How to Remove the Anal Gland Scent from Your Sofa (2024)

by Kimberly Gauthier, CPCN | Sep 24, 2019 | Dog Health | 21 comments

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Summary: If you're looking for a product to help remove the anal gland scent from fabric, try Nature's Miracle Advanced or a DIY Thieves Cleaner (ingredients below).

• 16-ounce glass spray bottle
• 3 tbsp of organic witch hazel
• 50-80 drops of Germ Fighter by Plant Therapy
• Fill the bottle with water

Last night sucked big time. Rodrigo's anal glands expressed in a circle the size of a 50-cent piece on the sectional. I've been wondering what happened – he was lying there, and maybe he farted, or maybe it just happened – this has happened with Sydney in the past, but it wasn't so much.

All of a sudden J said, “wow, did you fart or do you have [dog poo] on you.” He made Rodrigo get down so that he could check his backside (with his long hair, it's been known to happen if he has a loose or toothpasty poo), and that's when J saw the 50-cent piece.

Surprisingly, he touched it and smelled his fingers (hee hee hee), and then all hell broke loose. Not really, but he wasn't pleased and started talking about getting rid of the sofa, that the dogs should be banned from the furniture and whatnot.

I got to work.

A Product Every Dog Owner Should Have

There is one product every dog owner should have on hand, and that's Nature's Miracle Advanced Stain & Odor Remover. It must be the “advanced” formula. It was recommended to me by friends when I was about to throw away a chair soaked in cat urine. I sprayed the chair enough for Nature's Miracle to soak into the cushions (the urine had been there for a bit) and put the chair on the front porch.

I didn't believe it would work.

That was four years ago – the chair is Zoey's favorite seat in the house. Update: we kept that chair for 9 more years before getting rid of it (due to old age).

Nature's Miracle Advanced and Anal Glands

It turns out that it works just as effectively on anal gland fluid and the scent. While J was pricing the cost of a new sofa, I started looking for our bottle of Nature's Miracle Advanced and sprayed it on the 50-cent piece area, and within seconds, the anal gland smell was gone, and the fabric wasn't damaged.

I put my nose to it many times during the evening. It was gone.

I sprayed a few other places where Rodrigo had sat down to make sure.

Expressing Anal Glands

I've written about expressing anal glands in the past. I knew Rodrigo wasn't done. He'd been skooching earlier, and since a problem with anal glands is unheard of with him, I was concerned.

I cleaned up his backside using hydrogen peroxide (the only thing that will remove the anal gland oils) on a tissue, then poured it on my hands because I didn't use gloves or a thick enough wad of tissue. The anal gland smell was gone immediately from my hands, but not from Rodrigo.

He went outside to “work it out” and came back in. I wiped the area again with hydrogen peroxide (using a thicker wad of tissue), and the smell was greatly reduced.

Diet and Anal Glands

Should raw fed dogs have issues with anal glands? In a perfect world, no. I had been feeding the dogs food from a source that Rodrigo couldn't eat. The food gave Rodrigo gas and loose stool that couldn't effectively express his anal glands on the way out.

Anal Glands and Dogs Health

So now I'm wondering if Rodrigo needs to make a trip to the vet; could he have an anal sac impaction?

Impaction is when the anal glands aren't expressing naturally or entirely when the dog's poop. This could be because a dog's poop is too small to do the job or too soft (which could be the case with Rodrigo). I would need to take him to the vet to have them manually expressed to avoid a potential infection. I don't want to do it myself because I don't know how to do it effectively.

When theanal gland scent started to diminish, and I confirmed that Rodrigo wasn't showing any signs of illness, I decided to wait until the morning to see where we stood. If the smell were still powerful after his morning bathroom break, I would call for a vet visit.

In the meantime, Rodrigo gets some canned pumpkin (the pure kind) or Olewo carrots in his breakfast to help make his poo a little more solid, and more fermented vegetables (or rabbit fear/ears) in his evening meal will provide more fiber.

Read More on Improving Digestive Health

• Fermenting Vegetables for Dogs
• Adding Fur to Raw Meals

Read More About Raw Feeding

• A Complete Glossary of Common Raw Feeding Terms Used by Dog Owners
• Ultimate Guide to Kombucha for Dogs: Benefits and Risks
• The Omnivore Misconception: Unraveling the Truth About Dogs
• How Soon Do the Benefits of Raw Dog Food Appear?
• Easy Venison Homemade Dog Food Recipe