Advice On Cleaning Sylvester's Messy Bottom!

[les26]

Okay, last week for whatever reason (Deb thinks it is from me giving him too many treats) Sylvester had a big smushed up area of poop on his bottom, we tried to help clean it but he gets too wild, I held him and Deb tried to wipe him up but he spazzes and scratches me and wrestles free, and I don't think we'd be able to wrap him in a blanket. We did get some, he seemed to clean a lot of it (yuck), but there were some dried pieces and I got lucky that the other night I was able to just quickly pull a piece off when he was walking by me, and he seemed happy about it, he kept coming into the room to see me and then for the first time in days walked with his tail up in the air again; it was so sad, it was like he was embarrassed about having a messy bottom plus also was uncomfortable but after that he was better. Well, tonight, I held him and was petting him and also gently feeling around down there and I felt one more big piece that was really stuck amongst his long hair, and when I put him down I held onto it and when he pulled away it came off but with some hair, he cried and ran and of course is afraid of me again which I HATE, I hate when I upset him and he gets afraid of me and then slowly starts to trust me again which is normal I know, but we know of no other way to do this, some of our cats will tolerate us holding them and cleaning them up but not him.

I think he is "poop free" now, but any other suggestions would help. And is it true that too many treats CAN cause soft loose stools?

Thank you!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

awwww, your poor boy!

i've had two cats who have had some issues with a 'messy bottom' at times.

my Mickey was having poop stuck on his bottom for a short while. i mentioned this to our vet, and the vet suggested trying a long(er) litter box. i switched to an under-the-bed long (it was 36 inches in length) and low-sided storage container (did not use the lid part of it) used as a litter box, and that solved that problem for my Mickey. some cats need more room in a litter box lengthwise, to do their business. Mickey was long-haired, so there was a mess to clean up on him. i had used a (Fort Dodge brand, QuikClean) waterless shampoo with him, and also (when the mess was very bad) carefully washed his bottom under the bathtub faucet, with slightly warm water. both were effective ways to clean the messy bottom, but were not enjoyed at all by my boy. with the waterless shampoo, he hated the spraying on of the shampoo -- so if you tried that route, you might apply the waterless shampoo to a paper towel and then gently and 'casually' wipe your Sylvester's posterior.

what i mean by 'casually' is something like you were saying, you ...

held him and was petting him and also gently feeling around down there

...that may be a more...comfortable way for your boy. i do think that many times, these kind of things we need to do to care for our cats, it really helps (them and us) a whole lot to find an...acceptable way to do them. so it might take some trying of different ways, to find a way that both your Sylvester and you are comfortable with.

our Punky has had some very small amounts of poop remaining on her bottom often enough. she'll scoot her bottom on the floor to get it off, if i'm not quick to clean it off -- so i always take a quick peek at her posterior as she walks by. Punky does best with me using unscented baby wipes to clean her bottom (she's a short-haired cat, so no big mess). i just cup my hand under her tummy, then quickly wipe her clean. Punky generally does not like to feel...restrained in any way, even when being held and given scritchins and such.

i've found that if there's a piece of poop on the kitty's bottom, it's best to use a paper towel and gently grab around it to get it off first, and then use the unscented baby wipe after that. if the wipe is used first, that can sometimes result in smearing the poop around.

as far as too many cat treats potentially causing softer/too soft stools -- i'd say it's possible. it's really more about a change in diet for the cat, imo. especially with dry cat food amounts, and quite possibly (dry) cat treats, changing the amount given daily can cause too soft stools or even diarrhea in some cats. changing the brand and/or flavor of either dry cat food or (dry) cat treats might well cause the same/similar reaction.

 

[les26]

THANKS for the great advice and post! It is going to be tough to find a "routine" for this with him, he is such a sweet boy but gets so so wild when we try to do this with him, he even is a challenge to let him comb him but I have to because last Winter he got so matted, I didn't know we had to brush him as our cats are shorthairs but he is "Wooly Bully" as we sometimes called him, but he lets me comb him every other day but wiping his butt, no way!!! But we will have to find something that works because this will happen again and again I think but I think it is the treats and different brands of them, I think I am spoiling him and the others by getting different ones but it seems like it is not a good idea so I am cutting back on them. I think he is pretty free of dried poop now, I held him last night and didn't notice any obvious pieces but after that yesterday I didn't push my luck, I worked on getting him to trust me again and he is fine now, I so so HATE when he gets leery of me and hides, but we are friends again! We are going on having him 2 years in February, he lived outside and inside with his previous owners but was not taken care of properly so this is all new to him (and me!).

Simba also will scoot around on the floor pulling his butt on the rug and leaving those lovely "skid marks", but he is another one that would send us to the E.R. if we tried to wipe him, no way he'd rip us apart lol!! We jokingly refer to these two along with Socks and at times Slim the "soggy bottom boys" a name we got from the movie "O Brother, where art thou?" referring to the soggy swamps but the name has quite the different meaning in our house lol!

Thanks again!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

i might suggest going with just one brand and one flavor of cat treats, and see how the 'soggy bottom boys' do with that for several weeks or more.

another thing i'd suggest is adding a probiotic to their diet, a good probiotic. something like purina's fortiflora is not a good probiotic but is a very good 'enticer' (to eat more, better) -- cats love the animal digest in it. i give my three cats Now Probiotic-10, which comes in capsules of powder -- i just open the capsule and mix 1/3 capsule per cat into their wet food meals twice each day. i buy mine through amazon.

you might consider trying a longer litter box. if your cats are large and/or long in body, they may well do better with the extra length.

 

[auntie]

If your cat has long hair, with “pantaloons” around his back legs...he might need a trim
We had to do this, it was a drag but seems to do the trick. A groomer who works with cats can also do sanitary trims.

 

[les26]

another thing i'd suggest is adding a probiotic to their diet, a good probiotic.

you might consider trying a longer litter box. if your cats are large and/or long in body, they may well do better with the extra length.

I also give him GNC chewable vitamins and fish oil, and the fish oil does have digestive enzymes in it, but I space them out and don't give them everyday, maybe every other day. And we do have a lower longer litter box with no cover on it in an area that he uses because we have Socks who is HUGE 35 lbs., big all over not fat, and Deb saw Sylvester use it but he was in it sideways not the long way lol!

 

[les26]

If your cat has long hair, with “pantaloons” around his back legs...he might need a trim
We had to do this, it was a drag but seems to do the trick. A groomer who works with cats can also do sanitary trims.

He was groomed in April as he was very matted, and catching him to do that just about put us both over the edge lol!

 

[aliceneko]

I know this is an old thread but I was looking for advice as I've noticed this problem in one of my kittens - I'm going to clean *that* end with a warm cotton wool bud or a baby wipe if I can find some.

 

[les26]

I know this is an old thread but I was looking for advice as I've noticed this problem in one of my kittens - I'm going to clean *that* end with a warm cotton wool bud or a baby wipe if I can find some.

I hope that you have better luck then we have with Sylvester, he hates it and we don't get much done to him lol!!!