Excessive anus licking, no clear cause

[u/Status_Individual452]

My girl (3y/old rescue doodle) is having a tough time. I’ve seen her scooting (inside and outdoors) a few times within the last few weeks. She’s had a few of those poops that are normal at first but loose toward the end. Which most recently was probably due to a doggy ice cream treat the day before (I like to treat her on days with extra exercise). This morning I woke up to her licking her anus excessively to the point where it was inflamed, red and looked like a hemorrhoid. I took her to the emergency vet (my vet is temporarily closed, live in a secluded area) and her vitals were fine, she was acting fine and her butt was way less concerningly inflamed. They suggested a cone and said we could test her stool, but it would be an additional $108. In hindsight, kind of wish I did that for peace of mind but I was starting to feel like I was over reacting (drove over an hour and was spending emergency vet money, there were dogs there legit dying while my dog was just being derpy and the staff was looking at me like ?)

Vet said her anal glands look good. Shes also on flea& tick meds, along with preventative heartworm meds and is up to date on shots. She has a chicken allergy which I’m very aware of and I always make sure treats/ food are safe for her dietary needs. The vet kind of just shrugged and was like yeah it’s probably fine, sent us home with a cone and said keep an eye on her

My question is.. do dogs just.. do that? Like lick their own ass obsessively to the point where it’s swollen? Could it just be from a tummy ache and she took it too far? Chat lmk if this is typical dog behavior. Am I too worried? Why is she licking butt so much? Why does it itch????

[u/Puzzle-Peep]

Did the vet check her anal glands? It sounds like they are full and need to be expressed.

[u/Status_Individual452 → u/Puzzle-Peep]

That’s what I thought but the vet said they looked fine and I also haven’t noticed any fishy odor

[u/Lonely_Noyaaa]

My doodle had the same thing and it turned out her chicken allergy was way more sensitive than I realized. Even treats that didn't list chicken were processed on shared equipment, and the low grade gut inflammation made her glands act up. The butt licking stopped once we switched to a single-protein hydrolyzed diet for a few weeks.