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Anal Saculitis

Zoe

My dog has been treated for anal saculitis for the past six weeks, seven days on Simplicef 100mg, but she continued to try licking her anal area and sometimes there was blood in the anal discharge. I took her to another vet who prescribed Ziniquin for seven days. Still the iritation persisted. The vet expressed the sac again, after that seven day regimen, the vet saw her again, expressed the sac and it still was copious and bloody. The vet now has her on a 3-week dosing of Ziniquin. The vet says if there is no improvement, then surgical removal might be considered. What do you think of this treatment? Is such a surgery safe if done by an surgeon experienced with this procedure? Thanks.

Symptoms: Itching & Scratching

• Experienced Advisor Deepa Gopinath says:

  February 25th, 2008 at 10:59 AM

  Hello there.  Anal sacculectomy is a surgery usually performed when the anal sacs become repeatedly blocked or infected.  However, if there is bleeding, I would first rule out the presence of a tumour in that area (presumably your vets have already checked for this).  A less invasive procedure is to flush the anal glands and fill them with an antibiotic preperation.  This also requires a general anaesthetic and is not always successful but may be worth a try if you are worried about the surgery at all. Having not examined Zoe, I'm not in a position to comment as to to whether this would be appropriate for her specifically.  Anal sacculectomy is not without risk- there are some vital structures in that area- nerves, blood vessels and the external anal sphincter, which controls faecal continence, so there is a risk of any of these structures being damaged and faecal incontinence.  Also, surgery in that area can increase the risk of a perineal hernia, in which the body wall in that area pulls apart and allows organs to protrude from the defect.  Having said that, I'm certainly not trying to scare you.......in the right hands of an experienced surgeon, this should be a fairly safe procedure and certainly effective in controlling the sacculitis, if this is the problem.  Good luck and please let me know if you have any more questions!

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• Lindell says:

  February 26th, 2008 at 08:50 AM

  Dear Dr. Gopinath, Thank you so much for your detailed reponse. Both vets checked for tumors through digital examination and found none. My present vet wants to give the oral antibiotic (Ziniquin)a 2-3 week run before going the next step, which as she mentioned, might be the flushing procedure. Naturally, if Zoe conditions worsens, I would want to go with the flush procedure, and if that doesn't work, consider the sacculectomy. Again, I very much appreciate your help. Lindell Bruce

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