Do those of you with very furry cats trim their arse fur?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

We have a large Maine Coon who gets the odd dangleberry which gets deposited on the bathroom floor next to his litter box. If it gets stuck on his arse fur, he dashes round the flat like a mad thing until he can dislodge it, whereby he very tidily finds a piece of paper or a small child's abandoned knickers or sock to cover it up. If he doesn't manage to cover it up, the kitten finds it and plays with it. [ick]

I am wondering if a quick trim would sort him out, and whether this is a normal sort of thing to do with hairy cats?

Erm. NOOooooo. I like my hands too much. The filthy mog can clean his own arse.

Sometimes Hugo does need a quick trim around the arse area to remove dangleberries.

My current very furry cat, who looks as though he had one Norwegian Forest Cat parent, does not get dangleberries, thank goodness. His predecessor, who was of a similar ilk, became unable to keep his arse fur clean towards the end of his life, and I used to have to put him in the shower and shampoo his furry trousers. Twas most unsavoury.
To answer your question - yes, I think a trim of his arse fur might be in order, but would he be happy to let you do this?

My Manx gets dangleberries every so often - I think it's because he hasn't got a tail to lift and help spread/clear his bum cheeks when he has a poo, iyswim . I did once try to trim his fur but was lucky to escape with both my arms intact, so we have spent a lot of time together, sitting on the floor in the loo with me easing any remnants from his bum with loo roll and warm water.

Mine doesnt, BUT if he has, er, the runs, I do have to wipe his arse with wet flannel before he sits on sofa/bed....
My friend does have to trim hers, she waits until she is "in the right frame of mind", generally on her lap, then has a go with nail scissors;
I have to remove the odd bit of matted hairballs but find it easier to do by hand than with blade, but if you're finding he get's bits stuck often it may be worth trimming

We've got a 17 year old Maine Coon. She is completely impervious to the need for personal hygiene. She will be going to the local cat grooming place for a full Brazilian. It used to be done at the vets under ga, but she's a bit old for that.

Without the smell of disinfectant, she even licks the hand that is shaving her, rather than attacking at lightening speed with claws and remaining teeth - which is what she does at the vets when having a manicure. For her age, she is amazingly fast.

Blimey, thank Jeff for Active convo's and the University of MN - Without them I would have never stumbled upon the knowledge that long-haired cats need so much attention and that cats' tails help part their bumcheeks to promote dangleberry-free pooing. Poor Manxes

I have trimmed the rear end of our Coonie on occasion, but don't do it regularly as I value my fingers and it's not too much of a problem.

I was tempted when moggy was a kitten as he wasn't as good at cleaning himself - had a few instances of soiled furnished - however, I rather like my fingers so decided not to. Now he goes outside so deals with any mess before coming back inside.

I often "babysit" my mother-in-laws very hairy persian for weeks at a time and he does get stickies to his butt :) since I don't have the time nor the inclination to sit and pick at his hairy little bum, like my MIL does, I shaved him, (I just used normal hair clippers) just his bum and the back of his legs and we were both happy. He is quite chilled out anyway, doesn't really attack but he was a little nervous when I started but just let me get on with it. I think I was more scared in case I caught his other boy bits :)
I think that if your cat doesn't get overly stressed by you doing this, and obviously you yourself come out of it unscathed, then it can be a good thing for them as some cats get really stressed and upset when they get poop stuck to them so you're doing them a favour really, they just might not understand it :)

The vet will do this for you, no problems. Our very old long haired cat can no longer look after herself properly and has arthritis so doesn't like us grooming her, so once every 9 months or so she goes to the vet for a lion cut (so shaved all over, apart from feet, tail, head). The vet leaves her about a cm of hair and she's very happy (although her bed has now been upgraded to a super duper cosy one)

I clip our persian about every three months, all over trim to about half inch long. I got some clippers from Lidl when they had them on special. She doesnt like it much but tolerates it as i think she feels better afterwards. The thought of spending £40 to get her 'groomed' motivetes me to put up with the odd scratch

Reuben is often "treated" to a trouser shampoo if he has a clartyarse.

We have managed to whittle the essentials down to
One cat, three large towels (to wrap cat leaving only nether regions exposed, two pairs of marigolds (one for me and one for dh), a large teen (for extra cat restraint), a gently whooshing shower and a spare teen on door duty, with another warm dry towel for consoling/drying the very angry cat afterwards.

While babysitting the persian for the first time I actually called a local pet grooming place to ask the price for a quick trim of the bum region.
The lady there told me "oh we don't do persians nether regions due to their temperament but I will give him a good grooming" !! apparently she'd had a few run-ins with a couple she'd groomed in the past. I decided against it in the end as the £60 she quoted was to protect my fingers not hers lol

PMSL Catsmamma- I visualised all of you in the bathroom with the out numbered cat :)

Kitsmummy- Aww a Lion cut- I so want to do that to my cat (I'm asthmatic and it would help me lots) but BF absolutely won't consider it saying he will get bullied when he goes outside, all the other cats will laugh at him lol He prefers outside to in so I couldn't do it in summer, not without putting sun cream on him first maybe.