What's that smell...?

For the past month or so, winter has been having...trouble...with a fishy odor.  More specifically, every day or two she would smell like a rotting fish.  So, with us being at the vet for the fleas issue, we thought we'd ask.

"She's been smelling kind of bad lately, once every day or two.  It kind of smells like..."

"Fish?"

"YES!"

"Yeah, her anal glands are probably swollen."

[Long pause, during which we try to figure out how the vet could have said this so casually, as if she sees this every day]

Well, it turns out that she does see it every day.  In fact, "The glands can be emptied by the dog's keeper, or more typically by a groomer or veterinarian, by squeezing the gland so the contents are released through the small openings on either side of the anus."

Apparently, when your dog rubs its butt on the ground, or chases its tail, or gives its hindquarters a little to much "buttention," it's because its anal glands are filled to the brim.

Winter's anal glands, or sacs, were "huge."  The vet made an 'ok' sign with her hand, touching her index finger to her thumb, in a ring about the size of a dime.  "This is what normal anal glands look like."  Then she made another ring, about the size of a golf ball...

We just sat and watched.  All it took was two quick pinches.  Poor Winter.