anal gland

Hello,

My wife and i are very new to owning a cat. friends of ours surprised my wife and now we have a cat. Unfortuneately they never spoke with us about it first! He was only six weeks old when we got him and after having him for a week we were so darn attatched to him we just had to keep him. Money is tight right now, he doesn't have a vet yet. we've been going to a cat clinic to get his discount shots and boosters so at least the little guy will be protected. He is now 4 months old a a total TERROR!! he is so bad, i never knew a cat would be so much work.

anyways, to the point. He's been having awful foul odor with some discharge which i'm sure is coming from his rear. I've been told it's his anal gland. Oh dear God it is a horrible stench and nearly impossible to get off of clothes and furniture. It happens maybe once a week. He has normal stools. Is this something that happens with a young cat his age or is something wrong. I read a little bit that sometimes some cats can actually choose to discharge this gland as a territorial thing (marking) as well as spraying. We want to get him fixed and front declawed next month. he hasn't starting spraying thank god. we have a york terrier dog and thought maybe beings they are both male that maybe the cat was becoming territorial. Not sure if this can happen between dogs and cats. they don't fight, in fact the cat loves the dog, a little too much!! the dog isn't amused by his cat way of playing and usually wants nothing to do with the cat. sometimes they touch noses but that's about it!

so if someone could just let me know what's going on here and if there are things we can do to help with the gland. i can't stand this smell and i'm not nuts about it getting all over the furniture either!! we are in the process of finding a vet and don't want to take him where we take the dog cause we don't like that place. thanks everyone!

Originally Posted by kmlong

Hello,

My wife and i are very new to owning a cat. friends of ours surprised my wife and now we have a cat. Unfortuneately they never spoke with us about it first! He was only six weeks old when we got him and after having him for a week we were so darn attatched to him we just had to keep him. Money is tight right now, he doesn't have a vet yet. we've been going to a cat clinic to get his discount shots and boosters so at least the little guy will be protected. He is now 4 months old a a total TERROR!! he is so bad, i never knew a cat would be so much work.

anyways, to the point. He's been having awful foul odor with some discharge which i'm sure is coming from his rear. I've been told it's his anal gland. Oh dear God it is a horrible stench and nearly impossible to get off of clothes and furniture. It happens maybe once a week. He has normal stools. Is this something that happens with a young cat his age or is something wrong. I read a little bit that sometimes some cats can actually choose to discharge this gland as a territorial thing (marking) as well as spraying. We want to get him fixed and front declawed next month. he hasn't starting spraying thank god. we have a york terrier dog and thought maybe beings they are both male that maybe the cat was becoming territorial. Not sure if this can happen between dogs and cats. they don't fight, in fact the cat loves the dog, a little too much!! the dog isn't amused by his cat way of playing and usually wants nothing to do with the cat. sometimes they touch noses but that's about it!

so if someone could just let me know what's going on here and if there are things we can do to help with the gland. i can't stand this smell and i'm not nuts about it getting all over the furniture either!! we are in the process of finding a vet and don't want to take him where we take the dog cause we don't like that place. thanks everyone!

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Welcome to TCS and congratulations on your new fur-baby.

Anal gland - often the anal gland needs "expressing" particularly if their stool is soft. Normally a regular stool keeps the gland "working" properly. When you go to the vet they can teach you how to clear the gland in future if that is indeed the problem.

As to his being a terror - if he was only 6 weeks when you got him, he was too young. Between 8-12 weeks the momma cat teaches the little ones proper manners, i.e., not biting, scratching, etc. You will need to teach him these things. He is also still a kitten and kittens are exuberant. Our Bijou is very laid back, has a wonderful temperament but as a kitten he was pretty rough on my feet and ankles with his biting and scratching. It's not something they mean to do, they are just being kittens. When he acts inappropriately, hiss at him or blow in his face, say NO loudly and stand still. If you pull your hand or leg away from him, he thinks you are playing and will chase it. If he is scratching things, do as you would a young child - divert his attention by either moving him to a scratching post (you can spray it with catnip to get his attention to it) or just have a feather wand or toy to get him away from the bad behaviour. Kittens like to play.

You can also clip his claws. You will see the pink part of his claw so don't clip down to that. Clip just the sharp tips off. I use human nail clippers as I find them easier to handle for me - just turn them sideways for a cleaner snip.

Please, please do not declaw. This is an anti-declawing site. There are many ways to deal with claws and inappropriate scratching without declawing. Declawing is basically the amputation of the first joint of the toes - somewhat like someone cutting off all your fingers to the first knuckle. Declawed cats often have other issues - they will start biting (their only defense left), refuse to use the litter and start using the bathroom anywhere but in the litter box (it hurts or bothers their paws). There is also a product called soft paws which you glue over their claws. I personally just clip our kitties claws about every 10 days. The back paws don't need regular clipping usually. I only do that about once every 4-6 months.

Get your kitty used to having his paws handled, just stroke or play with them when he is sleeping or all relaxed and that will help in the future for clipping. Some folks wait until their cat is sleeping and manage to do a couple claws at a time if their cat isn't cooperating. I've never had that problem fortunately. I just hold the cat with his/her back against my tummy, with my arm under against their chest, hold the paw in one hand, croon softly and snip. Then I give a nice treat.

Do some reading in the Behaviour forum and you'll find lots of info to cover just about anything your new kitty might be doing that you need help with. Enjoy your little one - before you know it, he'll be an adult and these issues will have gone away.