1437. Poodle with elongated pelvic bones bites when anal sacs are touched

Sunday Aug 3, 2014

Poodle, MN, 4 years. Home breeder used him to produce 4 litters but did not take good care of him..Bites anybody. Finally a couple adopted him from SOSD (Save Our Singapore Dogs).

"Can't stop scootering," the man had googled "Toa Payoh Vets" and so found me.
A simple case, I thought.
"Sedation is required," I advised as the dog objected strongly to his anal sacs being touched.
"The other vet expressed his sacs last month," the wife said. "We could hear loud screaming inside he room."
"What did the vet tell you about the amount of anal sac oil?" I asked.
"Just fishy smell."
 
With permission, I sedated the 7 kg dog with Zoletil 100 at 80 mg. Not good to traumatise the 4-year-old again by grabbing him and expressing his glands..

He vomited 10 minutes later and kept moving his tongue in and out of his mouth. He salivated and vomited again, being fed fully.

I was surprised to see the poodle's anal area being 3 cm shorter than his pelvic bones. Dogs do have undershot or overshot jaws but pelvic bones being longer backwards than usual are rare.

I showed the couple how to express since the dog now trusts them and does not bite them.
Or will he?
Thick dark brown oil oozed out. Smelly. Around 2 ml. Not much. Still the room stenched. I switched on the fan. Red, dark red skin seen after expression. As if this is badly infected skin. 

As for surgery to anal sac removal to resolve this problem of intense scootering, I advised that the anal sacs may be much sunkened in an difficult to remove. The pelvic bones stretched back by 3 cm, depressing the anal area. There is a concave depression between the anus and the lower pelvic bone jutting caudally. So, surgery may be challenging as other normal dogs have anal sacs in line vertically with the posterior edge of the pelvic bones, not 3 cm forward. A rare case.

Medication to resolve the problem. No surgery to be advised as the sacs may not be easily located and the problem will remain.