The Schnauzer Forum

My 5 year old miniature schnauzer had dental surgery and her anal glands were cleaned while she was under anesthesia. She has exhibited "star gazing" and butt chasing since the surgery. The star gazing has been resolved with Prilosec. The vet tried a calming application on her anal glands thinking that would help and it has continued for several months with little success. She's eating, sleeping and playing as usual. She'll be busy then startle and look back at her butt and circle. Sometimes just once. Sometimes several times. The vet clinic seems at a loss as to how to resolve this. Have any of you on the forum experienced anything like this or if so any suggestions.

Welcome to the Forum Sandra

Most dogs on a good diet with adequate fibre should not need their anal glands manually expressed and doing this too regularly or if the procedure is a bit too heavy-handed, it could cause discomfort and on-going problems in the future. Was there a specific reason that the vets felt the glands needed expressing?

There is a useful article on this link re anal glands including advice on diet:

https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/d ... -problems/

Over the past 25 years and many dogs (currently 14 - and previously 5 who have passed away in that time) we have only once had a dog that needed the anal glands expressed and that was an older dog and it only happened once. Generally speaking I would say that diet is key to a healthy digestive system and well functioning anal sacs. I am not sure what the ‘calming application’ could be? The muscles need to work hard to express the glands and this is where fibre in the diet is important.

The above link includes a recipe for a fibre rich bone broth. You can also buy this kind of supplementary food ready made and, from some suppliers, with added chia seeds to provide bulk:

https://www.boilandbroth.com/product/be ... ets-250ml/

Psyllium husk powder is also available to purchase online and can be beneficial for digestive issues in dogs - do check the quantity recommended carefully though if you do decide to DIY supplements for your dog.

However, if your little one is happy and all is normal with her apart from the occasional butt circling, I would think it may just be that she is either periodically feeling some discomfort there or she is aware of a scent e.g. from passing wind. I know many dogs do react to this with seeming surprise and the circling can be in an attempt to see / smell or investigate what has happened.

I would only worry if she appears unwell, loses her appetite, unwilling to play etc. We had a mini schnauzer years ago who used to go and hide if she passed wind - it seemed to take her by surprise and she would jump up as if she had been bitten, look over her shoulder at her tail end and run under a table or behind a chair but she was not ill - it was just a little quirk of hers

My Snoop used to take off running if YOU made a flactulence sound with your mouth! He'd run away looking over his shoulder at his rear

How are her bowel movements? Are they firm? I ran into an issue with my 1st schnauzer Snoop, I was misguidedly feeding him Royal Canin puppy food and his bowel movements were always light coloured and errrr...sloppy. I honestly didn't know any better and thought it was normal Anyway he ended up with anal gland issues because there wasn't enough pressure on the glands while defecating. They even got infected!

I switched his diet, his movements became firm and he never had issues with his glands again. I think excersise helps a lot as well, like walking and running. If my current schnauzer shows any distress/concern about his rear, I take him for a small walk at least and it usually takes care of that. Not saying it's a cure for all but it helps for Ozzy.