Thread: Dirty Rear End?

I've not had experience of that little problem so far, but one thing you said made me wonder if the vet's got a good point... I'm assuming the litter tray you use for the older cats has shallower sides if it's smaller? Perhaps you should try a bigger tray but with shallow sides? It makes me wonder if she has trouble getting over the top of the bigger one. Just a thought. Hope you find a solution though, it's so undignified (for the cats) to be cleaning their behinds. I'm fortunate and only get the problem if they've eaten something that's given them Runny Bum Syndrome.

Originally Posted by FreyjaRoMaine

I've not had experience of that little problem so far, but one thing you said made me wonder if the vet's got a good point... I'm assuming the litter tray you use for the older cats has shallower sides if it's smaller? Perhaps you should try a bigger tray but with shallow sides? It makes me wonder if she has trouble getting over the top of the bigger one. Just a thought. Hope you find a solution though, it's so undignified (for the cats) to be cleaning their behinds. I'm fortunate and only get the problem if they've eaten something that's given them Runny Bum Syndrome.

It's actually a tub that we cut a hole in. The blind elderly cat, not being able to see, was peeing all over the place (she was terribly fastidious when she was younger, so I think that's truly a sight thing). The entrance is at litter level, though. I've seen the Maine do that with all size pans, though. She gets her front feet in, or she'll have all her feet in and still miss the box. Unfortunately, the room the old cat resides in just doesn't have enough room for something bigger, and I don't think we could convince her to move elsewhere, and the Maine is very sneaky about getting in there.

I think she's just not quite aware of her size. She also seems totally unconcerned about covering. I got her at about 6 months, so I'm not sure if she was litter trained the right way, or if she's just a lazy butt and doesn't care.

Not sure if I can offer any more suggestions - my first thought was the same as Karen's in that perhaps the sides of the litter tray were a little too high for Sage.

I'm assuming you've had her since she was a kitten - just wondered if this was a problem she'd always had or if it's a fairly recent occurrence?

I know we had problems with Gracie only getting the front half her body in the litter tray and peeing over the carpet but we invested in a huge covered litter tray which has solved the problem entirely. We also have a large length of clear plastic carpet protector which also helps catch any litter residue from over eager covering up efforts!

She's always been like this. I really think it's not the litter box, but that she just doesn't like to bathe herself. She's a lot happier right after she's been shaved, so we take her to the vet to be shaved several times a year, but it seems like she'll be good about bathing for about a week after getting shaved, then she just gives up again.

Would be interesting to know if she was a hand reared kitten,our oldest adopted MC was & although she doesn't have a dirty bottom she very often smells of pee & I have never seen her clean herself around her private parts,she also has never covered up after herself when she uses the tray & she is the only one we have had problems with by messing other than in a tray but solved that one when we took the lid off which was one blessing,the thing is by being hand reard they are not taught the nicesties by mum they rely on human mum to clean & somehow don't seem to take it on board that they do have to take over for themselves,her daughter,who belongs to my daughter although she cleans herself also never covers when she uses the tray because of course mum didn't do it so it was one part of growing up that never got passed on.....

Our old Bob, of Howlinbob fame, was a Persian cat with a similar habit of not covering up. Actually it was worse than that as he didn't dig either - he would 'go' on a flat surface and had no idea what a litter tray was for. In the garden he would just 'go' on the patio, and walk away...it was like having a mucky dog to clear up after.... I thought it was for the same reason as Jackie suggests, ie, not taught properly by his mother as a kitten, but as we found him as a stray we had no knowledge of his history. Stinking habits apart, we were heartbroken when he passed in April and we still miss him like mad, especially now the decorations are up and it brings it home that it's the first Christmas without him... what we put ourselves through!

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

Would be interesting to know if she was a hand reared kitten,our oldest adopted MC was & although she doesn't have a dirty bottom she very often smells of pee

My moggie always smells like pee, and I'm pretty sure it's because she cleans her private parts first then does everything else.

I got Sage, the Maine, at 6 months, and so I'm not sure her story is completely true, but the person at the rescue shelter said that she was an escapee from a move. She got out at 4 months while her family was moving, and brought her kittens to the neighbor's porch a few weeks before I met her. They apparently called the former owners, who said she was a purebreed from a Petland or kitten farm sort of shop like that, and that they were across the country and didn't want to ship her back. So I don't know if she was hand raised or not, but I suspect she was in horrible kitten farm conditions.

I might have to try the vitamins on her rear and see if that works. Or I could try chicken! I don't think she'd miss chicken anywhere. We've tried a number of different food with her, and it seems to be pretty consistent. The vet doesn't think there's anything wrong with her; just that she doesn't clean herself like a cat should.

My old cat "Bit" RIP was not the most fastidious cleaner of the rear end and quite often had a dirty back end. I found if I followed her and washed the back end briefly with a quite damp / wet face cloth it would
a) get some of the mess off and
b) cause her to wash the area because it was wet.


This worked for her and I did this for years and years - she was just lazy!!!!

PS - I had a special face cloth just for her!!!! - no surprise