embarassing question

OK i'm not nearly as 'newbie' as this might seem, but I'm curious.

I have a DSH male. he's eaten the same food in the same servings his entire adult life (he's 4 years old).

Lately he's gotten a bad case of... well... dirty butt. he's clumping pretty bad.

Is this something I should be worried about? is it an indication of sickness? it's never happened before.

Male cats are just like men when they reach middle age. Their hygiene declines. Hit him on the butt a couple of times with an unscented baby wipe, and you're good.

it stinks...

not only that, he likes to climb on my chest, i fold my arm, and he sits on my arm while i pet him. That has currently been suspended if you know what i mean I don't need choco dots on my arms.

im having the same problem with a new kitten. ive been wiping his butt after he goes and then also using a warm paper towel. are baby wipes safe to use?? if so that would be awesome. 

yeah unscented baby wipes are fine, just don't rub too hard so the little butt doesn't get raw.

this is an awesome picture btw

awwww thank you! thats my new little guy named Seven. I picked that name because on his front paws he has 7 digits! My last cat I had for 15 years before he passed so its been a long time since I had a little guy. 

fastnoc said:

OK i'm not nearly as 'newbie' as this might seem, but I'm curious.

I have a DSH male. he's eaten the same food in the same servings his entire adult life (he's 4 years old).

Lately he's gotten a bad case of... well... dirty butt. he's clumping pretty bad.

Is this something I should be worried about? is it an indication of sickness? it's never happened before.

Click to expand...

This is not normal. What do his stools look like? Are they the same as always?

It's quite likely that his anal glands need to be expressed. That is best done at the vet. It is painful for the cat and the odor is...indescribable.

If left untreated they will block, become infected, or even rupture.

PS Other possibilities are constipation or diarrhea. Both, also, are problems that need to be dealt with starting with a check up, and then possibly a diet change.

I wonder what you are feeding. Pet food manufacturers change ingredients, and quality of ingredients all the time. You may think you are feeding the same food, but it may not be the same at all. Also, cats can develop an intolerance to a certain ingredient at any time.

Chronic constipation can lead to megacolon. If you are feeding a dry diet, this is very likely. Diarrhea of course will cause dehydration and malnutrition if it goes on too long.

Make a point of watching him poop. Does he strain a lot? Does he reposition himself frequently?
Stool should come out when a cat poops as little tootsie rolls. Sometimes they may look like one long piece but separate as they drop to the litter box. They should be formed, but not hard and dry. When you press on one, it should give slightly.

Hopefully he just needs his anal glands expressed.

Is he overweight? Obese cats can get so large they can't keep themselves clean.

That was the case with my cousin's 27 pounder, biggest cat I ever saw in person. He had a hundred nicknames. One was Jabba the Hut b/c of the way he hunched over to try and bathe LOL! Poor kitty. He put him on every diet under the sun, no use.
my cousin use to have to chase him around the house with the baby wipes after he pooped he hated it!

How dare someone think Wilbur is fat!!!! hehe. he's not fat. a tiny bit plump but that's it.

He's oK now. the baby wipes did the trick and it seems to have been a short one time thing. The thing is,  i had been severely stressed out for the last two weeks. So much so that I was sick for 3 days. i don't remember ever being that stressed before. So it could easily have been him knowing things weren't right and he was just worried.

he's ok now though and he's back to clean butt

Thanks for the suggestions

by the way, here's how stressed he is right now he's sleeping right next to my monitor on my desk

See that little black dot on his nose? that's a birthmark. it's actually a black spec. cute huh?

fastnoc said:

by the way, here's how stressed he is right now he's sleeping right next to my monitor on my desk

See that little black dot on his nose? that's a birthmark. it's actually a black spec. cute huh?

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Aw...he looks so totally cuddly! Regarding the black spec, my red-headed boy Abby has quite a few of those on his nose. I thought it was dirt until my vet pointed out that, "No, they are freckles!" I quit trying to scrub them off. <still giggling>

Wilbur is just gorgeous - love the coloring! I'm glad to hear he's doing better! There's a feral who hangs out around here who had kittens last summer and one of them had a single freckle on his nose - it was adorable. That was my first experience with kitty freckles (I'm new to this whole cat thing!)

My obese male moggie always had a dirty butt. Poop went al the way from his tail to below his anus. I always wondered if it had something to do with being a tomcat or the obesity making grooming his butt difficult. Because it covered a long area, I used wet paper towels and tissues - baby wipes would have been too small - and I still needed more than one to get all of it. Fortunately, I can't smell poop.

fastnoc said:

by the way, here's how stressed he is right now he's sleeping right next to my monitor on my desk

See that little black dot on his nose? that's a birthmark. it's actually a black spec. cute huh?

Click to expand...

He is so cute!  I absolutely love your avatar BTW - adorable.  Back to the dirty behind.  I'm happy the wipes worked.  I've had to use them on Swiffer before when something would get "stuck" in her fur.  She is a Maine Coon/Siamese mix with a LOT of hair and now and then something will get stuck in there but that's been happening since she was a kitten.  I would not discount there being some type of intestinal/digestive issue going on.  You may want to keep a close eye on his stools in the litter box for any abnormalities.  If you find anything unusual you might want to get him to the doc for a look see.  He looks like a total sweetie

My kitty Bell (RIP) had that problem when she reached middle age, we called them Klingons LOL.

I discovered that switching to a better food eliminated the klingons altogether. I switched to Natural Balance wet and I still put a little bit of her junk food (it had been friskies) on top so she would stay interested. I was able to phase it out gradually. 

Until I was able to fix the Klingon problem with her food, I had the vet shave around her butt. That worked pretty well too :-). 

We have a cat at the adoption center who also has this problem and we use the unscented pet wipes on his butt. He actually likes it LOL :-).

Your kitty is GORGEOUS BTW- what a sweetheart!! He's not fat, not like my Bell- she was obese, I'm ashamed to say. Long story for another time....