when Hope ruptured an anal gland

[mellowtigger]

I'm finally documenting a medical emergency that happened this summer.

I noticed one Friday evening this summer that Hope was licking her behind very obsessively.  She wouldn't let me look to find out what was wrong.  I finally got my camera and made many attempts to lift up her tail and take a quick photo.  She was very squirrely and wouldn't cooperate, but I finally got this one decent photo that seemed be a large bruise.

I couldn't tell what was wrong, but I could tell that it was bad.  I started calling both my old vet and my new vet, but they were either not open or not available for appointments because of the weekend.

By the next morning, however, it had broken open and looked very much worse.  I could see into her body, and that condition can't be good.  Again, she wasn't cooperating for a photo opportunity, but I managed to get one picture that wasn't blurred.

I called an emergency vet hospital nearby.  The cost was... prohibitive.  By the time I added up the high cost just to walk in the front door (plus whatever procedures might apply afterwards), it was more than I had available.  I called more vet hospitals farther away, but they were mostly closed because of the holiday.  I did find one with a sliding scale (yes!), but they were closed too.

I didn't like it, but I had to wait.

Because it was an emergency, my nearby vet booked an appointment on Monday, just an hour or two before they closed on July 3rd for the July 4th national holiday.  They cleaned out her gland which still had material inside, and they fitted her with a collar to keep her from licking the wound and keeping it open instead of letting the skin seal shut again.  The vet said there wasn't really anything I could've done beforehand, and an anal gland abcess is just a problem that happens sometimes.

I was supposed to keep her collar on for many days, but it didn't work out that way.  While the collar was not heavy, and she could sit up normally, it was a severe problem when she tried to walk.  As soon as she took one step forward, she would drop her head downward so that the collar would "catch" on the floor and slam into her neck, stopping her movement immediately.  So she would just repeatedly step-stop, step-stop, step-stop, step-stop.  It was frustrating just to watch her get stopped so quickly and frequently, and I'm sure it was much worse for her.

It was also a problem for food and water.  No matter how I propped up her dishes on an incline, she would knock them over with the collar anyway.  I went to the store and bought a large water bottle, but she never did learn to drink from it.  I also rigged a platform from garden stakes, so I could tape a cap at the end to contain food or water.  It was semi-successful.  At least, she could eat some food and drink some water before knocking the rest of it off.

I could see that she was losing weight, and I was unhappy again, along with her.

We lasted 2 or 3 days before I took off the collar.  She did not immediately open up her wound again, so I kept an eye on her for the next day.  Everything seemed fine, so we continued without the collar.  I kept putting warm, wet compresses on her behind to help keep the gland open and material moving.  Apparently it all worked out okay.

A few months have passed, and she is still in good health.  The crisis is past.