procedures.

Against: that the search for the cause hasn’t seriously taken place yet. That is the most common situation. A dog with chronically soft stool whose digestion has never been investigated doesn’t have an anal gland problem you can operate away—it has a digestive problem that shows up at the anal glands.

So the sensible order is: first work properly through Section 11, then decide. Skip that step, and you may remove an organ and keep the problem—soft stool, inflamed skin and excess weight stay what they were.

And when the decision does come up, the points from the previous section apply: ask about the surgeon’s experience, don’t operate while the area is inflamed, and discuss the possible impairment of fecal control beforehand rather than having it explained afterward.

11. The plan against recurrence

Section 4 says what the causes are. What follows from that in practice deserves a summary—because a dog that has problems every few weeks needs a plan, not another emptying.

11.1 Put the stool at the center

Because emptying depends, among other things, on the pressure of the stool, stool consistency is the most important starting point. And it can be measured instead of guessed.

For two weeks, write down every day what the stool looks like—firm and formed, soft but formed, mushy, watery. Two weeks is enough to see whether the stool is mostly formed or not.

If it is mostly soft, that is the real construction site. The question then isn’t which fiber supplement helps, but why the stool is soft—food intolerance, parasites, too-frequent diet changes, an intestinal disease. Fiber is the tool that improves the mechanics; it doesn’t replace looking for the cause.

If it is mostly formed and the glands still become impacted, the problem is more likely to lie with the skin or the anatomy—then Section 4 takes you further.

11.2 Keep the skin in mind

A dog with recurring anal gland problems and licked paws, reddened armpits or repeated ear infections doesn’t have three problems but one. Mention this combination explicitly at the clinic, because otherwise it gets treated as three separate issues.

11.3 Weight

The least spectacular point and one of the most important. It doesn’t work immediately, but it can help—and it improves several other things along the way.

11.4 What to document

For the next appointment, four pieces of information are worth more than any description: since when, how often in the past year, what the stool was like during that time, and what was done each time. This list shows whether these are isolated events or a pattern—and the decision from Section 4 rests on that.

11.5 What not to do

Don’t express the glands yourself, for the reasons in Section 7—and under no circumstances with a painful swelling, see Section 8.

Don’t book routine emptying without a finding, not even at the groomer’s. Without a finding there is no benefit, and the procedure is unpleasant.

Don’t read every bout of scooting as the anal glands. Section 3 lists six other causes, several of which are quicker and cheaper to clear up.

12. What you can do at home

Pay attention to stool consistency. That is the single most important starting point. Formed stool supports natural emptying—mushy stool can impair it. Change something here, and you often change the whole problem.

Keep your dog lean.

Keep the area clean, especially in long-haired dogs. Trim the fur, remove fecal residue, clean thoroughly after diarrhea.

Treat scooting as a question, not an answer. It says “something’s wrong here,” not “express the glands.”

Keep a record of how often it happens. If it’s the third time in six months, actively bring up the search for the cause.

Have the anal glands palpated at every preventive checkup, especially in older dogs. It takes seconds and is one of the few routines by which a tumor can be noticed early.

👉 Keeping weight in view: how to recognize your dog’s ideal weight

13. Limits of the evidence

The frequency figures vary considerably—4.4 percent from documented clinic diagnoses versus around 16 percent from a survey of veterinarians. The two measure different things: one what is in the record, the other what clinicians estimate. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

The statement that routine expressing without a finding does harm is based on clinical experience and on the plausible mechanism of irritating the duct—not on a controlled study. A benefit in healthy glands has not been shown; proof of harm is likewise lacking.

Some of the information on predisposing factors comes from a survey and therefore from estimates, not from systematically collected patient data.

And the breed data come from UK clinic records for a single year. The ranking is likely to look similar in other countries; the exact values are not.

On the structure of the evidence: the frequency and breed figures come from an analysis of documented reasons for visits to UK primary-care practices. They reflect what dogs were brought in for—not how many dogs are actually affected. That a survey of veterinarians arrives at around 16 rather than 4.4 percent for the same question shows exactly this gap.

For the recommendations on fiber, on the question of routine expressing and on the benefit of weight loss, there are no large controlled comparative studies in dogs. They rest on the mechanism described, on observational data and on clinical experience—well founded, but of a different kind than a study result. Where this article is emphatic, for example in advising against expressing without a finding, it relies on the absence of a proven benefit alongside known drawbacks, not on proof of the opposite.

14. Conclusion

Anal gland problems are among the most common reasons for a vet visit—and among the most frequently misunderstood. Scooting is a question, not an answer: worms, allergies and fleas trigger the same behavior. And recurring problems are a symptom, not the disease itself; the factors most often linked to them are soft stool and skin disease. If you are still only expressing the glands the third time, you’ll be doing the same the tenth time. Two things are worth remembering: a healthy anal sac doesn’t need routine manual emptying—and a firm gland that can’t be expressed isn’t squeezed harder; it gets examined.

👉 What matters when you choose: what makes a good veterinarian

If you take away just one thing from this article: watch what your dog’s stool looks like for two weeks. With recurring anal gland problems, that is one of the most telling pieces of information there is—and the one most likely to explain why expressing helps only briefly every time.

Key takeaways on anal glands

Scooting doesn’t automatically mean anal glands. Worms, allergies, fleas, inflamed skin folds, fecal residue in the fur and pain in the lower back trigger the same behavior.

Emptying is supported, among other things, by formed stool. With persistently soft stool it can be impaired—a predisposing factor, not an inevitable chain. And the only one you can change in everyday life.

Recurring problems are a symptom, not a diagnosis. Soft stool and skin problems are the factors most often named as predisposing, along with small breeds and excess weight. From the third time on, the question is “why again?”

Expressing is a treatment for a finding, not grooming. A healthy anal sac doesn’t need routine emptying, and there is no proven benefit to expressing without a finding.

Small and short-nosed dogs are affected considerably more often. In an analysis of 104,212 dogs from UK primary-care practices, the one-year frequency was 4.4 percent; the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and King Charles Spaniel were at a little over three times the level of a mixed breed, short-nosed dogs at 2.62 times, larger breeds in some cases at a third (O’Neill et al., 2021).

A hot, swollen, painful spot is not to be pressed. Forceful pressure from the outside can make an inflamed sac tear inward and drive the inflammation into the pelvic tissue.

A firm anal gland that can’t be expressed gets examined, not squeezed harder. That is the decisive warning sign of a tumor—often painless and therefore noticed late.

Increased drinking in an older dog calls for a broad workup, and the anal glands should be palpated as part of it: these tumors can raise the calcium level, found in roughly a quarter to half of affected dogs at the time of diagnosis.

The surgery is demanding because the nerves of the sphincter run right along the sac wall. That is why the surgeon’s experience counts, and why surgery is not performed while the area is inflamed.

References

• O'Neill, D. G., Hendricks, A., Phillips, J. A., Brodbelt, D. C., Church, D. B. & Loeffler, A. (2021): Non-neoplastic anal sac disorders in UK dogs: Epidemiology and management aspects of a research-neglected syndrome. Veterinary Record 189(2): e203. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.203 (2,372 cases from 104,212 dogs; one-year frequency 4.4%; increased risk in, among others, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 3.31-fold, King Charles Spaniel 3.30-fold, Cockapoo 2.59-fold, Shih Tzu, Bichon Frisé and Cocker Spaniel; reduced risk in, among others, the Boxer, German Shepherd and Labrador; short-nosed dogs 2.62-fold, spaniel types 2.09-fold increased)
• Corbee, R. J., Woldring, H. H., van den Eijnde, L. M. & Wouters, E. G. H. (2022): A Cross-Sectional Study on Canine and Feline Anal Sac Disease. Animals 12(1): 95. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12010095 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8749694/ (estimated frequency of non-tumor anal sac disease in dogs 15.7%; predisposing factors diarrhea, skin problems, small breeds and excess weight; manual emptying and treatment of the underlying disease as the most important measures; surgical removal in treatment-resistant cases, with better outcomes after prior conservative treatment)
• Anal Sac Disease in Dogs and Cats. MSD/Merck Veterinary Manual. https://www.merckvetmanual.com/digestive-system/diseases-of-the-rectum-and-anus/anal-sac-disease-in-dogs-and-cats (tumor suspected with firm, enlarged anal glands that cannot be expressed even after flushing; calcium measurement to check for a tumor-related elevation; anal sac tumors usually not painful; signs in some cases via elevated calcium with increased drinking and urination)
• A Retrospective Study of Clinical and Histopathological Features of 81 Cases of Canine Apocrine Gland Adenocarcinoma of the Anal Sac. Animals, 2021. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8614406/ (predisposition described in the English Cocker Spaniel; tumor-related elevated calcium in 25 to 51% of dogs at the time of diagnosis)

Frequently asked questions about anal glands in dogs

The questions asked most often in the exam room