*stops eating*

Cats don't usually have a problem with their anal glands. People can check them at home by doing the external expression (as shown in the video). However, expressing them fully really should require vet (or professional supervision). We do them internally, which expresses the glands to the fullest extent. Some dogs have issues with them frequently, mostly dogs that are prone to allergies or obese dogs. Some dogs don't have a problem with them at all. But if you ever see your pet scooting on the carpet/grass/etc. or licking their rear end frequently, it's time to have them checked by a veterinarian.

May I add that it is possible for you to injure your pet doing this at home, if not under the correct supervision. Also, expressing pet's anal glands frequently may cause MORE of a problem in the long run, because then the dog will be unable to express their glands fully during bowel movements, as this is when the glands are expressed naturally.

Unless it's a female cat during estres. I might just have bad luck but both female cats I've owned have had CRAZY BUM STANK(The doctor later said something about their anal glands being impacted?) and we had to get the vet to do it and they showed us how to do it at home and we had to do it like.. once every 2-3 days until their bum stank was gone. They got it on EVERYTHING, eesh. I'd only thought male cats were markers.. NOPE!

But it was probably just my luck to have the only two female cats in existance with bum stank to rival a two week old burrito fart.

*giggles* You seem to have no luck with this. I've been a vet tech for almost 5 years and I've only seen maybe a handful of cats with anal gland issues. It's mostly a dog thing. But then again, most of our female patients are spayed, so maybe it is related to their heat cycles... who knows. Anal glands are a weird thing. They were used for territorial marking purposes in feral dog and cat populations early on, but don't seem to have the same effect once the animals have been domesticated. Most of the time, if a dog or cat is scared, they will release their anal glands, and it's not a pretty sight (trust me, I've been shot in the face with them before... ). Sorry, tangent

But you must have just got unlucky with your two!

I know of an individual who was expressing a gland and was shot in the eye by a stream of goo.

I've seen eye shots before in action... it almost feels like it's in slow motion

Frankly I always just took my dog to the vet for this.

"Come here, we'll show you what to do so you can just save some money and do it at home yourself!"

'Haha that's okay.'

It's not a money thing, it's good to know how to check and express them.

Unlike most people, my childhood was full of wildlife rehab and fixing animals which were broken(sick, broken bones, etc) before release.

Though veterinarians always question if I'm in "the medical field" since I've always gone in right when something happens. Most people wouldn't know an anal gland rupture if it hit them in the face. Most people let an infection take hold and there's more than just a few weeks of antibiotics.

I wish more people would educate themselves at least the very basic medical details of pets they keep... though we're talking about people...