So I'm walking back in from a break on the side porch at the shop, and Mr. P and Sgt. P are in a huddle by the registers. As I walk past, I hear Mr. P saying "...and they're really not necessary. They're like your appendix; you can have them out with no problem."
Wondering what they were talking about, I asked "What are?"
"Anal glands," said Mr. P.
"Eeeew! Ohh! I just want to go back to the world of five minutes ago, when everything was happy and clean!"
Sgt. P looked at me and said "How long has it been? A year now? You think you'd learn. Every time you come around a corner and find us laughing and ask 'What?', you wind up all grossed out."
It turns out that the two of them, both dog owners, were discussing some pooch-specific malady. Makes me want to snuggle my cat. Suddenly the occasional hairball doesn't seem like too high a price to pay...
Cats get impacted anal glands, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd they scratch much harder when you try to deal with the problem. ;)
I really didn't need to know that.
ReplyDeleteNot just an animal problem. One of the guys here at the office had some bad problems with his.
ReplyDeleteI don't know (nor wanted to know) what the procedure was to fix him, but a close friend of mine had to have his removed.
The ladies around here got a wicked kick about how he had to wair maxi-pads : ]
"One of the guys here at the office had some bad problems with his."
ReplyDeleteHis?
His?
People have anal glands?
I'm going to be hours scrubbing this knowledge out of my head with a wire brush.
"I'm going to be hours scrubbing this knowledge out of my head with a wire brush."
ReplyDeleteYet another use for GunScrubber!
Cats and dogs are both cool in different ways. I have both. The cat doesn't seem to enjoy lounging in the grass with me while I read.
ReplyDelete"Uh, dude, you only need one hand to hold that thing. That other hand could be petting me, ya know."
The cat is much lower maintenance though. And at times I think he likes the dog more than he likes me.
They can keep their glands to themselves though.
I'd think the pecker-sucking goat to be more traumatic.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I blog about painting a wall or fixing something...
ReplyDeleteOne of my cats had the worst anal-gland problem. We were constantly having to wash linens and cushion covers after he slept or sat on them, and you had to be very careful how you picked him up and held him in his later years.
ReplyDeleteEvidently, one can manually express the glands to help alleviate the problem. Yeah, the hell with that. He became Mom's cat when I moved out since she refused to part with him, so his stinky butt ceased to be my problem.
I know, I know. TMGDI.
Yep. Former vet tech, sorry to tell you along with everyone else that cats are every bit as prone.
ReplyDeleteBrandon- dude, if you have a pet that has issues with them learning to manually express is so worth it. That way you can rapidly drain the stinky juice into a wad of paper towels and throw them away in the outside garbage.
That way you don't have to deal with the vile stuff when it backs up and then comes out as a SURPRISE and gets on your clothes and skin and bedding.
Some veterinarians refer to them as anal sacs. There is a Milwaukee radio personality who was rather upset to mis-hear this and think he was being asked if his dog hadd any problems with anal secs.
ReplyDeleteI pretty sure all Mammals have them. Any Zoologists out there?
ReplyDeleteSo far as I *know* (zoology is not my profession, but have a fair amount of background in it), all mammals have them, but only in order Carnivora are they developed enough to be of interest to anyone other than histologists, proctologists, and the rare oncologist.
ReplyDeleteAll of Carnivora have developed anal glands that serve as individual scent markers... normally they're expressed just a bit whenever the animal poops. "Kilroy was here!"
And just to add to the fun, they also express when the beastie is in the throes of panic. This is how most vet techs meet the marvelous anal gland first.
Skunks are the only members of Carnivora to develop them as offensive weaponry despite the obvious potential.
The More You Know!