Impacted/infected anal glands

[Deleted]

Just wondering how many have dealt with swollen or infected anal glands. Over the years we have had many ferrets that were not descented. Only once did we have a ferret get an infected anal gland that required surgery. Had to express the glands numerous times but our kuda had gotten a bad infection and had to have it surgically removed along with antibiotics.

[Sherry]

Oh poor wee one! Given that most of our fuzz in NA are mill babies we only have to deal with that if the mill's botch the descent they are subjected to as tiny babies.
Would you be willing to post how you recognize when it's an impacted gland, and an infected gland?

[Deleted]

Yes will try to get that done at home on a real computer easier than this phone

[crazylady]

Hi normally with impacted anal glands you see a swelling on the side of the rectum ( normally its two as they both swell and block together and no secretions can be made )they feel firm and your ferret will soon let you know if they are hurting lol if you don't notice any swelling another sign is they tend to scoot there butts along the floor as if they are trying to get rid of an itch that wont go away if you see them doing this then your ferret needs attention for those glands don't try and squeeze them yourself if you have not been shown by a vet what to do because if they rupture they can cause an intestinal fistula which is very hard to treat if you cant get your ferret to a vet straight away you can try and help ease the discomfort and maybe release the blockage use a warm compress on the glands this may help soften what ever is blocking them and loosen the build up allowing your ferret to express them itself that's if your ferret will cooperate and let you stick a warm compress on its butt lol if this keeps happening after your vet has expressed them its wisest to have them removed surgically as is painful for the ferret and the more times it happens the great the risk of them rupturing never say a poofing ferret is a bad thing those stink bombs tell you he or she is firing on both barrels lol hope this helps take care bye for now
Bev

[Sherry]

It does, thanks Bev! I'm going to sticky this thread as more and more of us here are getting intact ferrets, with all their necessary equipment still in place

[mjbez]

I have a real Canadian ferret with a botched removal. We have had to take Her in twice for impacted anal gland. It looked like a large bump on the one side of her rectum. My vet also recommended trying warm compresses as having them expressed at the vet office was rather pricey.

[Sherry]

What was the upshot of this treatment? Has it helped her or have you had to resort to surgical treatment?

[fretki]

Over here ferrets with removed anal glands are rather exotic, our animal protection law prohibits anal gland removing unless medical indications are makeing it necessary, so the vets over here are very guarded and won't do it easily.
Depending on the cause of the anal gland problems: homeopathy, traditional chinese medicine and a change in diet may lead to full recovery.
Undiscovered chronic problems may lead to a change in behavior: one of my ferrets "Kami" came to me as a biter, she was easily irritable, not sleeping well and biting fastly without obivious reason... she had "rat-testicles" (that's how I refer to swollen anal glands), with constant homeopathic treatment she turned back into a nice sprightly lady

[Sherry]

Not too surprising she was like that. She would have been in a LOT of pain poor girl.

[fretki]

I guess so... I don't wan't to know how long this was already going on, she had 3 previous owners before coming to me, poor girl... at least we discovered it pretty fast, and now I understand her, if she is grumpy, time for a check up of her glands