Long-haired cats and trimming around the rear

pmv

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jun 24, 2020
Messages
60
Purraise
74
So this is the first time I've owned a long-haired cat, and I've definitely been finding the long fur around his rear to be a magnet for poop, and occasionally urine as well. He had a vet checkup and they helped out by trimming the fur in that area. Any recommendations on how often I should have his fur trimmed there? At least for the rest of COVID I'll probably take him to a groomer, unless someone has a good trick for how to manage this without two pairs of hands.

Here's the always beautiful and sometimes stinky little gentleman:
20210116_113629-sm.jpg
 

MonaLyssa33

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 10, 2018
Messages
3,537
Purraise
9,420
Location
Minneapolis
My long-haired boy is such a menace when it comes to trimming his butt fur. He doesn't like to be held, so that is another barrier to getting him successfully cleaned up. Hopefully, your cat is more cooperative. What I usually end up doing is wrestling him into a towel and holding him between my legs. It's an absolute disaster most of the time. The other way I do it that takes a lot of time is keeping scissors in the bathroom and then when he comes and visits me in there, I snip at what I can before he realizes it. It's very inelegant and I'm sure many others have better advice. So take this as a "there has to be a better way!" advice.
 

fionasmom

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
Jun 21, 2014
Messages
13,119
Purraise
17,350
Location
Los Angeles
What an adorable little orange boy, butt and all. I have usually done the vet routine to be honest unless you can get him around to letting you clip a little from time to time.
 
  • Love
Reactions: pmv
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

pmv

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jun 24, 2020
Messages
60
Purraise
74
Yeah, he's an absolutely adorable sweetheart. He does tend to dislike being touched around his rear (probably from a couple of baths he's had to have due to this issue). He won't bite or claw, but he'll try to get away by any means possible, and he's a big guy. The picture doesn't really do him justice, but he's almost 14 lb and still not fully grown, so he can be quite a handful to keep in one place when he wants to be somewhere else. (The vet thinks he may well be part Maine Coon).

How often do you bring your long hair in to the vet for trimming? I had been planning to ask at the local pet salon (which does cats as well as dogs). I will certainly ask the vet to continue to trim whenever Copper's at the vet anyway, but in between vet visits I'd like to have another option as well.
 

neely

May the purr be with you
Veteran
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Messages
19,635
Purraise
47,800
How often do you bring your long hair in to the vet for trimming? I will certainly ask the vet to continue to trim whenever Copper's at the vet anyway, but in between vet visits I'd like to have another option as well.
We bring our Persian boy to the groomer who comes to our vet about 3 times a year. What you're referring to is called a sanitary shave. In between visits you may want to try Cat Wipes such as this one for example: Cat Wipes - earthbath ®
 

fionasmom

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
Jun 21, 2014
Messages
13,119
Purraise
17,350
Location
Los Angeles
I agree that 3 or 4 times a year should be sufficient. The only issue I ever had was a very close shave which left the skin irritated so I reminded them ever since about that. We do the same with the dog for the same reasons although at his advanced age and condition he is much less able to move than a younger cat so I am able to manage in between visits.
 

cataholic07

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 28, 2014
Messages
1,502
Purraise
1,691
I have 3 floofers as well and has problems with this. I find their clumping litter gets caught in their fur too so I am going to switch to a different litter to see if it helps. My friend suggested buying a clipper but given how scaredy cats my 3 are I doubt that would go over well lol. You can try the purrito technique but it still might be hard. If he's a cat who loves food you can try trimming his fur while he's eating or try trimming when he's super tired.
 

Purr-fect

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 20, 2017
Messages
1,843
Purraise
5,563
Greg and Arnold are both long haired and each weigh over 20 lbs, so theres lots of fur to catch poop. See avatar.

The odd time we will even find a little present somewhere in the house. Poop can stick to their butt fur and then it gets dropped in some wierd location many feet from the litter box.

But thankfully they somehow manage to keep themselves very clean. When they do need help, it is a two person job. One of us holds the cat gently, pets it and talks to it soothingly while it stomps its back feet and tries to squirm away. The other person (me) carefully clips the dirty fur. Once we are done.....we have a window of about 15 seconds, we bribe the cat with a treat while it recovers from the indignity.

We never take our boys to be clipped. We do it ourselves, a little bit at a time. Fortunately the boys tolerate it and are never vicious to us.
 

Attachments

Top