Gross and cytological characteristics of normal feline anal-sac secretions

This study was conducted to characterize the gross and cytological characteristics of secretions from normal feline anal sacs. Thirty cats with no recent history of anal-sac disease were selected consecutively and their anal sacs manually expressed. The color, cell counts, or presence of solid portions of the secretions in the youngest cats (<1 year old) were not significantly different from the rest. Young cats (<1 year old) tended to more often have watery secretions. The secretions contained 13 (median) epithelial cells per 600x magnification microscopic field, basophilic background debris, and a mixture of Gram-positive cocci (83 per field; median), Gram-negative cocci (38 per field; median), and Gram-negative rods (1.8 per field; median). Most secretions had occasional neutrophils, and a minority of cats had occasional yeasts in their secretion. Erythrocytes were found only rarely. Extreme heterogeneity existed in gross color, consistency, and amount of solid material. Hence, these latter parameters would not be valid indicators of anal-sac disease.