Cat Scooting & Anal Gland Expression - Feeling Lost...

catlover1717

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Desperate for some advice on scooting. Don’t know what to do at this point, and our vet isn’t helping much. We moved our cats - 2 adult brothers, indoors only - to a unique protein, grain free, limited ingredient food a while back - Natural Balance brand, duck. Both cats have been frequent pukers their whole lives (one gets very nauseous for like ten minutes during a bout, and I feel terrible), and we’re searching for something that helps their stomachs. They get wet food in the morning. Our resident scooter always eats his wet food, while his brother usually just licks it a bit and moves on.

One cat started scooting a few times in late September. In early October when we realized it wasn’t an isolated incident, we took him in. The vet said one of his glands needed to be expressed. He scooted a bit after we got home, but some folks in another group said that wasn’t unusual (post-expression irritation, etc). Fast forward a few weeks, and he’s scooting again. Back to the vet he goes. They expressed a tiny bit more, and said that was all they could get without more more drastic measures. There was no infection or anything severe. He wasn’t days away from a rupture or anything like that. We decided to try moving to the Natural Balance venison food, in hopes that maybe the issue was the duck. We’ve been mixing the duck and venison together for now.

Fast forward to tonight...and I caught him scooting again. Sometimes he also kind of sits down heavily, if that makes sense. We’ll leave a message with the vet of course, but...I don’t know what to do. And the vet has been disappointingly cold and useless. She doubted the food was connected, but given how soon the scooting started after the food, it seems connected to me. Only other time in his life he scooted was twice after having bad diarrhea on two separate occasions, and one of those times was related to vaccines. This is a new thing. But on the other hand, their vomiting has improved with this food, so... I thought maybe because this food is healthier and higher in fiber, it could be causing temporarily softer stool which therefore isn’t expressing his glands as well? Some of the stool has been a little lighter in color, which I read can be fiber related. He is probably 3-5 lbs overweight, despite being a real mover when it’s wrestle time, which is daily. He seems happy as usual otherwise, but obv there’s some form of itching or irritation, I’d assume (although some animals apparently scoot just because they enjoy it!). And that worries me. :frown:
 

jen

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Some pets need their anal glands expressed more often than others. Maybe he is just one of those. You could try a food higher in fiber or add a fiber supplement, or pumpkin or a probiotic. I doubt the food is the cause either.
 
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catlover1717

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I suppose it could be a coincidence. But I guess I don’t understand why a cat would suddenly need expression every few weeks after the majority of his life was spent normally. Obviously a cat’s health, just as a human’s, can change drastically as they’re approaching senior status. Just seems like a big coincidence... This food does have more fiber (something I think I’ve seen reflected in their stool color), and we’ve actually sprinkled a probiotic on their food occasionally for years. Forgot to mention that.
 

neely

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We’ll leave a message with the vet of course, but...I don’t know what to do. And the vet has been disappointingly cold and useless.
Have you considered getting a second opinion? Perhaps another vet may be more knowledgeable and helpful. Is your cat showing any signs of constipation? If so this could be a contributing factor to his anal glands problem.

I thought these two threads may have suggestions and offer some advice for you:
Butt Scooting?
Full Anal Glands... Should I Be Worried?

Best of luck, please keep us posted on his progress. :alright:
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. Feeby (15+ yo) had a couple of anal gland issues last year - first ever - and, the vet surmised that due to her being overweight and the fact that she has some arthritis that she is not cleaning herself as well as she once was. The vet said, in addition to the anal glands being naturally expressed through defecation, cats also help with expressing them when cleaning. (And, of course soft stool can contribute to the problem, although that wasn't part of her issue.) Feeby also started having UTIs about the same time; test results indicated E-coli in her bladder. The vet felt this was also the result of her not cleaning herself well.

So, I started what I call 'booty duty' and I clean her behind for her at least a couple times a week, with non-scented hypoallergenic wipes. Knock on wood, so far no more anal gland issues or UTIs. :crossfingers::crossfingers::crossfingers::crossfingers:
 
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