Gundogs and glands

What does the expression “a dog’s glands are up” mean?

The “glands” referred to are the lymph nodes — small glands that have an important role to play in a dog’s (or any other animal’s) immune system. Lymph nodes can become enlarged, typically in response to bacterial infection or cancer, and in these circumstances can be described as being “up”.

Enlarged lymph nodes are usually felt under the muzzle, in front of the shoulder between the front legs and the neck, in the animal’s “armpit”, between the abdomen and the back legs and, finally, on the hind legs, behind the knees.

Lymph nodes are an important part of the lymphatic system, a circulatory network that produces and transports a white blood cell containing fluid called lymph. Lymph nodes make chemical proteins called antibodies which are produced in response to “antigens” — protein substances that the body detects as “foreign” and therefore likely to be harmful. Lymph nodes therefore play a crucial role in the body’s response to disease, allergic reactions, and auto-immune disease responses (where the body mistakes some of its own cellular proteins as being “foreign”).

Short-term lymph-node enlargement is typically a relatively minor sign of infection and shows the immune system is working harder, that white blood cells are being produced in response and congregating in the lymph nodes.

Chronically enlarged lymph nodes, however, might be an early sign of cancer. Primary cancer of the lymph nodes is called lymphoma. Leukemia can affect white blood cells, causing swelling of the lymph nodes; other types of leukemia can affect the lymphocytes and cause similar signs. Secondary cancer affects the lymph nodes when cancer starting elsewhere in the body spreads to the lymph nodes, where it causes inflammation, and hence enlargement, as the immune system attempts to fight the cancerous proteins. TB