Itchy butt

Misty has started rubbing her butt on the carpet. She never used to do this, but now I see her do it several times a day. Her rear does not look irritated at all so the only thing I can think of is worms, but I haven't seen any. I've spent a small fortune on vet bills for all my pets over the past couple of months, so I'd like to have an idea of what I'm dealing with before I take her in and have them charge me $50 to just look at her and say her skin is dry or something simple. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, I'd like to avoid a vet trip if possible but if I can't I'll take her in the next day or so.

How big of a dog is she? Small dogs will do the butt rubbing routine sometimes when they need their anal glands expressed.

She's about 60 pounds

Glands are still a possibility but a lot less likely in a big dog. Do ask your vet to check them when you go in just in case. If her skin was dry she'd probably be chewing on her butt, not rubbing it on the floor. Worms is another possibility, try looking at her poo next time she goes and look for little white rice like worm segments or spaghetti like roundworms.

ETA: She's realllly pretty! We need more pictures of her

anal glands would be my suspicion, in any size dog.

Sounds like we'll definitely have to take a trip to the vet, this obviously isn't something I can take care of myself

Poor pup isn't going to be happy!

Thanks for the replies

Any sized dog can have anal gland issues, and the most common way for them to try and express them on their own without a BM is the scooting action. You can feel yourself if you are brave enough. Located at 4 and 8 o'clock are where the glands are located beside the anus. If you feel two full small sized balls then they need to be expressed.

Zoe is 56 pounds and needs her glands expressed a couple times a year

Well I'm definitely not brave enough to try checking myself! I guess I've always been lucky, I've only had one animal that needed it done before so it hadn't even crossed my mind.

its really easy to do!
I do it about.... 6 or 7 times a day! So I am a pro

(i am a dog groomer, and we do anal glands. most dogs need it EVERY time we see them, thats about every 6 to 8 weeks)

Sounds like an annal gland problem, if so it's a easy fix.

Good luck at the vets, let us know how it goes.

Being pregnant I probably would let my vet check it out too instead of doing it myself.....although as a groomer I have no problems with doing it.

I had one of my dog's glands done by the vet last year. I thought he needed it done again, but there wasn't much of anything there. The vet said it looked more like allergies. This dog gets seasonal allergies. I have to give him Benedryl when it's really bothering him and it helps. I'd check with your vet to see if it's allergies.

If it's anal glands, you can do that yourself once someone shows you.

She's completely stopped doing it, so I cancelled the vet appointment for now and will keep an eye on her. :dunno:

I also followed her outside yesterday to get a closer look at her poop, and it was very healthy looking. I didn't mush through it, but it was solid and I saw no signs of worms. If it was an anal gland problem is it possible she managed to fix it herself from the butt rubbing or from just pooping it out?

Yeah, the BM usually expresses the anal glands, so it's possible she fixed it herself.

If she continues scooting, you could take a fecal sample in to the vet and they can test it for worms. Even if they don't actually see any worms in the sample, I believe they can put it under a microscope and check for eggs and such that indicate that there are worms.

I worked with a dog recently who was scooting, and we never got around to taking a fecal sample to the vet. He stopped scooting, and a few days later we finally noticed tapeworms. :dunno: So keep your eyes open anyway.

does the dog drags her butts across the floor? my dogs does that all the time. i find it pretty funny

Yeah, like people in this thread already said it's usually a symptom of the anal glands being expressed and that they need to be emptied, or worms.

Could also be a piece of hair which isn't digested...we have long hair here and occasionally Pepper or Mary seem to swallow a piece which causes problems on the other end. Tape worms can also cause an itchy anus.

"Itchy anus" would be a great band name.

Re: anal glands, a good poop can also express the glands. A good poop can cure a lot. Sometimes one of my dogs gets that rusty, fishy anal gland smell, and after he goes to the bathroom, all is well again.

My neighbor had a dog with a very swollen and angry looking anal problem. I put him in the tub (and yes i did bleach the heck out of it afterwards) and after getting him to calm down i got him to back up to the warm water from the faucet. ONce he realized it actually felt good he stood still and i slowly titrated up the temp. Stayed there until the hotwater tank emptied (about 10-15) minutes. I FInished his bath and dried him up and sent him home. THe next day when I saw him outside i stopped to see how he was doing and was amazed, problem was gone.