Dragging his butt on the carpet??

Ew. I swear Jayce is the most challenging cat ever Good thing hes so darn cute to make up for it
Anyway, hes now taken to dragging his butt across the carpet every great once in a while. I noticed it twice in the last week, and it wasnt right after he used the box, so I dont think anything was stuck back there. I vaguely remember hearing about cats needing their anal glands expressed. Is that what he probably needs? Hes healthy otherwise... his face thing cleared up after his steroid shot and hes eating and drinking fine, seems to use the litter box fine too. The only other odd thing he does is dig everywhere still. He will spend forever in the box just scratching.

Is anal glad expressing usually expensive? How frequently does it need to be done? Only when they show signs or is it a few times a year?

You can express them yourself, it isn't easy nor is it pleasant, but it can be done. Just when you go in to the vet, ask him/her to show you what to do. Your cat could also have worms- so a vet visit would be a good idea.

You need a fainting smiley for that one
Sorry, theres no way I could do that. Im not very good at dealing with feces! I'll just bring him in and have him checked out soon. My vet is going to know us pretty darn well thats for sure
Does the expressing need to be done very often?

I have a question. What exactly is expressing the anal glands and why is it done? I have never had to do this with any of my cats

It has nothing to do with feces, instead it is this really rancid liquid that builds up and on some cats it has to be gently expressed to get rid of the pressure (which is why they scoot) and stink!! Yikes! The first time I ever did it in the vet's office I almost passed out! and I have a strong stomach!

That sounds even worse! I think I would rather pay a hefty bit of money for someone else to do that! Poor kitties! It must be uncomfortable. I hope its that and not worms though.
I'll let ya know when the vet visit is done

It would be a good idea to have him checked out by a vet just to make sure it isn't something more serious than the anal glands needed to be expressed.

Sphinx had an episode a couple months a go with him dragging his behind on the floor in obvious discomfort. We took him right in and (luckly) all it was was one of his anal glands which the vet took care of - he hasn't had a problem since but we are watching out for it again. Believe me he didn't like it but he felt better afterwards.

From what I understand (and saw - the vet did it right in front of us) she put some jelly on a glove and stuck a finger up the behind and gently pressed the gland till some nasty stuff came out. I have somewhat of a strong stomach too so it didn't faze me much (I helped her restrain Sphinx so I wasn't getting a full view of it.)

Well that's not the same procedure my vet showed me, thank God!

lol i always wondered why they did this

Hissy, how did your vet do it? My vet also used the method that greycat mentioned.

My neutured male tries to mark things so I think that his glands would need to be expelled more often?

I am with Sicy on this one. I never heard of expressing the anal glands and I have never seen it done. Is this more common in males? I have had mostly females, but I had males as well. When they scoot on the carpet, I have always heard this was a sign of worms.