Is Pumpkin Good for Dogs?
We took Mocha to the vet today to examine a bump on his head. An old tick bite seems to have gotten infected. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything serious. But while at the vet, we asked him about Mocha’s odor too.
Mocha stinks. He stinks more than a normal dog should stink. Whenever he’s playing with Melvin & Cabbie, he’s the stinkiest one of the three. People will walk by and say, “Damn those dogs stink!” And it’s not dogs, it’s dog. It’s Mocha.
The vet asked us if it was a fishy odor. It mostly smelled like ripe dog to us, but there seemed to be a fishy element.
“It’s his anal glands,” he told us.
Anal glands?
“You know how dogs smell another dog’s butt when meeting a new dog? They are smelling the scent from the other dog’s anal glands.”
Ah.
“These glands can become full or impacted if he doesn’t defecate regularly. How regular is Mocha?”
Mocha’s usually goes about twice a day – although lately, he’s been going once a day. Perhaps he has a bout of constipation? The vet seemed to be onto something. He inspected Mocha’s butt. I imagined Mocha squirting his anal gland juices like a skunk onto the vet’s face. Sorry, my mind wanders sometimes.
“I would suggest feeding him some pumpkin every day. From what you’ve told me, his diet isn’t high in fiber and he could use some. Pumpkin is a safe source of fiber for a dog. It’s also nutritious and some dogs love the taste.”
Sounds great!
“The alternative is to express his anal glands.”
Express? His anal glands? Like drawing a picture of them?
“Either I can do it for you, or I can teach you how.” He then proceeded to describe the procedure. And, um, I think we’ll stick to the pumpkin for now.
Hello pumpkin, good bye stink!
Photo via: the_girl
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