If you can avoid having this done, do. It's a nasty surgery. I had this done with my first Basset after his AGs started to cause problems. And believe me, going through the recovery made me wish I'd left well alone. I had another, many years on, who started having continual problems back there. His were packed but it was ongoing to the point I was actually having to consider having them removed. For some reason however, all that stopped, so he narrowly avoided the need for this. Maybe my then vet just found the right antibiotic to pack the glands with!! I would just caution you re continually messing around back there. It can take some weeks for the area to settle down so having them manually drained every 3 - 4 weeks could be making things worse, not better.
If you want my opinion, at 12 years old and with his other problems, I would NOT put him through AG removal surgery. My boy was still young when he had the surgery but it was still nasty.
I'd look to his diet because it's normally only when what's coming through causes probllems which is causing the glands not to work as they should, expelling a bit with the passing of every stool,
I would say my last Basset who was a big boy in every respect, had glands which were, according to my vets, set quite far back, to the point that I couldn't mannually drain them (I never went in to do this, but could usually drain them by pushing from the outside, if necessary). That meant that all too often the stool wasn't pressing enough on the glands for them to work as they should.
If you want my opinion, at 12 years old and with his other problems, I would NOT put him through AG removal surgery. My boy was still young when he had the surgery but it was still nasty.
I'd look to his diet because it's normally only when what's coming through causes probllems which is causing the glands not to work as they should, expelling a bit with the passing of every stool,
I would say my last Basset who was a big boy in every respect, had glands which were, according to my vets, set quite far back, to the point that I couldn't mannually drain them (I never went in to do this, but could usually drain them by pushing from the outside, if necessary). That meant that all too often the stool wasn't pressing enough on the glands for them to work as they should.
