Anal Sac Inflammation & Scooting

What is Anal Sac Inflammation and Scooting?

When anal sacs are irritated or infected, blood flow to the area increases. The anal area becomes hot, swollen, and painful. This inflammation causes the tiny ducts that empty the anal sacs to swell shut. With the ducts swollen shut, the material within the sac dries out and hardens, first into a paste, then into a hard, gritty material. If the sac is not expressed manually or opened surgically, it bursts, creating an open, draining tract through the skin.

Scooting in when your pet slides across the floor on its bottom as though it is scratching an itchy, painful, or dirty anus. Scooting is not a healthy activity because it drives bacteria into the skin and into the anal sac ducts. Your pet?s entire bottom can become hot, swollen, and infected. Food allergies and anal sac inflammation are two common causes of scooting.

Scooting is as unhealthy for the floor as it is for your pet because it deposits bacteria, a foul odor, and sometimes fecal material, on the floor. Anal sac inflammation and scooting is a chicken and egg scenario because inflammation caused by any factor?such as fleas, ringworm, or food allergies?can lead to scooting and scooting can lead to inflammation.

What Causes Scooting?

Anything that causes itching, pain, or a dirty bottom can cause scooting. For example, anal sac inflammation, food allergies, and a low-fiber diet are common causes of scooting. Below, the causes of scooting are listed according to whether they cause itching, pain, or a dirty bottom.

• Food allergies are the most common cause of perineal itching. The saying used to describe food allergy symptoms is: Food allergies hit the ear and the rear.
• Fleas are attracted to your pet’s tail area because they are safely out of reach of your pet’s mouth. As the fleas bite, your pet may scoot in an attempt to scratch the allergic itch caused by flea proteins.
• Ringworm and yeast can infect the skin around the tail and cause intense itching without leaving outward signs such as patchy hair loss.
• Tapeworm segments can cause itching irritation as they exit the anus and collect on the skin and surrounding hair.
• Grooming products, especially when applied directly to the perineal area to cover up the foul smell after anal glands are emptied or when applied to skin that was irritated by a clipper burn, can cause contact allergy and itching.

• Anal sac inflammation is often caused by low-fiber foods. While these foods are convenient for us because there is a smaller amount of fecal material to be picked up, they are unhealthy for pets. High-fiber foods are healthy for many reasons, including their ability to produce a stool volume sufficient to empty the anal sacs. Dogs and cats evolved having large stools because they ate the bones of their prey and other bulk-producing, indigestible material. Eating low-fiber kibble is not natural for them.
• Constipation occurs when your pet doesn’t defecate. Stool accumulates inside the colon becoming increasingly drier, harder, and more difficult to pass.
• Cancer causes perineal pain when tumors erode the skin or press into the colon.
• Skin folds that become infected with bacteria are painful. Skin fold infections around the tail are common in obese pets and in pets with loose, wrinkled skin around the tail.
• Anal fistulas are painful, draining tracts under the tail. These fistulas may involve the anal sacs.
• Clipper burns and perineal skin irritation are common in frequently groomed dogs, such as Poodles and Schnauzers. If your dog licks its bottom obsessively after being groomed, check for skin irritation. Grooming soaps and sprays can also irritate the skin, especially if sprayed on thickly to mask odor after anal sacs are emptied.

• Diarrhea occurs in pets with infections, food allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, and insufficient digestive enzymes. Diarrhea also occurs in pets with Tritrichomonas foetus, which causes dribbling of stool called the "leaky butt syndrome.”
• Longhaired cats, such as Himalayans, and longhaired dogs, such as Poodles, Schnauzers, and Shi Tzus, may have trouble with feces being trapped in their coats.
• Obese pets often cannot reach their bottoms to keep themselves clean.
• Stiff pets, especially senior pets, may have inflexible or painful joints so they cannot clean their bottoms.

Which Pets Are Most at Risk for Anal Sac Inflammation?

Anal sac inflammation is common in small breed dogs such as dachshunds, poodles, and chihuahuas. It is thought that this is due to the small size of the ducts which drain the anal sacs. Anal sac inflammation is also common in certain large breed, dogs, especially retriever and spaniel breeds.