Poor Grooming

[baymeezer]

I have an eight month old kitten that was a found stray at four months (he was in a shelter for the next three). My guess is he never was 'taught' how to clean his butt.  As a result, it is constantly dirty. I've taken to snipping hair off and so it doesn't 'cling' anymore. But, his butt is still dirty and smells.

I've tried wiping gently with a wet warm towel...I've also tried the more aggressive approach when he wouldn't let me do it lightly.  Neither of those work because he won't stand still long enough and I fear damaging my very fragile and new relationship with the cat if I keep holding him to get this done.

I've tried spray bottles with a very light mist to get him to lick his butt. I've only briefly tried it.  Both times the cat jumped and ran away.  Again, I fear that this will lead to a persistent fear of me. I think the spray bottle is the best approach.  Does that cat know the difference of me being 'mean' vs me 'facilitating'...meaning, will I do permanent damage to my relationship with him if I give him an occassional spray to get him used to clean his back side?

After any of these methods I try to give him a treat or spend some quality time with him...but he's really not interested in being around me after one of these episodes.

Thanks.

 

[Anne]

Dirty butts are a common topic here. I can tell it frustrates you, so I'm very happy you found our community of cat lovers and hopefully we can help with some advice! 

I'm not sure how you used the spray bottle? I thought at first maybe you tried to gently wet the cat's behind but on second reading, it sounds like you tried to spray the cat as a form of behavior modification?

Like you suspected, the spray bottle is a bad idea. More often than not, it just scares the cat and elevates stress levels, making the problem worse or even creating new behavior problems. Sounds to me like your cat is indeed fearful, so please, stop using the spray bottle at once. You are right in worrying about it destroying your fragile relationship. It has the potential to. You want your cat to associate you only with positive things.

In fact, negative reinforcement won't help you here, no matter which method you'll use because you're trying to get the cat to engage in a behavior rather than stop it. Fortunately, we covered the topic of dirty butts in a recent article - 

Be kind to your cats' behinds! Dirty Cat Butts Prevention and Treatment

There's a lot of information there about why some cats don't clean up their behind and what owners can do about it.

I hope you don't mind my other reading suggestion - 

The Do's and Don't's of Cat Behavior Modification

By the way, is that him in your avatar? adorable!