Do we need to clean cat's paws?

I think I spooked my cat when I walked in on him going poopoo with a plate in my hand (was doing dish). Three seconds after I walked in, he ran out, with some feces still on his paw (is this common)? He seems extremely afraid of me for about 30 minutes after the incident, won't come in to my room and would hide from me. I hope this doesn't scare him enough to avoid using the litter box in the future.
Now I think I better clean his paw. Don't we need to clean their paws regularly? I mean it must be fairly dirty to have them walking around our bed with those dirty paws.

Unless they are very young, it shouldn't be necessary to clean their bums or paws. Sometimes when they are young they are overly eager and may run out before completely finished, or step in the 'messy' during process. Some kitties are more self conscious when using the litter and may become disrupted in the process by a noise or sneak attack by fellow kitty, in the process rushing out and not being as thorough as usual. In these cases we should assist them, but hopefully not all the time!

If you keep the pan scooped at least once a day, it stays pretty clean. And yes wash his feet. Would YOU like to use your tongue to wash off poop?

I scoop his box once a day, and plan to dump the litter completely every week. I guess these types of litter box accidents happen every now and then. I just hope I won't have to clean up feces from the floor too often.
Maybe the box isn't big enough for him to turn around, that's why he stepped on his feces, or maybe he was spooked while covering up and misstepped. Anyway, I added more litter to the box, just in case he didn't have enough litter to cover it up.
I saw that he has some feces on his back paws, and just wiped them clean with damp cloth. Since the cat is new to my house, I don't want to scare him off.

When I first got Zoe, she was young enough that she stepped in it a time or two also. Yes, you will have to help clean occassionally...hopefully not much. I changed over to scoopable litter and a bigger pan and she had no more stepping issues after that.
I wonder if he is so easily spooked from the pan...you might try a couple of pans in different spots if you can and maybe try a covered one too?
Best of luck that it doesn't happen too much

Yiplong, did you see the threads on some of the alternate litter boxes some of us use? We use a fairly large storage box that we got from Wal-Mart. It's larger and deeper than most boxes sold as "litter boxes."

You shouldn't have to clean them regularly, but it is a good idea to take a look at them every so often and have an idea of what a healthy paw looks like. That way, if they do injure themselves or have some problem, you'll know sooner than later.

My kitties are adults, but I still have to occasionally clean litter out of Stan's paw fur. And, as someone else mentioned, if you know there's poo on them, the smart and humane thing to do is to help them clean it. (they might otherwise have to lick it off or rub it off on the carpet!! )

I use the jumbo size litter box, and my cat is a domestic sh. hair, so I guess isn't particularly big. I saw he was able to turn around in his box. But I will see if this accident happens again.

Last night the cat seems to be having a diarrhea, he defecated on the office chair (on which he slept), my bed room floor and the living room floor. That's due to that I let him took 2 sips of milk.

If hes new to the home, it may just take a little time for him to settle in and get comfortable. I can't imagine he wants to run around with poop on his feet...........

For me it wouldn't even be a question, nasty paws need to be cleaned right away if you notice. It is bad enough they have litter paws, but to have straight up feces on them, yes, clean them
Sorry about the runny poop issue Hope he gets well soon.

Originally Posted by yiplong

I use the jumbo size litter box, and my cat is a domestic sh. hair, so I guess isn't particularly big. I saw he was able to turn around in his box. But I will see if this accident happens again.

Last night the cat seems to be having a diarrhea, he defecated on the office chair (on which he slept), my bed room floor and the living room floor. That's due to that I let him took 2 sips of milk.

Click to expand...

Poor guy. He's probably lactose intolerant. My Nabu gets diarrhea from dairy products even though he loves them.

And yes, I would clean his foot. When Nabu has an incident where he gets poo on himself we clean him up.

If the cat had poop on him, I'd definitely help him get it off. No need for him to stain my house, lol.

When Pooch was a little baby, he must have diarrhea, and he didn't know what was going on. He was running around all over the house... his butt spraying things everywhere. When it stopped for a while, he sat down and took a sniff at his butt and *phoooot*... all over his face. Scared, he ran up the couch and everywhere. It was a very dirty sight!

On the way to moving to our new house, Pooch #2'ed in the car! It smelled so bad. He was in his carrier, so he got it all over himself. As soon as we got to our new house, my husband and I had to give him a bath right away, which he completely didn't like. It must have been so stressful that it took him a bit over two weeks to finally open up. Poor guy. It has been over a year now and he couldn't love his home more.

I'd get a larger litter pan too. Charlie outgrew the one he had as a kitten in a few months - he wants BIG litter pans !

Yiplong, while it may be the milk causing the problem, it may be a change in diet. If the problem continues, do be sure to see a vet; diarrhea can really dehydrate a cat, and you really want him checked for worms and other problems that can cause it.

I noticed u use a storage box for a litter box. Does she/he have easy access to get inside the storage box? And when inside can she/he get out easily? I'm only curious because I couldn't tell if there is a door. If not I think u should get a box that is used for kitty's. They have litter box's w covers on it. Maybe try that n be careful, u never wanna give too much dairy to a cat. If I give my cat any milk, I give her only a few little sips. She has yet to pooh any diarrhea. The litter box should be easy to access as well. I always clean my kitty's paws when she poohs too. Not every time, but often as I can, I don't know...ocd thing. [emoji]128512[/emoji]