I think most people expect and adapt to feces as a part of the daily life of owning dogs, but there's other, less expected parts that can be far nastier.
Duncan's had a pretty consistent 3-4 week time table on needing his anal sacs expressed. At one point, shortly after I adopted him, he had a nightmare. He was laying on my bed at the time, and when he cut loose, it was emergency laundry time.
I don't do well with the smell of anal gland secretions. Never have. After a couple years working as a vet tech, I'd rather do it and see what the consistency is than pay someone else to do it. I feel like I need a shower in a flamethrower after, but I get it done.
Shortly before Christmas, Duncan went on a supplement called Glandex. We had put Ocho, our 14 year old pet on it for his chronic anal sac infection, and he'd had good results. Once Duncan was on it, I kind of forgot to do anything. It's been about 2 months now, and Sunny was starting to lick under her tail. Well, I emptied Twist, Sunny, and Keeper... and Duncan had hardly anything built up at all. It's not a super cheap supplement, but he likes the flavor and I like the results. [Disclaimer: We pay full price for the product and no one has contacted me for a review, this is my own, highly biased opinion.]
He'll also be on antibiotics for the next week. The sebaceous gland cyst he's been brewing since last year's annual bump check finally cut loose. Thankfully it went externally where I could express it and it will hopefully heal with no further intervention, instead of abscessing inward. There must have been a tablespoon and a half worth of oil and gunk in there. It didn't appear to bleed at all, and it didn't have any odor so I don't think it was infected, but now that I've disturbed it and he's got a small hole in his side, I'd rather be proactive with antibiotics (followed by probiotics) than wait to see if it will become infected.
After months of working on him laying on his side on the couch while I cut his nails, he volunteered to lay on his side while I squeezed all the buildup out- so long as the treats kept coming. He was pleased with that, and super pleased to get to go see the ladies at the vet clinic. He loves our current vet's staff. He didn't actually see the vet, but I took him in to schmooze some in the lobby with the techs while it was slow and I picked up his meds.
He amused himself by giving his left foot instead of his correct right foot on the cue "shake". He wagged hard and grinned so big when the tech accepted his "foot" instead of his "shake" and gave him a treat. He's such a smartass sometimes. He thinks it's funny to see if people will let him get away with sloppy work, and it really amuses him when he gets away with doing it "wrong" because they don't know any better.
I really wish he tolerated children better after his knee injury. I think he'd love a second career as a therapy dog. He was so happy to go out and greet people.
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