My cat Tippy is huge. I know I shouldn’t have let her get that way, but I have three cats to feed, and she will go after the other’s leftovers, whether they are leftovers or not. But the bottom (snerk) line is, Tippy cannot clean her own butt. Her butt is way over there and her tongue is way over here.
And, sorry to say, that means she stinks, literally.
I have given her quick butt baths, but I gave her two butt baths within two days of each other, and now she’s pissed at me. She’s lost her trust in me, and she hides and hisses when I approach.
I can get her over that. Just time and patience and lots of love. But she’s still going to stink, and I would like to clean her without the trauma of placing her butt underwater.
I know from caretaking my mom that there are such things as dry shampoo. Would that help? Are there any made for stinky cats especially? What do other cat owning Dopers do in this situation? Any suggestions?
Taking her to a groomer to have her back end shaved is an option.
Another long term approach is to slim her down. Calculate how much food each cat needs for maintenance then feed that much. After Tippy finishes her bowl, pick up all three. Do this two or three times daily.
There are baby wipes designed for cats available. Scent free baby wipes will work in a pinch but the cat wipes are designed with fur in mind.
We bought a kitten for our pudgebutt kitty. She’s getting more exercise now than she did in the last 10 years. She hasn’t lost an ounce but she’s more flexible and is better able to take care of her nether regions.
I would be wary of using dry shampoo. They’re usually powder-based and that’s probably not good for them to ingest. Even if the cat can’t reach the area at all (not a safe bet just because she’s not cleaning it effectively), she could inhale an aerosol spray. Plus I doubt it would really help with the smell issue. I second the suggestions of cat wipes, butt shaving, and a diet.
I don’t know if they have it for cats - but I had a dog who hated baths and in between trips to the groomer I used a foam waterless shampoo. It wasn’t a spray or powder - it was more like foaming hand-soap but didn’t need rinsing.
Wait, while looking for an example, I found one that says it can be used for cats.
Yes. You’re unlikely to get all of it off, and bits will wind up inside one or more of the cats.
I don’t know whether there’s such a product made for cats that would be safe to use on them, but I wouldn’t use anything not labeled specifically for cats.
If you’re going to wash her, don’t sit her down in water; wet some paper towels or a soft cloth rag with warm water and wipe her off as if you were patting her, or as if another cat were washing her. For minor occasional problems I’ve found that effective; along with sometimes very careful clipping (not too close to the body) of a particular mat; and the cats I’ve done it to would put up with it for a few minutes at a time. For chronic problems I agree with getting her butt, and if necessary other matted areas, shaved by the vet. or a professional groomer.
I suspect that trying to restrict food in this situation is only going to result in three miserable cats, probably combined with a miserable human. Trying to increase exercise might help.
did you borrow our youngest cat? She’s a naturally huge breed of cat and shes long-haired and I have to clean her butt once a month although she does try … shes just so tubby and furry …and extremely hostile to being cleaned …
Yeah, it isn’t practical to try to get one cat to eat less while feeding the other two normally. I tried limiting food before with multiple cats in an effort to slim them down. What happens is the more dominant cat will fight the more submissive ones away from their share, and that leads to more fighting even apart from mealtimes.
Our cat Oreo has the same issue. She ends up eating some of Cobie’s (who we also call Tippy Tail) food. I mostly just try to avoid being buttfaced by her.
Having had to wash kittens who hasn’t yet learned to groom themselves, they didn’t hate getting wet, they hated getting cold. The first time i put them in water they enjoyed it, then they learned they would eventually get cold.
Try to mitigate the getting cold part. I carried the kittens around in my bra, next to my skin. That isn’t going to work for a giant cat, but a heating pad (they make ones for pets) and a warm room might.
I also second the suggestion of using wipes, or a wet paper towel.
I never knew this was a problem with cats. TIL. I always assumed they were 100% self-cleaning and thought that was one advantage of cats over dogs. Guess not?
I will second @doreen on the foaming shampoo. In the past, we’ve used it for dogs, and it was fine. Didn’t cause any problems for the one that liked to groom herself a lot, either.
Most cats are self-cleaning. Most regulate their eating and don’t get fat, too. But individuals vary.
Two_Many_Cats, I know one person who has all the cat food in separate enclosures that open to the chip on each cat’s collar. That seems like a lot of overhead to avoid having an overweight cat, but it worked for them. (I think their problem was not just that one cat was fat, but that the others weren’t getting enough to eat.)
i have to close the kitchen door or fatso eats everyone else’s food …see her brother didn’t like soft food and would eat just enough and let her have the rest…shes lucky our alley cats 20 years old or shed of beat the snot outta her the first time she tried to push her out of her dish …
And unless you’re going to commit to it for life, it isn’t going to work, and is actually likely to backfire. A cat who feels assured of having enough food will nearly always come to a stable weight at some point; though, for many cats who’ve starved at some point during their lives, that point may be an at least moderately fat cat. But a cat who thinks that they may at any time have their food supply seriously restricted again is likely to eat as much as they can any time they get the chance.
Plus which, that would be a seriously unhappy cat. Humans on weight-loss diets have chosen to be hungry (though it rarely works long-term for humans, either); the cat knows only that food is being withheld.
Try the laser toy, yes; and/or making most of the food fairly boring food, with relatively small amounts of it things she really likes, but including some things she really likes. And attention as possible, to distract her from eating out of boredom.
That is indeed true of most young and healthy cats, and of many older ones also. But some longhaired cats need assistance to keep their coats from matting; and some old and/or fat cats have trouble reaching all parts of themselves to clean properly. And a sick cat may not clean itself – that’s actually one of the symptoms to watch out for. If a cat’s not cleaning itself and the reason’s not obvious, call the vet.
Some things are fine for dogs but highly dangerous for cats. I have no idea whether that shampoo is one of them; but, if the label doesn’t clearly say it’s for use on cats, don’t use it without checking with the vet. first.
This is what I have as well. Not cheap, but works beautifully. It scans the ID chip in the cat’s neck and opens only for her (or you can get a collar tag that will work). It closes just as soon as she steps away.
Bonus: when I dog-sit my daughter’s dog, the dog watches the cat go up to her chip-reading feeder, and sees the cover open. So the dog then goes up to it and pokes her head in, and can’t figure out why it won’t open. Very comical!
