# How to get a kitten to clean herself



## Ripley (Jul 7, 2011)

Ripley is a good clean girl but she sometimes doesn't do any grooming of herself after going to the kitty litter :?

I wait a while for her to tidy herself and if she hasn't I grab a baby wet wipe and clean her fur to stop her staining anything. When she gets wet from the wipe she begins cleaning herself. About 6 times out of 10 she's good, it's just the 4 out of 10 times I'd like to help her with. She is only 6 months old. 

My partner has, because of this, dubbed her "Stinky cat" :sad

Any suggestions (short of me running around after her with wet wipes) for helping her along, or will she pick it up better as she gets older? Thanks!


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## mimitabby (Apr 20, 2010)

keep cleaning her. she'll get it or she won't.. with age..


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## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

My Rochelle is just over two years old and she still has problems cleaning herself. She's a princess, and as such, has deemed that she shouldn't have to clean her own butt...so the other cats do it for her. :roll: Both Samantha and Alice are very meticulous cleaners, so if they decide Rochelle is too dirty, they will go over to her and give her an all over bath. Unfortunately, Rochelle never got the memo that keeping yourself clean is part of being a cat.

I hope your kitten learns, but there's a chance she won't. Just keep it up. If the wipes get her to clean herself, then perhaps she'll figure it out one day.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

If the stuff is getting into her britches (is she longhair?), trim with scissors at least 1/2" back from the anus all around. This will help. But as TB said some cats don't get that_ "part of keeping yourself clean is part of being a cat"._


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## Ripley (Jul 7, 2011)

Thanks very much for the responses!

I might need to give her a trim (she's more medium haired than long haired), and convince her with the wet wipes that cleaning herself is a good idea


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

On the off-chance that you're not, please make sure you're using UNSCENTED baby wipes. Because if you're using scented, she's not cleaning herself because of the awful taste.


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## yellowdaisies (Jan 25, 2011)

Ugh, Lily has this problem, too, and she's a year old next weekend! She keeps herself meticulously clean otherwise - her fur is always clean, soft, and shiny - but she does NOT clean her butt!! I keep hoping she'll pick it up as she gets older, but she's already a year old...guess we'll be cleaning her butt forever??  It's just the strangest thing, because she is always cleaning herself and Spencer too...just not that one specific area! I think she's like Rochelle - she's too much of a princess to have to clean her own butt.


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## Penny135 (Apr 6, 2011)

I have had Mia for 4 weeks now. She was 7 weeks old when I got her. She would use the litter but come out smelling because she never cleaned herself. So I did it for her with a baby wipe. She hated that :!: After about 1 week of doing that she got the message and started doing it on her own (at 8 weeks old). I was very suprised but she knew it was that or the baby wipe. :wink


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## praline (Jun 3, 2011)

Sasha has always been a lady after using the bathroom. Washes her hands and never tracks litter.

Sparta is the same. She loves grooming herself or primping.

Mouse runs a 100mph to the litter, squirts it out as fast as she can and then takes off again to get into trouble. She doesn't bury her mess nor does she give a fig about grooming after. She just has better things to do :wink
I think of her as a 4 year old boy. They have to be reminded every time to wash up and to flush :?

I am hoping she out grows it. Your kitten is still young and might have way too much to do rather then to be bothered to clean herself. Keep doing what your doing and she will learn that clean feels better then crap stuck to her :wink


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## littlesushi (Jun 8, 2011)

Cody is the exact same way! He's 5 1/2 months. I had the vet do a butt shave and trim his leg hair and it cuts down on the need to wipe his bottom, but he still won't do it, at least when I'm looking. Aster is a meticulous groomer but I have to do butt checks on Cody on a daily basis.

He has become better at grooming as he's gotten older, but he still has yet to show improvement at grooming his behind.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Another thing you can try to encourage self-grooming so you don't have to wipe the bottom every time is to take a _smidge of butter_ and just rub a little on the backside (scarcely any so it's mostly the scent of it). Most cats go nuts over butter and that just might encourage her to clean her backside. A little bit of salmon juice might work as well.


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## Olivers-Slave (Jul 25, 2010)

yeah hana has this problem too, I just cut her buttfur down and oliver does the rest of the work for her. I am hoping she gets the hint if she ever wants her buttfluff back


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