My dog keeps licking at his butt and dragging his butt along the carpet to scratch what is the cause there is nothing there I checked, but he keeps doing it. Could it be worms? Can they get worms from eating chocolate?

First of all, no, they cannot get worms eating chocolate. But, they can die from eating chocolate. Please don't feed him any more of that. It is toxic to his system.

You need to bring your dog to either a groomer or the vet. He needs to have his anal glands expressed. The glands are two little tiny pea sized shaped sacs that are located inside and you cannot see. They get impacted with fluids or excrement sometimes and they need to be expelled. Either a groomer or vet can do it.

Please do it this week. He is very uncomfortable and I can guarantee he will stop the behavior once this is done.

Worms can cause the problem, but I agree with Ruby, get the anal glands emptied. Many of the heartworm and flea remedies also take care of other worms. If you are using one of them on him, it reduces the chances it is worms. I am not sure I ever had to treat a dog for worms separately.

And yes chocolate is dangerous to dogs. The worst part is that it is cumulative. Give your dog a little chocolate every day, and one day it gets deathly ill running at both ends.

My dog keeps licking at his butt and dragging his butt along the carpet to scratch what is the cause there is nothing there i checked, but he keeps doing it. could it be worms? can they get worms from eating chocolate?
I don't think dogs can get worms from eating chocolate but maybe u should take the dog to the vet. To get it checked just in case!!

My dog keeps licking at his butt and dragging his butt along the carpet to scratch what is the cause there is nothing there i checked, but he keeps doing it. could it be worms? can they get worms from eating chocolate?
Dogs do not get worms from chocolate but easily die... so that's really not a good idea. He probably has worms or needs to have his anal glands expressed by a groomer. Take him in soon.

By jove! I think there is an echo in this room!

Thank you for the advise... I know that chocolate is dangerous and would never give the dog chocolate, My son who is 12 had a yodel in his room on his computer desk and I caught the dog on my sons chair helping himself to the yodel. (Its a cake with choc covering) I got very mad at my son and told him he could kill Oreo if he leaves chocolate around for the dog to get. He was quite remorseful and quite concerned for him, asking me if oreo will dye. I told him No.. Not this time but if he eats chocolate its like poison to his system and to be conscious of this. I will make an appointment as soon as they open today.

LOL. Well, an Oreo likes Yodels. Can't blame him. I love them myself. Sorry if we sounded like we were lecturing. I actually thought you were a young teen and didn't realize it was bad for him, from the way your post read. Yodels have so little real chocolate in them that you definitely don't have to worry. AND, you handled your son beautifully, by the way. Good luck to you! Let us know how he is doing.

And yes chocolate is dangerous to dogs. The worst part is that it is cumulative. Give your dog a little chocolate every day, and one day it gets deathly ill running at both ends.

It isn't cumulative, The dog's metabolism of the toxic substances in chocolate is however, very slow.
Theobromine has a half life in dogs of 17.5 hours. This means half will be gone in 17.5 hours, three quarters will be gone in 35 hours, halving every 17.5 hours, effectively disappearing in a couple of days.
Caffeine, the other toxic chemical to dogs in chocolate, is somewhat faster with a halflife of 4.5 hours.

Milk chocolate contains much less theobromine than dark and cooking chocolates. Which is a good thing as milk chocolate is probably the one dogs will get their theiving paws on most often! :)

Source: Merck Veterinary Manual (http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/211104.htm)

I work at a vet clinic and see MANY full anal glands and according to a leading Veterinary Dermatologist consistently full anal glands can be caused by allergies. They have a term "ears and rears." While all dogs with allergies will not have both symptoms, but it is quite common. It is especially with dogs eating a poor quality by-product/corn diet.
Check your ingredient label!

My dog has the same problem but he goes to the groomer twice a month and I even had a vet Tech go to the groomers to do an internal emptying and nothing is any better

You should start a new thread as this one is old. But has he been treated for worms?

No but my groomer who sees him every othyer week said she would know if he had worms? Is that something I can treat or does a vet have to see him?

Well normally you can go into your vet and ask for a de wormer. The vet will ask you some questions like breed, sex, age, weight, and if he is up to date with vaccines.
It's inexpensive to de worm, I like revolution. Centinol is a good brand. You should de worm for ALL types of worms, it may require 2 different pills for 2 months. You trainer would see worms if they fell out his butt, but not all worms actually fall out.

Dog Worms: Symptoms of Worms in Dogs (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/dog-worms-symptoms-of-worms-in-dogs.html)

Thank you

I would guess worms...

I had my pet gland expressed over 3 weeks ago and also recheck again for anal glands and there were not glands and he still
Drag is butt on the carpet. There most be something else that causing him to continue dragging is butt. Does anyone know
What other problem/s it might be. I am thinking of take a stool sample and bring it to his vet for further studies. Any suggestion?

Hi doggie_poopie,
I know this is an old post I'm repling to but it's exactly what my dog is going through. Ears and rears. I've taken her completely off commercial food and am now feeding her a homemade diet of salmon, couscous, olive oil, apples and carrot. She's been on this diet now for 1 month. Many of her allergy symptoms are going but her itchiness is still there, especially her butt. She has been at it so much today that she has it red and irritated. Any suggestions? I'm wondering if maybe she has environmental allergies as well and they are responsible for the itching. I was thinking about giving her Benadryl but not sure because she is already on 2 medications from the vet for congestive heart failure. Also I didn't want to cover up the symptoms while I was trying her on trial foods.
Also, it is not her anal glands, she's been to the vet often and they are never full even though she has always had bouts of dragging her butt.

I just had my dogs glands expressed but it is still bothering my dog. He is still itching a lot. I took him to the groomer, but do you think I should take him to the vet?

Okay, what if I've already had her anal glands expressed TWICE and she's still fittfully scratching her butt and whining? Yes, she's a spayed Cocker Spanial/small Poodle cross. Is it her diet?

My dog is eating the hair off his butt and back. I have tried to see what is wrong but I can not find anything back there. I check his poop and there are no worms. What could this be?

Hi faulknerpayton,

Is your dog losing actual hair around the rectum? Or is he just itching at it relentlessly?

The first thing I can think of would be allergies. Because the rear end of a dog has less hair, things are more noticeable, such as itchy and inflammed skin.

My other thought, if this were a long haired dog that requires grooming, would be that the groomer cut a little too close to the skin in that area and is causing the dog to itch due to razor burn.

And than last, but not least, would be an anal gland problem. When anal glands become impacted or infected, dogs will do strange things to try to relieve the pressure and/or pain. If her bottom appears to be swollen or red, than its time for the vet for you.

If her booty looks normal in skin color and isn't puffy, then try applying a cortisone cream to the affected area and see if it gives her relief. Make sure you either rub the cream in well, or sit with her for 10 minutes or so until it absorbs into her skin.

If the itching doesn't stop and she appears to be biting at herself worse, I would suggest a vet. Although uncommon to cause a problem on the rear, mites such as demodex and sarcoptes, can cause a dog to itch the hair off them. These two mites can only be diagnosed by a vet via microscope.

You could also try giving your pet benedryl. If you decide this route, just be sure to buy pure benedryl with no decongestants in it. The dosage is 25mg per 10lbs of body weight. This medicine would be given twice a day. The benedryl may make your dog sleepy, but is a pretty safe medicine to give. But if there is no improvement within a few days, you should probably go to the vet.

Just one more thing.. next time you have a question, it helps to post your question separately from other peoples questions. Not only will you get more ideas and answers, it also will prevent an old thread from surfacing. It just keeps things simple.

Hope I helped you!