Advice (warning kind of gross) about my cat

[Leelash]

Hi,

My beloved cat is having a recurrence of impacted anal sacs (that's the gross part). I feed her a raw diet (Primal) with added pumpkin for fiber. She is fed better than most humans I know. She is indoors-only and otherwise in great health.

I hate that she has to suffer and I also hate the price tag to go to the vet to get her well. Last time it cost me :felix: $650.

Does anybody have this problem and/or have any ideas of what I can do to prevent it from happening again??

Thanks a lot.

[wildflower]

Small animals that do not relieve their anal sacs with normal pottying (because the anal sac duct is possibly too small) need to have them manually expressed every couple months or so. Frequency depends on the individual. If you let them go, it is a health risk and expensive to treat.
I have 2 chihuahuas that have this done at the groomer monthly, along with their nail clippping.
For a little bit more $, you can probably have them removed. According to my research, they are only for scenting and not really necessary for their health.
Dr Camp @ Analy Vet will do a small dog for $700.(remove anal sacs)
Then the problem will not recur!
Your cat's diet sounds GREAT! Just need some regular maintenance or removal of the sacs. On a small dog, expressing is done by lifting the tail straight up and squeezing the 2 sacs on either side of the anus.(preferably in the bathtub) I don't know if your cat would allow this. Of course once they're impacted, you should not try this.
Call Dr Camp @ Anal Vet and consult with him on this.
Best of Luck
wildflower


Hi,

My beloved cat is having a recurrence of impacted anal sacs (that's the gross part). I feed her a raw diet (Primal) with added pumpkin for fiber. She is fed better than most humans I know. She is indoors-only and otherwise in great health.

I hate that she has to suffer and I also hate the price tag to go to the vet to get her well. Last time it cost me :felix: $650.

Does anybody have this problem and/or have any ideas of what I can do to prevent it from happening again??

Thanks a lot.

[Barbara]

I don't know much about cats with anal gland problems but can tell you several of my dogs have had such a problem. I got tired of paying $ every six weeks to have their anal glands expressed and tried something a raw feeder (of dogs) suggested. She said to feed 1-2 tablespoons of raw whole flax seeds per dog, per day. That was several years ago and I have not had to take my dogs in for anal sac expression since. I buy my flax seed from Andy's Market.

I am not sure how you could feed whole flax seeds to a cat, but were he/she my cat, I would mix the seeds into the raw food and hope for the best. It certainly is a less expensive and less painful way to treat this problem.

[Leelash]

Thanks to all of you who posted with your advice.

I took my girl to Dr. Sue Buxton and had a very good experience. She did the least invasive procedure with relatively easy recovery (especially compared to last time when I took her to emergency for the same ailment). No cone on her head, not even compresses necessary, and miraculous pill pockets to pill her with.

She assured me that the food I was giving her had nothing to do with the problem–it is just "luck" that some cats have this problem.

My cat just finished her round of antibiotics and she has healed perfectly.

Thanks again,
Leelash