# Cleaning their butts



## Calliso (Aug 9, 2011)

Ok wasn;t sure where to put this. But today my male kitten had trouble getting his poop off his butt after he went to the bathroom. Anyway my husband ended up holding him while I wiped his butt *which he was very upset about acted like he was in pain, which also worries me* Anyway should I maybe make it a habit now of cleaning their butts regularly? Should I take him to a vet to make sure there isn;t some kind of health issue? Been worrying about this , donlt want to find out too late or something that I should be making a vet appointment as soon as possible or whatever! Also I admit I am up late hidding from my cat I think he is a little mad at me. Got a little nippy of course that could be also do to the fact that he seems to be in an aggresive playful mood and right before I left the bedroom was play fighting with his sister in the bed. Did the whole grab my hand and try and bite it thing when I tried to pick him up. Eventually got them both down though! Play fighting ok play fighting in the bed while I am trying to get some sleep no! But yeah hopefully he will forgive and forget the awful butt wiping! 

And one thing I forgot to add the nipping/aggressiveness worries me too because he was being more aggresive about it then normal. Which of course makes me wonder if he is just playing or doing it out of anger.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

It's something they have to learn to do as they get older. Unscented baby wipes came in very handy when the twins were little. And yes, they squealed like I was swinging them by their tails. Cats hate having their butts wiped by someone else. At least mine do.

The shorter you can clip their hair back there, the better. My girls' groomer gives them potty patches. :grin:


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## Penny135 (Apr 6, 2011)

Mia has this problem too occasionally, really bad when I first got her, but she was only 7 weeks old. She is 13 weeks now and does better. I changed her food recently and she has soft stools right now. She is having trouble with a little (very little) bit left on her bum. I get a baby wipe out to clean it and you would think I was killing her. I do it as soft as possible but she still hates it. The wet wipes are on the back of the toilet. When she sees me go in there she watches closely and if I'm getting a wipe she will run and hide. I just started closing the door and very quietly getting into the box they are in. lol She is still cautious when I come out so I hide it balled up in my hand. The things we go through with our babies!


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## Sophie123 (Jul 13, 2011)

This is really strange!!
When i fist had Enzo and his tummy was getting used to his new food i used to have to wipe his bottom.....Enzo loves it! Sets him off on a big Purr & Knead a-thon!

Strange cat!


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## Two Siamese (Aug 20, 2011)

Two new babies here -- one is obsessive with cleanliness. We call him Mr. Clean. He even tries to clean his sister's butt while she's still in the box. The little girl, however, never seems to clean her butt. Same deal here with the wipes -- she acts like it's the most horrendous indignity ever.

I'm really hoping she outgrows it OR that it's another rotten complication of the giardia which will end once the giardia is gone.


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## Calliso (Aug 9, 2011)

Well it is good to know the squealing is a normal thing! The shaving down there sounds like a good idea they donlt have very long hair but still I might take them to the groomer and have them do that. Yeah I switch their wet food around daily so it could be a food problem. Also I am guessing the Purina dry food I am feeding them could be causing issues as well. Good thing I am almost done with the first bag so I think I can justify starting the switch to a better food soon. I actually started before but the husband wanted me to wait so we wouldn;t end up wasting lots of food! *Yeah I am smacking myself now for buying two bags of that crap! Anyway thanks again for the help. Also it does seem that he was just being playful aggresive and not mad at me, which I think I realized all along but the mind isn;t always rational at 1 am in the morning!


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

Yeah Athena was terrible at this when she was a kitten. I had to clean her often. She had chronic soft stool until I changed her diet too, which made it even worse.

But once she got older she got much better at cleaning it herself.

I wouldn't imagine switching the wet food daily would be causing issues, unless one of the specific varieties fed has something that doesn't agree with them. I rotate my cats' wet food, and it never bothers them, even though Athena has a very sensitive stomach. As I mentioned above, Athena did end up having some digestive sensitivities to certain kinds of food though. When I put her on an all-moist, grain-free diet, her stools improved dramatically. They're only perfect if she gets at least one raw meal a day, but still a lot better on grain-free canned (I do a combo of both raw and canned now). Kibble always made them horribly soft, like piles of pudding.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Yeah I don't know what it is about baby wipes that cats don't like. Maybe it's the soap or whatever it is in them that irritates the anus. Another thing you can try instead of baby wipes, is a _quilted makeup-remover pad_. Moisten it with very warm (but not hot) water to clean. I find cats don't object as much with these as they do the wipes. Sometimes Alkee needs her anal glands wiped, and she's OK with these. She complains a bit (I swear she's tortie under that white coat of hers!) but doesn't fight it or try to bite or anything like that. 

Trim away the hair as close as you can with blunt-nose "moustache" scissors about a 1in. diameter around the anus and that will help her to keep cleaner.


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## Abbie (Jan 13, 2011)

I still have to wipe Evie (and sometimes Mitzi) now! Not all the time, but every now and again- a curse of having long haired Ragdolls!

They both hate it, squeal and wriggle. But it's better than being a stinky cat!


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

I usually just used a damp soft tissue or paper towel to gently wipe Athena, and she'd get quite upset about that too. She does the same when I wipe her eyes. I think some cats just don't like being "groomed" by their people regardless of what is used. 

Come to think of it, she gets mad when Apollo tries to groom her too, even though she grooms him all the time. :roll:

I always think of that scene from The Lion King: "Mom! You're messing up my mane!" She's just a prissy little princess I guess.


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## MissyCat (Mar 7, 2011)

marie73 said:


> My girls' groomer gives them potty patches. :grin:


POTTY PATCHES!!!!! I love it! hahaha  Missy cat definitely needs one of those!


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