Scooting But on Floor

mizmelzy

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Just a question. Smokie has been scooting his butt on the floor for a while now. Not every day but every few days or so. When I took him into the vet he checked his anal glands and said that they were fine. He didn't get much out. He said that he's doing a good job of cleaning them out by scooting his butt on the floor.

Just wondering if this butt scooting could be in relation to his throwing up? And if so what could be the culprit? He's the only one that does it. His poop is normal, not runny or anything.
 

otto

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Has constipation been ruled out?
 
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mizmelzy

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Yes. He goes regularly and I've watched him many times. He doesn't seem constipated at all. I did have one cat who was very constipated and she was always dragging her butt on the floor. Had to have her in for a Enema which cleared it up.

But have not seen him have any issues like that.
 
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mizmelzy

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It is soft, but not too soft. It's what his poop looks like normally. I have also noticed that usually when he goes down to eat or go to the bathroom many times he'll come up stairs running in through the cat door like there's a race. He'll run through the kitchen into the living room and around the corner into the hall. You can hear him try not to slide around the corner. It's kind of funny to watch cause he slides around the corner. Then he'll come out and start playing like mad with one of his toys chasing it all around the house. Sometimes he'll stay in the hall and meow loudly, then come out into the living room. Not sure if that could be another piece to the puzzle or if he's just being playful.
 

lyrajean

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My only other suggestion is has he been checked for worms recently? Sometimes that gives them itchy butt and they scoot.
 
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mizmelzy

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Yep he has been checked for worms. We found some worms that were in his poop, but when I brought the poop to the vet he said that they were maggots. But he did give me a dewormer just in case. He's had his dose. He's still doing this though. All though now that I think of it he started doing the butt scooting a couple of years ago. My prior vet said that her cat does the butt scooting too and she checks his glands then. But I have started seeing him do this more so now though. Before it was like once in a great while.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe his poop isn't stiff enough and when he starts to get build up he scoots on the rug and gets most of it out?

Could food allergies do this too?
 
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mizmelzy

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I am also noticing that when I put water up stairs that Smokie drinks a lot. Yesterday he was there probably a total of like 6 or 7 times drinking. Not more than about 30-40 seconds each time. All though he did throw up yesterday morning so maybe he was a little dehydrated because of that. This morning after he had his 1/2 can of wet cat food he was there twice in a 10 minute span. But he was playing for a few minutes running after his fuzzy ball. So, I guess I'll have to keep an eye on him. When the water bowl is downstairs I see him go down about 3-4 times during the day. The other cats I see there maybe at the most twice during the day to drink water. I don't know how much they drink at night though. I know they eat more during the night though than the day. Mostly during the day they sleep.

When the vet did a blood test it was a regular blood test. Would that have shown results that would have indicated a thyroid problem or possibly diabetes?
 

stephanietx

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I don't think the butt scooting is related to the excessive drinking. However, you need to have another fecal test done to completely rule out worms and talk to your vet about the excessive drinking. That could indicate some more serious, but manageable conditions.
 

lyrajean

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After you've eliminated all the medical conditions listed and kitty has been pronounced in good health, if Smokie still scoots he may be doing it cause he likes to. Our family kitty Midori scoots on occassion. We deworm her regularly and have had the Vet check her anal glands, and cleaned her rear ourselves and she still scoots. Actually her favorite thing is catnip and she likes to scoot over it and then eat it. Why it tastes better after you've wiped your hiney on it baffles me, but she does.
 

otto

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Originally Posted by mizmelzy

It is soft, but not too soft. It's what his poop looks like normally. I have also noticed that usually when he goes down to eat or go to the bathroom many times he'll come up stairs running in through the cat door like there's a race. He'll run through the kitchen into the living room and around the corner into the hall. You can hear him try not to slide around the corner. It's kind of funny to watch cause he slides around the corner. Then he'll come out and start playing like mad with one of his toys chasing it all around the house. Sometimes he'll stay in the hall and meow loudly, then come out into the living room. Not sure if that could be another piece to the puzzle or if he's just being playful.
That's called The Poop Run at my house.
Perfectly normal behavior....for a cat that is!


I like Lyrajean's idea that he does it because it feels good. It may have started because of some anal glad trouble, but now it's a habit.

However that drinking should be checked out. Do you have a copy of the last blood work your vet did on Smokie? He needs a super chemistry, which includes thyroid t-4. That will give information on all his organs, plus a CBC should also be included.
 

stephanietx

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I have one that likes to leave skid marks on the carpet, too. She has the beginning stages of CRF and is older with arthritis. I think she does it because it's hard for her to get back there and clean well, even though she's not overweight.

Definitely have the increased water consumption thing checked out. One last thing, does he eat wet or dry or a combo of both?
 
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mizmelzy

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Smokey has been into the vet this past June because he was throwing up. They did a blood test to see if anything could be found there. His blood test was normal. There was one reading on it that was a little off but the vet said that was from a little dehydration because he had been throwing up 2x a day for a week prior to when he was seen. I then started him on a wet food diet and once he stopped throwing up I got him down to 1/2 a can a day and the rest dry. When I put him back on all dry a week or so ago, he started to throw up again. So he's back on 1/2 can of wet and I changed his food. I was thinking that it could be an intolerance to beet which had been in several different foods I had tried because one of my other cats has a food allergy (pulling fur out) So I've switched to Chicken Soup Cat Food. He's only thrown up once since then which was not yesterday but the day prior when I noticed him drinking more frequently. But yesterday he only went to the water dish 3 times and probably drank for no longer than 10-15 seconds. Today so far he's only been there 2x. I called the vet and he said to monitor him. He said he might have been drinking more Monday because he had thrown up that morning. He said that he shouldn't be drinking more than one cup a day. If he is drinking more than one cup, then he said to make an appointment, and they do another blood test.

He also asked if he's been loosing weight, or eating a lot. I said no. He eats normally. Though he does look thinner than he used to be but that's probably due to age. He turned 9 in may. I started weighing him every day. I notice that his weight fluctuates from day to day between 9-10lbs. So he's not really weight because it fluctuates. He's acting normally otherwise. So he said he thinks that when he throws up he looses fluids, so he could be more thirsty because his body is trying to replace them. He has not thrown up since Monday morning.

I have been keeping a water dish upstairs since smokie started throwing up and it's within my view range. So I have been watching the other cats too. They usually visit the water dish probably 2 times or so during the day for the same length of time as smokie. So compared to what the other cats I see drinking. His drinking is comparable to theirs.

I'm going to put him in the bar room down stairs for a few days and monitor how much he's drinking. I'll measure the water in a measuring cup to see exactly how much he's drinking every day.
 
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