During the run up to the birth Sammi had "released" her anal glands. Not a pleasant experience for us to be around her, but these things happen when you live with animals don't they. Anyway I kept an eye on the situation and washed her bottom as an when. The day after the pups where born I checked and saw that everything was OK, and I must admit gave it no further thought until last night. For some reason it crossed my mind and I decided to check. OMG .. her bottom was sore and swollen and had a puss like liquid around it. I cleaned it immediately with warm water and got Steve to come and help me look and clean it further. Though Sammi had shown no signs of discomfort prior to this she was obviously sore and agitated as we cleaned it. We had to study carefully as holes/lesions around this area are indicative of a serious condition called anal furunculosis. Currently we can see no holes or lesions but as is always the case panic set in and I was prepared for a sleepless night.
This morning we cleaned the area again checking for holes but saw nothing. As soon as the vet was open I was on the phone. My predicament being, I need Sammi treated but with as little as possible disruption or risk to her or the puppies. The vet was happy to give me medication on my description of the symptoms and give Sammi till Tuesday to respond before they would insist on seeing her. Hopefully this is just an infection and it can be cleared up easily with antibiotics a wash and a cream, the last thing we all need now is for a serious condition to rise it's ugly head.
