dirty sticky butt

Hi all,

I have two 7 or 8 month old male siblings and have been battling diarreah since I rescused them 6 months ago. Fortunately diarreah is gone (after changing their food about 4 times) but one kitten's butt remains very dirty. Every morning, I need to take wipes and clean dried poop on his butt. It's not just a little bit but a smear of black poop on his bum. I'm currently feeding them dried California Natural Chicken with a large spoonful of wet California Natural Chicken mixed in. As far as I can tell, his poop is firm so I don't understand why it's sticking to him. Can anyone offer a recommendation such as an additive to the food or should I change the food again, such as going raw? It's taken so long to find food his stomach will tolerate, I hate to mess with something that works. The other kitten is ok but he doesn't clean after himself so his butt stinks.

If anyone has advise or wisdom to share with me, I will be eternally greatful. Thanks!

Have they been wormed the std two ot three times???

Has the vet been consulted???

Have you used or tried any foods without CHICKEN and RIce as ingrediants?? what foods did you try??How long per trial( typically you use 8-12 weeks per food)

my baby Chloe had a smelly bottom too.

this problem was eliminated after feeding a raw diet for a couple months.
the waste from a kitty on a raw diet is dry and chalky and virtually odorless.

They have been wormed twice and have been checked over by a vet. I started them on Evo chicken for few weeks without any problems and about two months into it, one of the kitten (one with the sticky butt) all of sudden got diarreah. I then switched to Wellness chicken and he had the worst runs ever. I switched to Fromm Duck for several weeks (maybe two months) but it just wasn't getting any better. I finally started adding Eagle Holistic Pack's powder which is suppose to help their tummies and switched veeerrry slowly over to California Natural and that has helped with dirreaeah. Like I said, he's poop appears to be firm but it's smeared all over his butt. Maybe his poop isn't as firm as I think? Do you think it's simply a matter of the type of food he is eating? If I switched from Califronia Natural Chicken to California Natural Herring/Salmon, do you think I still need to do a slow switch? Do you think canned food is causing this problem? I only started adding canned food because I was adding Eagle Pack powder, which I'm no longer using.

likely he needs the EP probiotics and canned food is actully better for a cat than dry...

It may be hard but you may want a food without chicken or rice as all that you have tried have those or poultry ... EVO is a 50 /50 food 50% do great 50% cant handle ... other grain free options ( note all have chn or poultry ) are Wellness Core , Orijen , taste of the wild...

RAW likely would help but at this pt figuring out the cause is most important...

I use slippery elm and apple pectin for stool issues

Until you find the right diet, you may want to consider asking the vet to do a sanitary trim on their bottoms. They just shave a little bit around the butt. Less likely to collect poopy surprises.

When you switch foods, are you doing it slowly and gradually or all at once? For being kittens, it sounds like they've had a lot of food changes and that could likely add to the problem. Good luck with your babies!

o! you can add a tiny tspn of canned pumpkin to their wetfood to firm up stools a bit. totally safe, recommended by my vet.

Thanks for your collective wisdom.

So just to clarify, what you are saying is that his poop isn't as firm as I believe they are and that is the only reason why it's smeared on his bum? Hmmmmm. I might have to consider going raw, which I was hoping to avoid. I'll do a search on raw diet under this forum but if anyone has hints for smooth transition to raw (I'll be buying prepackaged raw food such as Primal), please kindly send it my way.

mzjazz2u -- I have been trimming hair around his bum but unfortunately his poop tends to stick on his bum hole (sorry for being gross) rather than hair around his butt. He doesn't have diarreah but his poop comes out sticky and just gets smeared. Yes, I have been slowly transitioning his food (won't make that mistake twice!).

soft poop is the logical reason for it to be on the rear end.... yes that is not always the cat s issue ... if you try a firming agent like apple pectin or pumpkin and get no help a vet should be consulted... example Zoey has mild allergies to wheat and soy if she gets something with that in it her poop will smear a bit..

about raw evan pre done it is best to consult with the vet ... pm me I have lots of ideas as I have in the past feed raw ... currently doing homemade for one animal

yea, pm sharky. She's the resident foodie here.
I'm sure she'll have lots of good info and advice for you!