Long Hair and poo

i have a 5 month old kitten, its a cross between a red persian and a white bengal, as a result i have a long haired kitten with the bengal shape head, his coat is not as long and fluffy as a persian but he still has a beautiful red coat with some striped markings.

now when he uses his litter tray to pooh, quite often he has a stinky bum afterwards, i dont fanscy cleaning him everytime he has done a poo, what can be done, will he get better as he gets older or should i trim the hair at his rear?

please help

Sometimes they get better and sometimes they don't. I've had 2 semi long hair cats (fluffy around the rear end) and neither of them had problems with getting poo on their bums. Mosi sometimes did when he was a young kitten but now that he's older he doesn't get any on himself. Occasionally if he has a softer poo he might get a little on him (I keep wipes to hand for those occasions) but provided he's doing nice, firm poos he has no problems.

If your kitten doesn't grow out of it you might want to trim the fur around the area so that he doesn't get too messy. But he's only young so he may get the hang of it yet!

It could be what he's eating, making his pooh a little soft. Occassionally Blossom gets some on her long hair if she does a soft pooh.I'll either wash it off or comb it out.

thanks for the replies, i noticed his pooh seems to be a bit soft so ill keep an eye on his food and try to keep his poo solid it does seem to have been on occasions when it is a bit on the softer side.

i was hoping i was not in for a life of bottom wiping

I have Persians and Himalayans and I have them trimmed in the back end...much easier!!

As mentioned above, having good firm poos will help quite a bit with this, but I still trim Stan's back side every couple of months. It makes it easier for him to keep himself clean. Plus, his peeing technique seems to get his butt wet...then he gets litter stuck on it.

My Isaac is a domestic long hair (no special breed), but he used to leave me special gifts around the house. I take him every so often & get him a sanitary shave. The vet techs always look at me crazy becuase his rump is clean, but then I explain that poo gets stuck in his hair & drops off around the house. They understand & give him the shave then he's good for several months I'd say he only needs to go 3-4 times a year. I'd do it myself, but he behaves much better for the vet techs.

Its fine to trim the hair round the anus on longhairs. Maybe take the cat to the groomer first and have them do it and/or show you how to keep it trimmed at home.

thanks for the advice everyone, i think i will get the wee man trimmed at his rear end for now to save any more mess and then see how he goes as he gets older, i never realised trimming the rear end was so common.

anything is better than wiping bottoms