Itchy Bottom Brackens not mine.

[Bracken 01]

Need help Bracken has always been a sensitive dog, in every way, so I think sometimes is it really nothing just him over sensitive.
He at times starts licking his bottom urgently and also turns his head and sniffs gently at his back end, shoots off the settee runs off at speed then comes back, it all seems to settle down for a while then back it comes.
He has his anul glands done every 8 to ten wks.He has just had his once yearly Advocate which I don't like giving him but needs must has harvest mites drive him and us round the bend.
He his on Natural Instinct for Dinner and for breakfast lillys kitchen grain free chicken and venison,a very small amount.
Is there anything natural I could apply to his bottom to give him relief.
He sleeps peacefully all nite on my bed, has episodes on and off throughout the day when it tends to play him up.
Should I try piriton?.

[Oscar 12345]

Hi Annie, Oscar used to do this and he was very sensitive also, it looked like something had just bitten his bottom. It used to come and go but I never had to have his anal glands done and it wasn't that frequent that I was worried about it, I think I put it down to some sort of bite but I never found anything. Difficult to know whether this is internal or external... Is he sniffing the area where he sat also or just concentrating on his bottom? That could indicate something internal if he is sniffing the area where he sat. Could it be wind? If Oscar used to pass wind he used to sniff his rear and move out of the way of it. Not sure I would use piriton for what you describe. Applying cream would work if it is an external problem or bites and if his bottom looks ok (and there would be small black flecks around the area if it was bites I would think) then I don't think that would resolve anything. Is his bottom clean of any hair (not sure that would produce the effect you have emailed about but spiky hair could irritate that area). I think if it were me I would perhaps experiment with some natural supplement to help digestion/anal glands because I would be leaning towards anal gland issues if you have to have them done that regularly. Charcoal biscuits will help digestion/gas problems, zero fat yoghurt might help. Maybe some fresh veg but others might be able to be more specific on the appropriate supplements. Good luck

[Schnauzer Sam]

Annie, Rosie sometimes takes off like a shot just as you describe and I finally got to the bottom of it - pun fully intended

It's when she is aware of having farted. Could it be the same with Bracken?

I now give Rosie (and Edie) a Lintbell Yudigest every morning. They are a probiotic supplement and they both eat them willingly. It has really settled down Rosie's wind problem and neither dog has had any digestive problems since starting them whereas previously we've had difficulties with very runny poos. I got the Yudigest from amazon as they are about half the price when compared to buying direct from Lintbell.

[Dawnspell]

Barney does this too. It's as though his bum becomes his mortal enemy Weird thing is we never hear a noise and they're not silent and deadly either. I give him a charcoal biscuit which seems to settle him.

He also jumps and sniffs his bum at anything sounding like a fart

[Oscar 12345]

Lol, If Oscar used to sit next to me and do it he gave me that look that said "who broke wind near my bottom?". Interesting that a lot seem to do this. These are the biscuits that we have https://www.littlepetbiscuitcompany.co. ... al-aniseed. Otto likes them and never had wind.

[zeta1454]

Hi Annie - does Bracken have a diagnosed anal gland problem? Dogs really should not need to have the anal glands manually emptied on a regular basis, if at all, unless there is a serious problem. For the anal glands to work efficiently, the diet needs to have a decent amount of fibre which should be provided by the foods you mentioned. There is more information on this link:

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

However, Bracken's problem as you describe it could be down to a number of different things as mentioned above. Some dogs can be very sensitive to their own wind - we had a mini schnauzer who run and hide if she let off wind especially if it made a sound too. It could be something Itchy - not necessarily mites or fleas but just a sudden discomfort. It is difficult to be specific about remedies without being certain of the cause of Bracken's problem. A good probiotic given daily may help (?)

https://www.lintbells.com/products/yudigest-for-dogs/

[Bracken 01]

Thank you everyone for answering. Typical he has had hardly any discomfort since I posted. Lileys kitchen does have a probiotic in the food he eats but as I give him a small amount for breakfast I will give him half a tablet of Yudigest a day and see how he goes. I will purchase the charcoal and aniceed biscuits. Interesting read in the dogs magazine about anal glands makes me feel confused really. I put Bracken on a small amount of kibble in the morning because he wouldn't eat his NI food and without him eating something he was getting colic, with that he was shaking,now he eats Lily's Kitchen that problem has gone, thank goodness.
Bracken has no anal issues well the vet hasn't picked up on any thing.
When he was on a complete raw diet his anal glands where still getting full.
With our last Schnauzer at 13 yrs old her glands become impacted well one side but the vet could thank goodness insert a fine needle and express the gland. I really don't want problems with Brackens as the vet told me if he couldn't express Brambles gland he would have to take it out which was a big procedure. So I need to get it right do i express or not.

[zeta1454]

Glad to hear that Bracken is not suffering the discomfort now.
Re the anal glands, in our experience over twenty plus years of owning dogs (15 dogs in all) we have only twice with two different elderly dogs had to have the anal glands expressed by a vet. If the diet is good and the dog does not have a physical problem with his glands, there should be no need for them to be manually expressed at all. Dogs should naturally clear their glands as they defecate.
If your vet did pick up that Bracken had an issue with his glands not emptying normally I would have expected you to be given advice re diet rather than starting a regular manual emptying of the glands which could lead to issues of itself.

Some of the "complete" raw diets such as Natural Instinct can have a bone content which is too high for some individual dogs to digest effectively and could lead to a dry crumbly poo and constipation. I don't know whether this may be a factor with Bracken? The recommendation I believe is to feed at least two boneless meals a week. I have always noticed that some prepared raw meals don't specify the percentage of bone in their meals whereas others do say 10% bone, 10% offal, 80% meat for example. It may be that a different type of raw food might suit Bracken better if you wanted to keep to raw feeding. Usually raw feeding should help to normalise digestive / anal issues but there can be individual differences between dogs of course.

[Bracken 01]

Thanks Leigh for your reply. When Bracken was younger he did have crumbly poo. I spoke to NI and they did say it could be to much bone content,so I now have him on Chicken and Tripe and Turkey and tripe. NI have been very good with info as when Bracken had shaking episodes its NI who said he maybe has colic because he hadnt eaten in the Mornings and she was right. I did take him to the vet they wanted to take a load of blood tests the vets first words when she saw me was you know this breed are prone to pancreatic problems and looked at me as if to say why on earth did you buy a breed prone to these kind of problems. Any way I had to much faith in the Breeder to consider that was the problem.
I have spoke to NI today the women who deals with questions and problems is on leave. The Lady who I spoke with today said maybe I should try a alternative to the turkey and tripe as that has a high bone content so I have ordered instead of turkey, chicken and lamb.
If Bracken was your dog what would you feed him.Willing to try anything I can buy, but I haven't got time to make things from scratch.
What boneless meals would you give him.
He has dried sprats and dried fish skins for treats, willing to change these as well.
He's not really driven by food. I must at all costs get him to eat something for breakfast or the Colic will return.Willing to change his dried food Lily's kitchen if you think that is not suitable.
At the moment his poops are a mixture of firm and a bit soft at times.
Should his anul glands always be empty, half full or what.
Thank you.

[zeta1454]

Hi Annie - re the anal glands, we never check our dogs glands and would only do so if there was a problem such as leaking smelly liquid or the dog scooting their bottom on the floor etc. To date, apart from the two instances with the older dogs mentioned in my previous post, we have never had an issue. Unless there seems to be a problem, I would not be worrying about the anal glands which should empty regularly when Bracken does a poo. It can become difficult if the poo is always very soft as this may not put enough pressure on the glands to empty them but otherwise there should not be a problem.

There is some more info re anal glands from the Kennel Club on this link:

https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/health ... impaction/

Bracken's reactions which you describe may not necessarily mean he has a problem with the glands.

We feed our dogs raw and I would not mix kibble and raw personally even over two different meals. Is there a reason why you feed both? Although Lily's Kitchen is a good brand of food, all kibble does undergo a very intense processing which means it is digested differently from raw and may inhibit some of the benefits of raw feeding. I think if I had a dog with a digestive issue of any kind I would stick to the same kind of food initially at least and try to find one that suited my dog best. I am a great believer in feeding dogs raw food as long as it is nutritionally balanced but there are a wide range of other types of dog food even apart from kibble - wet food, dehydrated food, cold pressed etc.

Natural Instinct was the first brand of prepared raw food meals we gave our dogs years ago but we have since moved on to try others and I would not go back to NI with ours. I did find their chicken based meals high in bone and also the very finely minced food semed to me quite sloppy. In fact none of our dogs would eat the "just chicken" meals.

We have until about six months ago fed Wolf Tucker food which has a smaller range of different meals but has a chunkier mince and our dogs do enjoy it. I did make sure to vary the type of meal (4 different types) each week and occasionally add e.g. Venison as a complete change. Always at least two days a week having a boneless meal - beef / tripe based.

For the past six months however I have been trialling Paleo Ridge raw food which is one of the brands where they specify that the complete meals are in the ratio of 80% meat; 10% bone and 10% offal which is generally considered to be the recommended amounts for balanced raw feeding. This brand of raw food is very roughly minced with some large pieces of tripe or meat and the dogs love it. I was speaking to our vet this morning about dog food and she said that the less minced the meat the better for dogs as chewing on the pieces was beneficial for their teeth too ( not just gnawing on bones).

However, Paleo Ridge do only have 1 kg size boxes of meat meals which with just one dog are probably going to be too much to defrost and keep before the box is finished (less of an issue with 11 dogs!). There is a company called Naturaw which are very similar in ethos to Paleo Ridge and they do have 500g boxes of meat meals in the correct balance of meat/bone / offal. There is a link here to their website:
https://www.naturaw.co.uk/product-categ ... -balanced/

We give dried fish cubes (and dried sprats occasionally) to our dogs - they are a good treat and the dogs enjoy them too. If you want to stay with NI I would try to add in some of the boneless meals regularly and I would be inclined to try just raw for a while at least to see if that makes a difference. Both NI and Lily's Kitchen are good brands but I would stick to one or the other even if just to see if that is any help for Bracken.

I would say that you are right to be sceptical re the vet's attitude re pancreatitis as we have never had a mini schnauzer with pancreatitis and it is not an illness that scores high in the regular schnauzer health surveys. If you have faith in Bracken's breeder and you are feeding a good diet etc, it is unlikely to be a major worry. I am sorry to read about his shaking and colic though and hope that you can find a food he loves and which may remedy his problems.