Billy Bob is fluffy. The hair on the back of his legs is 4" long, (unless I’ve recently had to cut something out of it).
He’s also not as fastidious about his hygiene, as most cats. I try to check after he’s had a poo, but sometimes, it’s not until I notice the dog paying way too much attention to the cat’s butt, that I go find the dingleberry scissors.
But today was a Dingleberry Adventure!!!
Is it still a dingleberry, if it involves a whole turd?
I knew the scissors would be no help this time. The butt fluff had already created a little turd holster along the full length. I had to act fast before he sat down and squished his prize. I grabbed some toilet paper. But he read my intent, and did the butt swivel each time I got close. And he wasn’t enjoying being screeched at everytime he tried to sit down.
There was only one thing that would hold his attention long enough for me to get close. I poured some food in his bowl and before he realized what was happening, I grabbed the turd and pulled. It was stuck good. I pulled and twisted, and finally released the turd from it’s fluffy nest!
Does anybody else have a dingleberry problem with their fluffy cat or dog?
Our cat, Midnight, is not only fluffy, but has a paralyzed tail – she can neither move it nor feel it. She tries to be fastidious, but she often (understandably) gets crud caught in there. We’ve given her lots of baths, which she tolerates, but hates.
She’s lived with it all her life (we got her that way, as a kitten), but we suspect it may be involved in her recent infection. Not fun.
I keep toilet wipes for the express purpose of giving her quick cleanups when necessary. We also keep her hair back there trimmed short.
I read somewhere (probably on these boards) about squirting a cat’s butthole with water to get them to give it a thorough cleaning. Maybe that’s what Billy Bob needs - a sort of kitty bidet, with you providing the water.
(You’d think a cat would notice a whole turd stuck to their behind. Obviously not.)
I have a 13 lb maine coon “Tiny” she is very hairy and occasionally gets a nugget stuck in her britches (I don’t check but I know when I smell it). It’s really bad if her stool is loose. I bathe her when it happens, but if you were to listen you would think I was killing her. I was laughing my ass off when I read the original post.
I thought dingleberries were something very different, but I’m in awe of someone who would describe them as an ‘adventure.’
Our long haired kitty will also get matted hair in her “armpits” and the bib of her mane will turn into a giant slimy hairball that she can’t pull out of her mouth. Once or twice a year (tomorrow, in fact) she’s off to the groomer and will come back with what the groomer described as a ‘baboon butt.’ Worth every penny.
She will groom herself when she’s got a chance of success, but seems to give up when her hair gets too long.
Hee! I have a 20 pound Maine Coon, and I’ve experienced the whole turd episode myself. It came down to me chasing him around until I could hold him down to get the turd out with a wipe and give him a scrub.
Other than the occasional dingleberry, he seems able to handle it, so I haven’t gotten to the point where shaving his ass is an option.
And I hope all y’all know I’m almost bursting a gut here, not making the obvious cheap joke.
Anyone had any experience with golden retrievers? Long butt hair, combined with long fringe on the tail, can lead to some interesting cleanups. I vividly remember watching Mom remove dingleberries from the dog’s rear a few times…she always managed to see them when they were fresh, and was able to use some product like a baby wipe to remove them.
A former neighbor had a Maine Coon that she would let outside on nice days. The cat had nice, well-groomed fur…except for his rear, which was clipped very short.
My cat Joey doesnt get dingleberries, but he does have an anal gland problem that makes both of us a little sad. Once a week I have to turn on the water and then when he is drinking out of the sink lift his tail and put gentle pressure on his behind to make his anal glands express. If I don’t they build and then explode and leak down his back side and he smells and sits on the furniture. It is a small price to pay for someone that cute though.
We’re planning a sneak attack on Billy Bob. My husband will hold him while I trim the butt fuzz.
I tried squirting him with water to get him to clean his butt. He just twirled around and sat there looking at me. He doesn’t mind having something cold on his butt. Last time I cleaned out the ice maker, he sat on the pile of melting ice cubes in the tub. When he got up, some of them were clinging to his butt fluff, and he was just walking / clacking around like nothing was there.
My cats are longhairs (though with Angora-like coats that never mat), and they used to get dingleberries all the time. The solution: take them to get their butts shaved every few months. It costs about $10 and takes 30 seconds. Sure, they look a little silly with their white shaven butts surrounded by long silky black fur, but it beats having to pull poop off a grumbling, hissing cat in the middle of the night.
We keep our fluffly cat’s hindal fur trimmed for this very reason! It elimanates the problem for a time, unless we forget to check how long his fur has gotten.
Thank God all my cats are short-hairs. Which doesn’t mean Punky doesn’t miss cleaning his * occasionally. Yuck. But I did have a long-haired dog who had dingle-berry issues. Scissors, man. He got real familiar with 'em.
