Cat won't wash

That's odd, does he not groom himself at all? Not even a wash up after he eats?

I'll assume he's not obese, since you would have figured it out if that was the issue.

How are his teeth? Can she just do some wet cloth washups 2-3 times a day to cut down on full bathes? How old is he (rough guess)?


I've taken in 3 week old kittens that didn't have contact with adult cats till 7 weeks. Even they started making attempts at cleaning themselves pretty early on (paws, faces, sides, each other) - though it took a little longer for them to start cleaning up back there. So I thought it was mostly instinct, too, as cats typically don't like the feel of things on their fur.

I've had a lot of cats over the years, and I had 1 neutered male that would not groom himself at all. He was neither ill or overweight. I found him as a stray at 10 years old so have no idea what his early life was. But when I put him in the bathtub for baths, he'd sit quietly in the water and actually enjoyed it, so I assume that whom ever had him did this before me. He was also a very, very sweat cat.

I asked my vet about it and his words: there is the rare healthy cat, usually male, that will not groom themselves. He had no idea what caused this behavior other than illness.

Rule out any health problems first and foremost. You may just have a very rare cat.

Thanks for posting for me mom. He's actually my cat. He is a long haired neutered male. He does not wash at all. The only time I see him clean himself is after i give him a bath and he is wet. I will brush him, but then he will go off and wash. But other than that, he just will not groom himself. He will get burrs and matts and he just ignores them. His fur gets oily and dirty and starts to seperate and not look nice. His white paws become brown and the beautiful white bib becomes grubby and dirty looking. He has cut marks all over his fur because I have to cut mats off of him. He is a year old and has beautiful teeth.
When I first found him as a stray he was so beautiful I thought he must have been somebodies cat. He had two small mats but other than that he looked great. Now, that he has a nice warm loving home, it seems that he now looks like a stray.
When I bathe him, i get him all wet which is a chore in itself with all that long fur, then I suds him up real good, and when I rinse him off the first time, it's amazing to see the dirty water that comes off of him. I kinda have to laugh because it like being really dirty from working in the garden all day and jumping in the shower and seeing all the dirt come off...that's what its like. He will have liter in between his pads and stuck to his nails and he will have little balls of poop stuck all around his butt. I have no choice but to just get in there and pull them off.
He is a wonderful, wonderful cat besides that. There is something very special about Stanley, I just wish he would wash. After 2 to 3 days of no bath he also becomes very stinky from urine and poop. My poor boy doesn't even seem to care.
Now I'm rambling....but that's stanleys story...thanks for all your comments. I'm sure you could be right about him just being a cat that doesn't groom. If so, I don't know how to change this behavior...any suggestions. Thanks