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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Cat always has a shitty bum - how to stop this?!

32 replies

NeededANameChangeAnyway · 13/05/2016 14:26

Its minging. She smells of shit constantly and generally has small lumps hanging around her bum area or caught in the fur. She is fluffy but not outrageously so - fur round her back end is maybe 1.5cm. She spends ages licking the top of her tail as if she is bothered by the poop but rarely does her bum. She is a rescue cat of around a year old (we got her and her brother when they were a few months old, she had already been adopted and returned for some reason) and has always been like this - I thought it would improve as she got older but it hasn't. I'm just after chasing her round the house to catch a lump of shit with toilet roll Envy what can I do?? The male cat has no problems with this, just her. Help!!

OP posts:
Original poster
NeededANameChangeAnyway · 13/05/2016 14:28

Shes now on the bloody sofa diligently cleaning every single toe with the thoroughness of a brain surgeon about to operate....Clean your bum you filthy animal!!

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ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 13/05/2016 14:29

Maybe look at her diet? I'm not sure cat poo would usually be soft enough to cause dangleberries? (Or shave her arse)

Penfold007 · 13/05/2016 14:33

Take her to the vet. I'm being serious cats don't normally have shitty bums but I'm not surprised she doesn't want to clean it. Our rescue girl suffered terribly with foul smelling poo and farts, a change of diet to a wheat and grain free regime has made a huge difference.

Original poster
NeededANameChangeAnyway · 13/05/2016 14:33

They are both very fussy and will only eat the Felix wet food. Our old cat ate IAMS dry food but these two wont touch it - we had a minor stand off for two and a half days before I caved in and gave them wet food again - they literally would starve to death before eating dry food....

Its such a shame as she is the most friendly cat I have ever met and constantly wants to be on your lap being petted but wont relax and sit still so you're in constant danger of accidentally touching poop as she rotates round and round.

Is Felix generally ok?

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Original poster
NeededANameChangeAnyway · 13/05/2016 14:44

Thanks Penfold, I think a trip to the vet might clear things up - hopefully literally! Hopefully we wont have to buy expensive food though.... what do you feed your cat?

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Penfold007 · 13/05/2016 14:45

I'm using Natures Menu wet food at the moment as Pengirl isn't really into dry food. Felix went straight through her. I introduced it over a few days even mixing Felix and Natures Menu the improvement was very quick but through trial and error I now steer clear of beef variety. There are several different grain free brands and they are more expensive but she seems to eat a lot less

flanjabelle · 13/05/2016 14:47

I would suggest moving her over to a sensitive food. Purina do an affordable one. It sounds like she has too soft poo as it's catching like that. My poor cat had awful diarrhea recently and I was just lucky that she is such a clean cat as she was coming out of the litter tray with it all over her bum.

The vet put her on a special sensitive wet food and I slowly weaned her over to the Purina sensitive dry food. She now has solid poos and is much happier.

MsMims · 13/05/2016 14:54

Butchers classic available from pets at home and Tesco is a decent, low budget food. Better than felix.

WRT poo on bum, sorry to say I think it's just something you'll have to take care of for her. We have a lovely little boy cat who is similar, a bit whiffy and sometimes has little pieces of poo by his bum. Never seen him clean his bum! He is a year old now so guess he won't change, I just wipe him with a baby wipe then he is clean and doesn't smell. I bet non- cat owners would cringe reading this! The things we have to do Grin

Original poster
NeededANameChangeAnyway · 13/05/2016 14:57

Penfold That's funny, the last two feeds have been beef flavour Felix......

Flanjabelle they are pooing outside so is very hard to check their poop, she isnt covered so I dont think it is diarrhea, more likely just a bit loose.

I would so much rather they were on dry food!! I think I even had a thread here before on it and tried all sorts of varieties including Purina all of which went uneaten I'll try to get an appointment with the vet just to rule out anything and before I start randomly changing her diet!

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Original poster
NeededANameChangeAnyway · 13/05/2016 14:58

anything out I mean

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PinkSparklyPussyCat · 13/05/2016 15:02

Felix is the food of the devil! We tried Harry on it when we first got him and he loved it. However there was no way we he was going to be staying on that due to the smell from the litter tray! If a cat could look embarrassed he did!

igotdemons · 13/05/2016 15:09

Is she overweight at all? That can stop a cat being able to physically clean their bottom! As for food, have you tried them on a higher quality dry food? I feed my cat on either Applaws or Arden Grange as they are both grain free and my cat loves them both - I find them on various pet websites a bit cheaper than their RRP. I find if you always leave them a bowl out of dried food they'll eat it when feeling peckish. My rescue cat was a fussy eater when we first got her 8 years ago but in the last few years she has become very food orientated and expanded her palate quite a bit!

Original poster
NeededANameChangeAnyway · 13/05/2016 15:09

Haha Pink! Yup, I do think the poops are particularly stinky and by God! The smell of her bum when she is within metres of you close to you. Poor thing

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RubbishMantra · 13/05/2016 15:18

Have you tried a hygiene cut, where they just trim the bum hair? They can do it at the vet, or if he's chilled, (give him a Zylkene?) take him to the pet version of Toni & Guy. Smile

I've been considering one for Little Monsieur, he's a short haired curly breed, but seems to have developed longer ringlets around the trouser area, and sometimes doesn't look as clean in the nether regions as my other cat.

fuzzywuzzy · 13/05/2016 15:24

Our boys have Felix as good as it looks in jelly, but I also always have a bowl of dry food (iams or Harringtons, we alternate), also I've bowls of water by the dry food.

We keep a bowl of dry food upstairs as the boys sleep upstairs with us, in the night they will eat the dry food.

One of our boys had a bout of loose stool and he would have cling on lumps I had to chase him around and wipe his bum for him, he did try to clean himself but kept being sick as there was bits stuck to him.

Get a cat brush and brush her bum and trim her bum hairs back a bit.
Also keep dry food on a floor with a bowl of water. They might try it.

RubbishMantra · 13/05/2016 15:30

*When he was a kitten, I'd lift him up by his armpits and give his "intimate area" a sniff, to see if he needed a swipe with a wet-wipe. Something I learned on MN - mums doing it to babies to see if they needed a bum-change. My friends and I are all childless, so I got some peculiar looks at times.

Better than poo on your sofa/bed/clothes though.

Original poster
NeededANameChangeAnyway · 13/05/2016 15:43

I am quite tempted to try a wee 'trouser area' trim (love that phrase!)

They do have dry food and will occasionally eat it if absolutely starving - in the middle of the night for example when there is nothing else going - but really would rather not.

Rubbish - I dont have to hold her up for a sniff....can honestly smell once she is within a few feet of me, sometimes even as she comes in the room Sad

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Madbengalmum · 13/05/2016 15:52

We always used to take our Persian for a paw and bum trim! Worked a treat and never any of those issues, it may sort out the problem.

YoungGirlGrowingOld · 13/05/2016 15:56

Find a groomer and take her Smile I have 2 Persians and they need arse attention 3 times a year. I also find that soft food gives both of mine the squits but it took me ages to find me one that they didn't turn their noses up at. I tend to attack mine with a hot damp mitt when it's too bad. One hates it and tries to scrape my eyes out, the other proffers his furry butt. Either way it saves them leaving shit crumbs on my sofa.

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 13/05/2016 16:03

I have done the trouser trim with Idiotcat....I think he got mugged by his mortal enemy mid evacuation once...three of us had to don our marigolds and hose/soap and bodyslam him into the shower. He was absolutely clarted in it.

He's also very yobbish about his personal daintiness...face, feet and ears are all immaculate but I rarely see him clean anything else. I often have to pursue him about the house with a wet wipe. expensive facial cleansing cloth All my other cats have been very fastidious, but not this one. Even the dog has better standards of hygiene.

As far as food goes, we are on anything from Lidl or tesco in jelly....gravy/pate style is unacceptable apparently and it is not too awful smell wise, either pre or post cat digestion

whiskas and felix are rank before and after imo.

Wolfiefan · 13/05/2016 16:10

Our old girl would be upset by any food with lamb or beef or game. Too rich.

RubbishMantra · 13/05/2016 17:42

Agree Tondelaya. Many moons ago, I observed Whiskas smelled the same in the tin after it had made it's way through the digestive system.

I free feed mine dry Applaws (80% meat and no cereals) and a Butcher's Classic supper, also cereal-free. And cheaper than chips :)

starsmurf · 13/05/2016 19:38

I have a cat who can stink the house out (last night at 4am, I was scooping out his litter tray and then googled gas masks) He can also get those delightful dangleberries and I have a pack of water wipes ready for such emergencies. In fairness to him, if my stomach were upset, the very last thing I would want to do is lick that stuff! If it smells bad to us, remember a cat's sense of smell is 20 times better than ours!

The vet suggested that he's allergic to something in his food, he also loves Felix, probably because Felix is/was commonly used by rescues because it came with tokens they could save towards beds, blankets, food bowls etc.. We're slowly changing his diet, as he's a really fussy eater and makes my life hell if he doesn't get what he wants.

I have noticed that he seems to have firmer poop and fewer dongleberries. But a vet visit is a must. The vet will probably ask for a fecal sample, so you might need to catch her pooping or shut her in until she provides one in a litter tray. Starcat did have some parasites and clearing those out also helped lessen the incidence of loose stools.

I can totally sympathise with the stinky cat thing and it's even worse when they want to be affectionate. Hence my stock of Hazmat suits and gas masks Wink

Original poster
NeededANameChangeAnyway · 13/05/2016 21:04

Missed the vet today so will call on Monday. Thanks everyone for their suggestions, am googling all the cat food types and gas masks

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Foxyspook · 13/05/2016 21:10

My first cat was allergic to absolutely everything - even chicken seriously couldn't handle straight protein. The only thing that worked for her was Royal Canin Sensitive 33, if all else fails, that is very effective.

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