After the vet has made a thorough assessment of your dog’s condition, they will be able to recommend a suitable course of treatment. Ordinarily, vets will be hesitant to perform surgery on the growths, as this can result in complications such as damage to the anus or bacterial infections. As such, direct physical intervention is considered a last resort, with less invasive methods being strongly preferred in all but the most severe and debilitating of cases. Instead, the vet will use treatments such as topical creams to ease the irritation and shrink hemorrhoids and dietary supplements can be used to tackle the root cause of the issue. Supplements can also be used to soften your dog’s feces in order to lessen their effect on the growth. Over time, the blood vessel should return to a semblance of its normal state, allowing the dog to resume normal activity and letting you make the necessary changes to their lifestyle in order to prevent the condition from reoccurring.
During the recovery period, it may be necessary for your furry companion to wear a protective collar in order to prevent them from biting at the hemorrhoids and further aggravating them. Measures should also be taken to prevent them from dragging their bottom across the floor in a bid to soothe the irritation, as this too can cause problems.
- In all animals, if hemorrhoids are left untreated and the root cause is not resolved, there is a high probability that the condition will get worse. This can lead to extreme discomfort, internal bleeding, and bacterial infections.
- Hardened stools can be a cause and aggravating factor for the growths, meaning that all animals can benefit from more fiber being added to their diet in order to aid the passing of feces.
- Older animals are especially susceptible to hemorrhoids, mainly as a result of poor dietary habits and an increased incidence of other potentially related health problems such as gastrointestinal issues.
- While humans and many other mammals will typically develop hemorrhoids as a result of a poor diet or chronic dehydration making it necessary to strain in order to pass feces (resulting in an enlargement of blood vessels around the anus), dogs will commonly develop the problem due to intestinal diseases causing long-lasting irritation of the anus and will normally not respond as badly to dehydration, etc.
- While the condition is usually quite easy to self-diagnose in humans due to its distinctive appearance, dogs have a number of other structures surrounding the anus, meaning that other problems (such as inflamed glands or even tumors) are often mistaken for hemorrhoids.
- One of the ways in which severe cases of hemorrhoids are treated in humans is via the use of a rubber band to constrict the blood vessel and lessen its capacity, making it shrink down quite quickly. Due to the self-control needed to not disturb the band. However, this method is rarely used on dogs.
An elderly German Shepherd is presented to a vet clinic with what appears to be a swollen anal gland that is causing it a fair amount of discomfort. Upon closer inspection, however, it is revealed that the problem mass is, in fact, a hemorrhoid that is hanging out of the anus itself. In order to resolve the immediate irritation felt by the dog, the vet prescribes an anti-hemorrhoid cream that will both soothe the itching and help shrink the blood vessel back down.
Further investigation reveals that due to the fact that the pooch is recovering from a recent serious stomach illness, the dog has only been eating dried foods with a low nutritional value for the past few months. To help rectify this, the vet prescribes a dietary fiber supplement and recommends a meal plan to get the dog used to eat normal healthy food again. Within a month, the hemorrhoid had shrunk back down and the dog is pain-free.
