Expert: Dr. Louis N. Gotthelf - 11/24/2008

Question
Hello,

I have a female cat, she is 8 years old now. 2 years ago she had a rupture on the left anal sac and some months later the right side. It happened again and we requested the surgery to remove both glands. Since then, it happened again on the right side (3 times now, all times blood and pus with and very smelly). We took her back to the veterinarian and he removed a small tissue to check for possible cancer. But the tests were negative. All 3 times she had it we made a small cut to flush it and within some day it was gone. Any chance of that gland had grew again?

Thanks.

Answer
When the anal glands abscess, it loses its shape, like an almond, and parts heal inside the scar tissue.  Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get all of the anal gland tissue out after it heals.  I have a laser, and when I see these patients like yours, I laser ablate all of the tissue around the anus and destroy all remnants of the anal sac.  They don't grow back, but the secretory tissue that was there at the beginning is still present.