How Do I Express my Cat's Anal Glands?
Because of comments in my earlier article on Cats' Anal Glands, and a few questions from readers, I decided this article was in order.
Question: My cat is 6 years old and every now and then she smells fishy. I do not see that she has any type of anal drainage or needs to be cleaned as she is constantly cleaning there. I do use a wet wipe and clean her up anyways and it seems to taken care of the smell for about a day. I just read about anal sac expression and how it smells fishy and her anal sacs need to be drained. Any idea of the vet cost to have this done? Can I do it myself; if so, how?
Answer: Because my answer is so detailed, I suggest you read the full article.
Other Suggest Reading on Cats' Anal Glands
Pardon the "Expression"
Please help with my butt-dragging cat!
Just the Facts: Anal Sacs
Comments
Be careful when trying the do it yourself method of expressing your cats anal sacs. I googled how to do this simple procedure so that I wouldn’t have to pay a vet to do it. Yeah, I was trying to save some $$$$! When I entered Tempie, she made SUCH a fuss. I should have used some sort of lubricant. Since I’ve seen my vet do this plenty of times, I figured I could pull it off successfully. Wrong. I managed to get one side expressed, but could not for the life of me get the other one done. To make matters worse, I had a cut on my finger and ended up getting a bad infection. I will not hurt Tempie again in the future for the sake of saving a few dollars.
Kelson, I agree with the first part of your comments about using caution with this procedure. That’s why my article is filled with caveats about having the cat examined by the vet.
However, I was a bit concerned about your “entered Tempie” remark. Expressing the anal gland is strictly an *external* process. Although veterinarians may insert a finger into the rectum when performing exams or in extreme cases of blockage, that is NOT the procedure to be used at home.
Your experiences are also a good example why I suggested having a friend help with the procedure.
I fished around for what seemed like hours since it was so uncomfortable. I wasn’t even sure if it worked so I ended up having the groomer at PetSmart do it. Like Kelson, I’m through trying this myself.
Hi
Sorry about writing here…but I didn’t know where else to write…I just wanted to know how I could get my blog listed on the blog directory about cats?
Cheers
expressing dog or cats anal glands is almost like popping a big zit. DO NOT try to express them from the inside. Do it from the outside and have someone help you hold the pet the first time or 2 that you do it. Just be sure to (duck) when you do it. Actually, best time to express them is when you are bathing them and use a paper towel to cover the butt hole as you express them so that it does not squirt on you, your walls etc. They can either squirt out real fast or be slow and globby but they are actually pretty easy to do. Maybe the first time you try to do it, you might take your pet to a professional groomer and have her show you how. Just remember, be quick about it when you do it because your pet will learn real fast what you are up to when you start messing around back there and will definately object to it. Good luck.
I have to agree that the secretions smell like a putrid infection and not “fishy”…… I mean, if you mean fishy as in a rotting fish left out in the sun for a month during a heat wave, then yeah….. otherwise, I’d sooner wear a fish as a breathing mask than compare feline anal secretions to an actual fish… sorry, I never comment on random pages but I needed to say this….