ALARMED at what I saw

Warning: This is a rather gross question and I must apologize in advance. I saw my cat use the carpet as toilet paper the other day......... After using her litter box as usual, she got out, walked about 6 feet, then she put her butt area flush with the rug (no pun intended) and dragged her butt area forward using her front paws!!

Needless to say I was floored - it was too surreal, straight out of a cartoon. It was so quick too - it must have taken 2 seconds at most.

I examined the carpet and there was no fecal streak thank heaven

What the heck is this all about!???!!!! Any of you ever seen this??!!?

Penny was not reprimanded for the strange action. For starters it was too quick

well, cats usually do this when they have worms - I would have her checked.

This usually happen with worms, although my Scarlett does this from time to time without worms (confirmed by a fecal). Did you check her rump to make sure that there isn't anything caught back there? Sometimes things can get stuck, dry up and get itchy. Scarlett has longer hair and needs to be cleaned and/or clipped periodically. Sorry, no polite way to talk about this!!

Parasites as someone mentioend can cause this but for an indoor cat the more likely cause is an anal gland problem. These are glands on either side of the rectum that normally empty a little each time your cat defecates - giving the poop part of its odor among other things. these glands can get plugged & must be uncomfortable. Cats rub their bottoms to try & relieve the pressure.
Your cat should see the vet to have these glands & a fecal checked. You can learn how to express these glands yourself if it becomes a chronic problem. This is MUCH more common in dogs, but can happen in cats & cats can even get anal gland infections. Deb E

When dogs do this, which is sometimes often, they need to have their anal sacs pressed. There is some sort of gland back there that gets backed up...I wonder if cats are the same? I'd call your vet about the behavior.

It's pretty common with cats, too. My cat has to have his anal sacs expressed from time to time.

As far as prevention, there has been some talk that upping the fiber in a pet's diet can help. Although, this has never worked for my cat.

Zoey has done this twice.. once she had a piece of poop that got stuck and didnt make it into the litterbox so she scraped her butt on the ground to get it off (I know what you mean.. a crazy sight indeed! ) and the other time she had diarrhea from medication and it must have got on her fur while she was in the litterbox and bothered the heck out of her so she scraped it all over the carpet in like 3 different spots. Check kitty's back end to see if there's anything stuck.. or like others suggested, could be worms.

What little I know of anal gland problems in cats is that it is worse in over weight cats because the colon or rectum (I can't remember which) doesn't work properly & there for can not expel the scent from the anal glands properly. I only know this because it happend to a friends cat who is over weight & that is what her vet told her.

I've heard that this is an anal gland problem and the cat is trying to break open the glands as they get overfilled. Some cats need to have these manually expressed by the vet if the cat can't do it.

I've had a similiar problem last year with Sphinx. He had to have his anal glands expressed.

I would have your kitty taken to the vet to see exactly what it might be.

Originally posted by Baileysidney11
... the cat is trying to break open the glands as they get overfilled.

Click to expand...

Oh goodness! I can't imagine what THAT entails. Thanks to all

-Alex

my mom's dog "scoots" (as we call it) every once and a while. she has an anal gland problem, as everyone has previously mentioned. she just goes to the vet every few months to get her glands "emptied". also, have you noticed a coppery smell coming from your cat? my mom's dog gets a strong smell sometimes, and that's a heads up for mom: time to go to the vet.

Could it just mean the cat is itchey? I guess what Im asking is does it always mean something is wrong?

Good point, maybe the cat just has an itchy butt!!

I'll metion this to the vet. y'know you'd think itchy butt should've crossed my mind, but it didn't. Sometimes the simple things are the toughest to see!

My Abbie was 'scooting' just before her annual check up so I had the vet check her anal glands. They were full. He expressed them and said to take her back for a repeat check in a month in case they fill again. Today, just 2 weeks later, I noticed that she is scooting again, so she will go back in this week to have them checked again.

The anal glands, if they do not express normally, need to be expressed by the vet. If they are allowed to remain full, they can impact and become infected which gets very smelly, very messy and very painful for the cat. It is a quick procedure for your vet to express the glands, although not comfortable for the cat.

Good luck.

Kathryn

It sounds like anal gland problems to me! (oh goody! lol)