It's hard to believe it has been almost a year ago since we had this surgery done on Remington. Over that past year I have been contacted by people all over the world (seriously) about giving them advice on what they should do concerning their own dogs. I have also been overwhelmed with responses from people on DoodleKisses (an online community for doodle owners) wondering how Remington is doing now, telling me they think of us often, and wondering what life is like for us now. It is so nice to feel so loved by people you have never even met :) Thank you!
So to answer your questions...
Remington is doing great! Besides the two weeks of hellish recovery he showed no negative signs from the surgery. He healed up completely and you would not even be able to tell anything was done. Thank goodness! It is a little strange to me though how much harder Remington's recovery was than the other people I have been in contact with. I'm always telling them what our experience with recovery was like and they all never seem to have any problems. Their dogs come out of surgery acting like hardly anything happened. I keep wondering why this was... does it just depend on the dog, did we not have a good surgeon, or did I just overreact?
Life with Remington now is perfect! We no longer have to go to the vet every 2-3 weeks to get an expression done. This was a little weird at first since we were so use to going so often. However, it sure is nice now only going to the vet for our yearly checkup. We don't have to worry about Remington having little mishaps on our furniture and the huge clean up process that entailed. Remington is so much happier without them... you can tell!
Would I do this again if another one of my dogs had this problem? I have went back and forth on this question again and again. At first I said never would I put another dog through what Remington went through... but now... I know without a doubt that it was the best decision we could have ever made for him and ourselves. All the money we spent, all the sleepless nights after the surgery, all the tears... everything... was worth it.
Even though I don't think a surgery like this should be taken lightly, what I do think is if your dog has been suffering from issues with anal glands for several years and it is affecting his life and yours in a negative way, it may be time to take action. Don't suffer though it thinking it will get better because most of the time it won't. And remember... you are your dogs advocate, no one else. Don't let other people make you feel like you are making the wrong decision. Only you know what you and your dog go through on a daily basis so do what "you" believe is right for your family.
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