Cat dragging her bum on the carpet

[Fleurdelise]

Hi all! I am after some advice regarding our new cat. We had her for two weeks and noticed that she is sometimes shuffling on her bum on the carpet. She was de-wormed the day we got her so I don't think it is worms.

I am planning to take her to the vets next week but any idea what it may be?

[BertrandRussell]

Did you do the worming yourself? If not, are you sure she was done?

[Fluffycloudland77]

One of ours did this and it was blocked anal glands making her uncomfortable.

Pets at Home vets are open today if you want it seen sooner.

[Fleurdelise]

Thank you! I did read about anal glands. I didn't do the de-worming myself but would the rescue centre lie about it? We have been told it was done and if we find any worms in her poo they are dead ones due to de-worming.

How often do I need to de-worm her?

Is the anal gland procedure painful? Is it expensive? (It doesn't matter but just to know what to expect).

I may pop into pets at home and see if they can do it.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I think it was £40 for asbo when his got infected and that was for squeezing out black stuff and antibiotics.

Compared to £91 for an infected paw last week it was quite cheap.

[Fleurdelise]

Just a quick update in case it helps anybody with the same issue in the future: Vet had a thorough health check today and the cat is perfectly healthy. He told us that bum shuffling is normal and a lot of cats do it but the owners may not notice it. They do it to release something (forgot what it is, some sort of spraying liquid) and unless it becomes really frequent it is nothing to worry about.

I am now relieved as we had Tilly for two weeks and going to the vets was always a bit of a worry in case we may discover something really bad.

[RubbishMantra]

Ah, I'm glad she's OK.

"He told us that bum shuffling is normal and a lot of cats do it but the owners may not notice it"

Now I'm wondering if my cats wait until I go to bed, then have a bum-shuffle race on the rug.

[cozietoesie]

I've had a goodly number of cats and never noticed one who liked to bum shuffle as a matter of course. I'd also be thinking anal gland impaction/worms or something similarly uncomfortable.

[BertrandRussell]

I would watch her, and if she does it again assume that for some reasons she wasn't wormed (she may have spat out the tablet and nobody saw-some are very good at this!) and worm her again. I've never seen a cat or a dog do this when it hasn't been worms!

[Blazing88]

Our cat bum shuffled all his life! Nothing wrong with him.

[Fleurdelise]

Thanks all!

Of course some cats may not do it at all. He said though that as ours is kept indoors at the moment there are more occasions to notice it. To be fair I haven't seen it in days but the kids did on two different occasions.

He looked at the anal glands and saw nothing wrong and said some cats need extra help to release the liquid in there therefore they shuffle (ewwww, I now wonder if I need a deep clean once she goes outside).

De-worming in 2 weeks assuming the last one was done, he recommended stronghold as it does it all except tape worms. Is it the best? Any better (or cheaper) product out there?

[cozietoesie]

I wouldn't overlook tapeworms if I were you. You might want to read this old thread started by Lone.

[Fleurdelise]

Thank you cozie!

Today I opened the email stating her history and it says she had Milbemax on 16th May, would it not affect her if I do it again in such a short time? I was planning to do another deworming/defleeing in a couple of weeks to ensure at least a month has passed since the last deworming (assuming I haven't been tricked into believing she had the treatment when in fact she didn't).

If it isn't too early I'll look into doing it at the weekend.

[Everythingsgonegreen]

Blocked anal glands- needs to see vet.

Usually smell too.

[willthiseverbloodystop]

mine was caused by hairball so when she pooed it got stuck (gross) and she did bum shuffle to clean her bum. My dd thought it was the most hilarious thing she'd ever seen until I showed her the skid marks. We had a quite a lot of it until i got hair ball dry food.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Mine does this to get rid of a cling on. Fortunately she uses the tiled bathroom floor to wipe her bum, rather than the carpet. Vet checked - anal glands are fine.

[AnulTheMagnificent]

I have never had a cat shuffle on the floor for scent marking, did you see an experienced vet or a student?

I would say the cat needs anal sacs emptying, they should empty during defecation but sometimes a change of food will make the stool softer and it doesn't produce the pressure needed to do this.

If they are not emptied they can become impacted and infected.

You may have found a vet that didn't fancy doing it, it is not the most pleasant of jobs (smell-wise).

Scent marking is done by backing up to things and wibbling the tail, not scooting along the floor. Scooting is either worms or anal sacs.

I would ask the vet about worming although I think I would be using a different vet because it sounds as if you have a dud one.