Anal Furunculosis in the German Shepherd, Diagnosis, and outcome

For those who don't know me my name is Phil, I am an electrical engineer, I have been around German Shepherds since I was a kid, I have owned them and trained them, I have worked them as a dog handler and even worked with police dogs. Several years ago I aqquired a rescue dog that was ill, sadly her condition was terminal and after several months I had to have her put to sleep, however we had a lot of good times together and when I discovered that the cause of her death was not very well known about I decided to do some research. I was asked to write a paper on it for a large well known specialist breed website and did so with a lot of help from several people at an American Veterinary university. I would like to briefly go over it here, although it is very common in the GSD, it can and indeed does occur in other breeds, please read this, it may help you and your pet one day.

Anal furunculosis is a horrible disease, a real killer, simply because of it's speed and the way it develops and we need to be aware of this if we are to catch it early enough for like cancer in humans, Anal Furunculosis (AF) doesn't have to be a death sentence for your much loved pet.
There are various theories as to it's cause and to be honest I am not going to delve too deeply into those here, we are going to concentrate on recognising it, and dealing with it. It is more prevelant in dogs with a tail, and moreso in those with a thick tail base, such as the German Shepherd, one theory is that the warm sweaty conditons in the area where the tail folds down against the body provide an ideal place for it to thrive.
Now let us look at AF, you are now aware of it's existence, but how do you detect it, and once detected, how do you deal with it, well lets take detecting it first, and we will go from there. Initially your dog may begin to bite at the base of the tail, or 'scoot' along the floor, this is often associated with canine worms and quite often but not always is why your dog is doing it. If you become aware of this happening then raise the tail gently and examine the area below it, paying particular interest to the area around the anus, you are looking for what in the early stages will look like a spot or pimple, similar to one you may get on your face. If you discover one or more of these do NOT attempt to pop it, go straight to your vet, time is of the essence here if you are to get a good outcome.
If you do not find a spot then take the dog to the vet anyway and mention the possibility of AF, I discovered to my suprise that some vets had never heard of it!
Now, the way this condition works is the main reason why it is such an insidious killer, unlike a spot which gets bigger on the outside, this gets bigger on the inside, it burrows into the tissue and causes severe damage as it spreads, think of it like an ulcer eating into the flesh, undetected, or untreated it will spread into the anal cavity and deep inside, then it is too late and a painful end is only months away.
Caught early enough it can be surgically cut out, like a tumour and usually does not re-occur, treatment of the condition usually involves a drug like prednisolone, a steroid, and this helps recovery, or in cases where it is discovered too late, can extend the life of the animal, however once it gets to a point the condition does become very distressing for the animal and the owner. Typical symptoms in the advanced state are weight loss, lethargy and faecal incontinence, which is often almost liquid in consistency. After surgical intervention the dog should be fed high protein soft foods for a couple of weeks to allow the treated area to recover, you do not want the dog to strain or become constipated as this could lead to further damage.
Hopefully you have enjoyed reading this, I tried to make it non technical, and I hope that reading it may help at least one other pet and it's owner and save them going through what we went through. Remember, NEVER be afraid to suggest this condition to your vet if your dog does begin to pay an unusual amount of attention to the area around it's anus, it is far better to risk upsetting a vet, than to lose your pet. I remember my vet, a very good and experienced practice, but they had never encountered AF, it was a learning curve for us both, I did a lot of reading and studying, to try and help the vet, sadly it was too late for poor Misty, but others were helped as a result.

 

I have never heard of it referred to as such, I know it as Perianal Fistula and as a rescuer/owner of GSD am aware of its existence