puppy drags bottom

by james o neill
(aberdeenshire)

Puppy drags bottom across floor after he eliminates. Has been wormed two weeks ago.



Hi James
There are two common reasons for a puppy to drag (or 'scoot') his bottom across the ground.

One is that he has worms and as they're being passed out of his body they make him itch. As your puppy was wormed fairly recently, he may still be eliminating worms and this is what's causing the problem. In that case this will diminish once all the worms have left his system. Worming is usually done at least twice, often three times to totally eradicate these parasites though.

The second option is that your puppy is having some problems with his anal glands/sacs. These are located either side of his rectum, and can sometimes become pus-filled or infected. When that happens it makes your dog itchy and uncomfortable, hence the 'scooting' behavior.

This is fairly easily remedied and your vet can empty the anal sacs, and show you how to do it yourself if this should happen again.

I'd recommend taking with your vet about this, so that he can determine what the problem is. Best of luck.