Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Tuesday evening I noticed that Emily had some kind of raw spot on her little rear end. Took her to the vet on Wednesday and discoverd that one of her anal glands had gotten blocked up and had abcessed. According to the vet it's not very common for cats to have anal gland problems--it's much more common in dogs. And, there was no warning--she said generally you will see them scooting or licking themselves a lot.

Emily is now on antibiotics and appears to be healing. I will need to take her in regularly to monitor things, which I will gladly do.

Has anyone else had this problem with their cats?

Carol, Emily, & Eddie

Ohhh poor Emily...

Incredibly, that is one problem we actually haven't had...yet!!!

Big smoochies to that pretty girl from all of us here...hope she feels better!!!

Oh, poor Emily!!!
Chris had that problem, I think, about 3 years ago. I honestly thought he was dying; he was not eating, he hid under the bed, he didn't want to interact with us at all. I had absolutely NO idea what was wrong. One evening, I had decided to take him to the vet the next day and then really REALLY looked Chris over well and found this horribly swollen area on his buns. He had been licking a lot however at age 14 or 15, he had never had this problem so I had absolutely no experience with it.
When I got to the vet I was a total basket case. The receptionist asked me what was going on and I just broke down and sobbed. I kept saying, "Chris is sick, I don't know what's wrong, he's in horrible pain". Well, I'll tell you, that'll get one into an exam room in a hurry. Joanna came in immediately, diagnosed the problem, gave Chris a pain shot because he was in HORRIBLE pain, and they kept Chris until the next day, on and she "treated" me also by calming me down and telling me things would be OK. Of course his abscess had progressed to the point where they had to anesthetize him and do some work on the area. He came home in a plastic cone and with sort of a "hole" in his butt. It wasn't horrible.....well, maybe it was and I felt that I could almost see Chris's head through that little gland duct if I looked far enough. My poor babykins!! Chris is such a good boy, such a trouper! He was on antibiotics for about 10 days and healed very quickly.
I'll tell you one thing, nowadays, I occasionally go over Chris's entire furry body with a magnifying glass!
Carol, I'm SO glad you discovered Emily's problem in a timely manner so that all she needed was antibiotics.

GET WELL SOON, EMILY!!

Thanks Yak,

Has Chris had any more problems? The vet suggested that I bring her in every couple months or so, just to check her out. Probably not a bad idea--I can combine it with her gingivitis checks.

My poor little girl--and she's such a little sweetie. (Well, except when I'm trying to give her meds.) She's so squirmy that I have to use topical stuff that I rub inside her ear--no getting pills or liquid in that little mouth. And then, I have to keep her away from Eddie because he tries to "help" by washing her ear out for her...

What's a mom to do?

Carol, Emily, & Eddie

>>Oh, poor Emily!!!
>>Chris had that problem, I think, about 3 years ago. I honestly thought he was dying; he was not eating, he hid under the bed, he didn't want to interact with us at all. I had absolutely NO idea what was wrong. One evening, I had decided to take him to the vet the next day and then really REALLY looked Chris over well and found this horribly swollen area on his buns. He had been licking a lot however at age 14 or 15, he had never had this problem so I had absolutely no experience with it.
>>When I got to the vet I was a total basket case. The receptionist asked me what was going on and I just broke down and sobbed. I kept saying, "Chris is sick, I don't know what's wrong, he's in horrible pain". Well, I'll tell you, that'll get one into an exam room in a hurry. Joanna came in immediately, diagnosed the problem, gave Chris a pain shot because he was in HORRIBLE pain, and they kept Chris until the next day, on and she "treated" me also by calming me down and telling me things would be OK. Of course his abscess had progressed to the point where they had to anesthetize him and do some work on the area. He came home in a plastic cone and with sort of a "hole" in his butt. It wasn't horrible.....well, maybe it was and I felt that I could almost see Chris's head through that little gland duct if I looked far enough. My poor babykins!! Chris is such a good boy, such a trouper! He was on antibiotics for about 10 days and healed very quickly.
>>I'll tell you one thing, nowadays, I occasionally go over Chris's entire furry body with a magnifying glass!
>>Carol, I'm SO glad you discovered Emily's problem in a timely manner so that all she needed was antibiotics.
>>
>>GET WELL SOON, EMILY!!
>>

my vet gave me a great trick for giving the kitties pills... i coat it in some stage 2 chicken or turkey baby food... it helps pills slide down and they love it!! good luck. kisses to emily...

Carol:
No, Chris has not had any anal glad problems since that one and only incident. Believe me, I keep a really close eye on that kind of thing............poor Babykins, with the anal gland issue and the closing of his urethra and subsequent surgery, his butt has been an area of scrutiny. I closely check his hiney every couple of days and usually once a week, Jim picks him up, holds him like a baby, schmoozes him and I clean his butt.....the new "urethra" gets all gummed up with brown stuff and the vet is amazed that Chris has gotten along so well since surgery. It's been about 20 months since surgery and Dr Mike says that it seldom lasts longer than 9 months to a year due to getting plugged up. Well, I'm here to tell you that won't be happening. Of course, after a minute or so, Chris gets very antsy however he's usually a very good boy about "kitty hygeine day".
I have heard that once a cat does experience an anal gland infection and/or abscess, it tends to become kind of a chronic problem. I know cat owners who, when their cats start excessively licking the area, they start on the antibiotics immediately which, IMHO is a pretty good idea. No sense in allowing it to get bad.
Hugs to Emily and Eddie.

GOTTA LOVE EMILY AND EDDIE!!

Best wishes to Emily and tell Eddie he's really not helping.
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Terry, confused human companion of Liat.

Ouch! Poor Emily! Dominique hope she feels better now....
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Denise & Dominique