Hi everyone, I'm wondering if your cats do the same or if it's the food I'm giving him that isn't quite right? \/p>
When my cat goes to do his business and has a normal poo without having diarrhoea, and then sits on a chair or some furniture afterwards, he leaves a little poo mark because obviously he can't wipe himself after he's been.\/p>
Is this normal or are his stools not right? JUST TO BE CLEAR, HE DOES NOT HAVE DIARRHOEA.\/p>
I know the question sounds a bit weird, but I've been wondering why this happens for a while now.\/p>
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Thanks blue cat for your reply. Wiping them down is going to be a bit of a struggle as there are several of them, and just brushing them is a mission in itself; they aren't too keen on being handled.
I've got some that stayed with their mum until they were 8 months old, but the problem was there were two litters in the same house (the mums were in a fenced garden, but a male managed to get in and the owner had them neutered afterwards because she ended up with 10 kittens from the two litters).
So it's not certain they were properly socialised despite being adopted quite late, simply because there were just too many of them.
And as for the others, yes, they were adopted too young before being fully weaned.
One of the big ones had diarrhoea once and I had to wipe him because he'd rubbed himself on the floor, but he still had some on him and hadn't groomed himself.
I think it must be down to what you said, as I often notice their bums aren't exactly spotless, but it doesn't seem to bother them; they don't groom themselves in that area very often.
It's a real pain because it's not very hygienic, so I'm cleaning the tops of the furniture and everything else much more frequently now.
Hi,
Some cats groom their bums very meticulously after doing a poo. Others... not so much.
It’s often cats that were taken away from their mums too early that tend to neglect cleaning their bottoms. Those who stayed with their mother until they were at least 3 months old are used to her cleaning them and will copy that behaviour for the rest of their lives.
If the stools are firm, it’s not a nutritional problem, but just a lack of grooming socialisation. Apart from wiping their bum yourself (gently, as the skin is very delicate there), there isn’t much else you can do.
Thanks for the reply. I’ve got several cats—some have longer fur than others, but I’d say this one is short-haired. When he does his business, a bit gets left around his bum, so when he sits down it leaves a little mark, though no actual bits. It’s probably because they’re on dry food with grains at the moment. I noticed when I tried switching to grain-free that their poo was drier and firmer, but there was too much sick, so I stopped. I’m going to give it another go and see if it makes a difference. Since there are already grains in their dry food, I can’t really add rice as it’ll be too much, but their poo is well-formed—sometimes a bit soft, but not actually diarrhoea. Thanks for the info, I’ll definitely take it on board. Mostly, thanks because I was a bit embarrassed to talk about poo, but now I know it’s not quite right and I need to tweak their diet (which I know isn’t the best—too many grains—but at least there’s no sick). Have a good day.
