encourage more grooming?

[stormysky]

hello there, hope this is the right section for my question.

Skyler is about a 7-8 month old intact male (finding a place to have him neutered has been a real pain) found him under a car in the garage when he was roughly 3 months old.  and ever since he was a small kitten he has never really been all that thorough when it comes to grooming, preferring to jump right out of the litter box and play rather than wipe himself down once finished with his business. unlike my Storm who literally lays down in the box to clean up after herself when shes done; counter productive but her heart is in the right place i guess hehe.

so Skyler has always had a rather smelly little butt.  i have tried to get him to show a little more attention to his nether regions when he was younger by wiping a slightly damp cloth against his backside to stimulate his urge to groom, it worked on the rest of his body but he was never particular of his butt. 

then i decided to just give him some time to grow into it since he was such an active kitten and never had much time for anything else except play. well he's a lot bigger now and a little more laid back and mature, and he has also started to groom more but he only pays particular attention to his paws and face. the rest of his body he does a once over and he almost never does his back side. i wouldn't mind so much but he sleeps next to me and when he can wraps himself around my neck, and though its sweet it not very pleasant to be woken up but a stinky butt pushed up against your face. 

are there ways to get him to be a little more detailed about his grooming or is this something im going to have to take on myself because Skyler just isnt that meticulous?.. also iv read on some other threads and on the net in general that some cats have to have certain cent glands drained every once in a while due to a strong odor, is there a way to tell if its just the smell of lack of cleaning or something from the sent gland like are they two distinct smells or will i have to take SkySky to the vet to confirm? 

thanks for any input.. sorry for the long post just want to cover everything so you have all the information. cheers!

 

[lamiatron]

1) get skyler neutered as soon as you can. intact male cats are known to be "lazy" when it comes to cleaning themselves as opposed to neutered male cats. my charlie is neutered and is METICULOUS with his grooming. always. i never have to give him a bath

--please contact your local shelter, or humane society, and ask them to help you with getting him fixed. they might be able to find someone to do it at a really low cost.

2) to confirm whether or not skyler has a glandular issue you need to take him to the vet. i think only a vet could confirm that for you.

3) how long is his fur??? sometimes with cats who have longer fur, they dont want to groom themselves that often. due to the fact that there is just too much fur all around, let alone just back there. my jet was classified as a DSH, but i feel she's a mix between short and medium, because the fur on her back is longer than the rest, and she doesn't want to groom back there because of it. i just give her a bit of a trim back there with my hair cutting shears. to keep the fur short enough so its easy for her to groom

4) use gentle pet wipes to wipe skyler down after he uses the litter box. DO NOT ambush him, or get at him as soon as he comes out of the litter box, this will make him apprehensive of the litter box. let him use it, and then walk around and then get to him. Wipe the bottom  down and reward him with a treat. after i wipe jet down, she feels compelled to groom back there, and when she does, i give her 2 more treats. now i don't need to give her treats or wipe her down much. she just automatically does it. (this was done over a 3 month period)

I feel like stray cats are not that meticulous with grooming. my jet was a former stray, and despite being a female, she is SO lazy with cleaning herself. She WOULD not groom herself unless i gave her a full body wipe down. and even then she would ignore her butt. but after the butt wipe downs and trimming the hair back there, and positive reinforcement with the treats, over time she's grooming herself more.