Poop stuck on kitten's bottom?

purplemilkywayy · Oct 4, 2013

Hi everyone,

My kitten is 12 weeks old. He finished all of his medication for Giardia a couple of days ago, so his poop is no longer soft/runny. However, even though his poop is hard enough, his bum is always dirty after he poops (stuck on his anus). Today, his poop was softer than usual (and more green) and a big clump got stuck on his fur. He cleans his paws and legs all the time but doesn't clean his butt too often.

I usually wipe him with a soft warm towelette... But would I have to do this forever? Do kittens eventually get better at cleaning their own bottoms? Did the Giardia come back?

Thanks!

(I also posted in the Pregnant/Kittens page, but I think this may be a better place to ask my question. Sorry, I'm new to this!)

jazzygemmy · Oct 4, 2013

All the kittens I have met or known have been pigs, lol. My adult male kitty needs a sanitary shave (shave around the genitals and some of the back legs) every so often to stay clean, although he has long hair. Not sure if it is safe to do that with a kitten, but you might consider that option. I think they do get better about grooming with age :-)

purplemilkywayy · Oct 4, 2013

My kitten is a Ragdoll/Siberian mix, so he's pretty fluffy. So it's normal that their butts are not clean all the time? Is it necessary for me to chase him down after he poops to clean him, or should I just leave him alone? (He sleeps on my bed)

jazzygemmy · Oct 4, 2013

Well, I wouldn't say that long haired cats are NOT clean. I have definitely noticed that he gets runny poops when I feed him foods that don't agree with him. I guess I haven't had to have him shaved 'down there' since I found the food that he does best on. His poops are smaller and dryer. Some cats also just never are good cleaners. I think that a wipe every now and then can't hurt him, but most of the time, I would trust him to take care of it, if it's not too nasty, of course. When I first adopted my long haired cat, he was eating some Science Diet kibble that they were feeding him at the shelter and he did awful on it. The first morning after bringing him home, I walked into my living room with poop EVERYWHERE! He had a runny poop overnight and it got stuck in his tail! He must have been frightened over it, b/c it was splattered on the coffee, couch, walls, carpet, you name it! Ewwww! I got him shaved that day. I was afraid that when his hair grew back out, the incident would happen again, but it never did, b/c he is eating a quality diet now. What does your kitten eat?

jazzygemmy · Oct 4, 2013

I just reread your post again and saw that you mentioned his poops are solid again. So, maybe the diet isn't the issue here. I guess come to think of it, every now and again I see little left behind particles on their little butts, but I think they do alright with cleaning those things up. One thing you just have to remember about cats is that sometimes they aren't the cleanest animals in the world, but I would MUCH rather let a cat sleep in my bed than a dog ANY day of the week. lol

purplemilkywayy · Oct 4, 2013

Oh my god, at least my kitten uses his litter box! Hahah. I only got him a little more than a week ago, so before that, he was eating wet/dry Royal Canin for Babycats. I'm switching him over to Blue Wilderness for Kittens though. I give him a little bit of boiled chicken breast every few days.

Well, the good thing is that sometimes he'll start to lick himself after I try to wipe him. But today I saw another threat on TCS that suggested using butter, so I used a q-tip to dab a tiny bit of butter on him... and he cleaned himself up pretty nicely. But I don't want to be doing that every time.

jazzygemmy · Oct 4, 2013

The butter thing just seems so...weird, though. lol. But, hey, I'm sure it works great! lol

Some people have differing opinions about the BB wilderness, especially for neutered male cats. People claim that there are more UTI incidences with the BB foods. Unless you are feeding wet food...that is all good. Having said that, I have had multiple cats on BB Wilderness (adult) in the past and I think they all seemed the healthiest and happiest when on it.

purplemilkywayy · Oct 4, 2013

Oh wow, I didn't know about the UTI thing (and yes, my kitten is a neutered male). What's a good wet food to feed him? I think I've heard good things about Wilderness? Also, feeding him a combo would be okay right?

Why is wet food usually better? Is it because it contains more water? What if my kitten drinks water all the time?

jazzygemmy · Oct 4, 2013

Now, bare with me, I am still learning everyday about the perfect cat diet. I know it's best to feed them wet food. Apparently (and a lot of people on this forum will agree) ANY brand of wet cat food is better than even the premium brands of dry food. Right now, b/c we are trying to keep costs down(we have 3 cats), we are feeding dry in the morning and wet in the evening. That way they are at least getting some wet. The dry to them has no benefit really, and all wet is preferred.

I used to think it was ALL about the moisture, too, but it's also b/c of the carbs/starches used in the dry to bind the food together. Too many carbs is not healthy, so hence the need for wet food. Right now, we are feeding taste of the wild dry kibble (which is one of the lower cost grain free dry food) and Authority (petsmart house brand) wet food. We find that his combo fits our budget. Feeding premium wet food ALL the time can get really expensive! With something like Blue Buffalo wet, you could be looking at about $50 a month for ONE cat!! I could literally go on and on, but basically after much research, I found that even some of the premium wet foods have by-products and some other nasties, so that is why I settled on Authority. It is a very affordable brand with likeable ingredients.

As far as the UTIs and neutered males, I'm not EXACTLY sure why they are more prone to them, it's just what I have read. Sorry I don't know any more. I think UTIs are more caused from the lack of moisture and not necessarily the carbs in the dry food. So if you want to feed half dry-half wet and you know he is drinking plenty of water, than he should be perfectly fine. Although, if you can afford to feed all wet, I think that would be ideal. Lets say you fed him ALL Authority...he would need one can total a day and each can is about .75, so you can get away with spending about $20 per month, which is about the same as if you were feeding him BB Wilderness. Those bags are $40 for the 12 lb and my cat used to go through one bag in 2 months.

I have been dabbling in this forum for only a couple weeks and I have learned a lot, so just do a little reading and you should be able to decide what you are comfortable with :-)

petcrazy76 · Oct 4, 2013

I'm sorry to say that some cats never get the butt cleaning down. My older cat is horrible at it. What helped us was getting a second cat. She can't stand when Peanut's butt is dirty. That's not necessarily an option for everyone though. lol

The thing that stands out to me in you posts is that you've only had him around a week. I did have a cat that refused to clean himself at all when we first got him. He slept on my pillow and stank so bad. The vet told us that some kittens have cleaning issues when they move, and that he'd get over it when he adjusted. I don't know how true that is, but two weeks later he started cleaning himself. Hopefully your kitty will get better at it too.

purplemilkywayy · Oct 5, 2013

jazzygemmy said:
Now, bare with me, I am still learning everyday about the perfect cat diet. I know it's best to feed them wet food. Apparently (and a lot of people on this forum will agree) ANY brand of wet cat food is better than even the premium brands of dry food. Right now, b/c we are trying to keep costs down(we have 3 cats), we are feeding dry in the morning and wet in the evening. That way they are at least getting some wet. The dry to them has no benefit really, and all wet is preferred.

I used to think it was ALL about the moisture, too, but it's also b/c of the carbs/starches used in the dry to bind the food together. Too many carbs is not healthy, so hence the need for wet food. Right now, we are feeding taste of the wild dry kibble (which is one of the lower cost grain free dry food) and Authority (petsmart house brand) wet food. We find that his combo fits our budget. Feeding premium wet food ALL the time can get really expensive! With something like Blue Buffalo wet, you could be looking at about $50 a month for ONE cat!! I could literally go on and on, but basically after much research, I found that even some of the premium wet foods have by-products and some other nasties, so that is why I settled on Authority. It is a very affordable brand with likeable ingredients.

As far as the UTIs and neutered males, I'm not EXACTLY sure why they are more prone to them, it's just what I have read. Sorry I don't know any more. I think UTIs are more caused from the lack of moisture and not necessarily the carbs in the dry food. So if you want to feed half dry-half wet and you know he is drinking plenty of water, than he should be perfectly fine. Although, if you can afford to feed all wet, I think that would be ideal. Lets say you fed him ALL Authority...he would need one can total a day and each can is about .75, so you can get away with spending about $20 per month, which is about the same as if you were feeding him BB Wilderness. Those bags are $40 for the 12 lb and my cat used to go through one bag in 2 months.

I have been dabbling in this forum for only a couple weeks and I have learned a lot, so just do a little reading and you should be able to decide what you are comfortable with :-)

Thank you for this information! I'll figure out a good diet for him.

purplemilkywayy · Oct 5, 2013

petcrazy76 said:
The thing that stands out to me in you posts is that you've only had him around a week. I did have a cat that refused to clean himself at all when we first got him. He slept on my pillow and stank so bad. The vet told us that some kittens have cleaning issues when they move, and that he'd get over it when he adjusted. I don't know how true that is, but two weeks later he started cleaning himself. Hopefully your kitty will get better at it too.

He actually does try to clean himself more now! I saw him cleaning his butt last night and today. Did you bathe your cats when they were kittens? How often should kittens be washed, if ever?

petcrazy76 · Oct 5, 2013

I've never bathed a cat. It's been awhile since I've had a kitten and I didn't know bathing was ok at the time. I let my cats take care of themselves and only help out if they get into something really messy or they bleed. (My youngest bleeds a lot when she has blood tests done. I don't like her to lick up that much blood.)

Poop stuck on kitten's bottom?

purplemilkywayy

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jazzygemmy

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purplemilkywayy

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