it's not spraying and it's not peeing - what is it???

one of my two cats is kind of overweight and a little jumpy because the other cat bullys her sometimes.

a few months ago i was scratching her back and noticed some liquid squirt out from her rear-end area. it was REALLY REALLY smelly.....anyway, i didn't notice her doing that again for awhile, so i wasn't worried.

then my boyfriend was rough-playing with her, and picked her up, and she did it again, and we assumed he squeezed her too hard - maybe she had a full bladder or something.....

well now we notice she does it if she gets spooked by the other cat (which is often) or sometimes it appears she does it for no reason.

i've always had female cats, all of them are fixed. i don't know what it smells like when cats spray - could she be sparying?

i never thought so because she doesn't "aim" for anywhere inparticular, or do it in the same places over and over again. it's almost as if it leaks out......but like i said it smells 10 times worse than urine.

any advice? of course i plan on taking her to the vet next week, but wanted to know if anyone had similar problems.

thanks in advance!
-Cindy

Hmm...maybe it's the stuff that comes out of the anal sacs? You mentioned that it seemed to come from kitty's behind. If you've ever expressed that stuff, you'd recall that it has a terrible smell. A lot of cats do not need the anal sacs to be expressed because normal bowel movements work the stuff out. But, some cats get impacted sacs and they need to have the stuff squeezed out (ick, I know). Does your cat ever drag her bottom, lick at it more than usual?
Maybe she needs to have the sacs emptied, or maybe she has had some weakening of the sac area (perhaps weight is a factor in this?). That was just my immediate thought. I hope that your kitty is feeling better soon.
Vikki

They know how to express the anal glands, that is what it sounds like to me as well. And yes, the stuff reeks.....

When Tigger was spayed, her anals glands had to be expressed, too. Yes, that stuff stinks horribly! And, it's worse when it gets on sheets & stuff

thanks! i had no idea about anal glands...never heard of that problem before. thanks for all your help.

i have one other question....if i take her to get them expressed, is that going to solve the problem forever? or will she need them to be expressed on a regular basis?


thanks again everybody!

It really depends on the problem. If your cat has some physical reason her anal sacs don't empty when she poops, one time expressing them will only be a short-term solution, and needs to be done regularly. You can learn to do this yourself (it's not pleasant, but you'll get used to it if you have to), but if the sacs become infected or are sore, don't even try doing it yourself. Ask the vet about it. On the other hand, if they are not being expressed by normal means because she has loose stools from the food she's eating, changing her diet may help and there would be no need to express the anal sacs.

Another thing I'd consider is that this "squirting" of the anal gland "stuff" could be a reaction to being surprised or scared. I know that one of my dogs releases this stuff when he's very scared or surprised (like when at the vet's), and there's not much to be done about that. It's not deliberate, just a reaction. Don't know if cats can have this same thing, but I'm guessing they can.

And I would definitely get the cat to the vet so the problem can be figured out. If the anal sacs are not being expressed, they fill up, can become infected and VERY sore, so this is not a problem you could just wait out. Better to have a vet look at her.

I have to say that I never knew about this problem in cats before. My parents had a dog that had this problem, but I never knew it could exist in a cat. DUH!
Thanks for the information!
Deb

We have a cat, Winnie, whose anal sacs don't empty correctly when she poops. Once or twice a week, we have to tackle her and attack her butt with a baby wipe to clean the "stuff" off. She hates it and yells, but without doing this she would be infected and having it done at the vet ($$$).

This is so gross, but here's the procedure we use. Once I pull off the crusted parts with a baby wipe, she's usually irritated enough to squirt some of the terrible-smelling stuff out, and I wipe that up, too. If she is too squirmy, my husband drops her and we try again in about 10 minutes. Two or three rounds usually does it.

The vet also recommended higher-fibre food, which for cats is the weight-loss or less-active types. I haven't seen a significant inprovement in the sac issue, but she has lost a bit of weight, which she needed to.