Introduction
Anal sac disease is a condition in cats that occurs when the two anal glands, located one on each side of the rectum, repeatedly become infected, abscessed, or impacted with fluids that are normally expressed in small amounts during defecation. While this condition occurs in dogs and cats, cats most often experience impaction while dogs can experience infection, abscess, or impaction.
Symptoms of Anal Sac Disease
The signs and symptoms of anal sac disease include continual scooting, licking, and biting behavior as the cat attempts to relieve the discomfort, pain, and itching associated with anal sac disease. Your cat may also repeatedly try to defecate without any results or experience pain when it is defecating. Owners often report a "fishy" odor emanating from the cat, or a "fishy" odor to the cat's breathe (from the cat licking at its anus).
Diagnosing Anal Sac Disease
Anal sac disease is diagnosed based on the cat’s symptoms and medical history, and through a rectal palpation of the sacs. The sacs are often expressed and the contents are examined under a microscope to check for bacteria and cells that indicate an infection.
Treating Anal Sac Disease in Cats
Treating anal sac disease in cats includes manually expressing the sacs, cleaning infected sacs with an antiseptic, and antibiotic therapy. Severely impacted sacs may need to be injected with a softening agent before they can be expressed. In severe cases the sacs may need to be expressed and then flushed on a weekly basis, and steroidal therapy may be prescribed. In extreme cases the sacs may be removed surgically. However the surgery always carries of risk of permanent fecal incontinence and is only recommended as a last resort treatment.
Outlook for cats with Anal Sac Disease
The prognosis of anal sac disease in cats is good to excellent. Obese cats should be placed on a weight loss diet to reduce risks of further incidence, and as long as the anal sacs are kept clean and well maintained the risks of scarring and anal sac rupture are very low.