My cat keeps getting poop stuck to her butt by a long piece of hair

rbianchi

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
44
Purraise
6
My baby girl Tigger is about a year and half old and I have raised her since she was a kitten. Ever since I have gotten her she has had a strange fixation with eating just about anything (pica). I go well above and beyond to completely cat proof my room so that the chances of her ingesting something she shouldn't are slim to none. However when I am sleeping I cannot always prevent her from eating my hair. She used to do this more frequently but it has definitely dwindled as time has gone by. But occasionally she gets a poop that is hanging from her butt by a hair (presumably mine) and she proceeds to drag her bottom on my floor in the attempt to remove it. If I am around, I pick her up and cut the hair from her butt and then clean her up a bit, I know never to pull it. But is this something to worry about? It has happened quite a few times but she does not exhibit any tummy tenderness when I push on her abdomen, she is very lively, drinks roughly 8 oz of water a day, has a healthy appetite of usually a 1/2 cup of food a day, and has roughly 1-2 solid bowel movements a day. About once or twice a week I give her a small amount of over the counter laxatone to help with digesting the hair. I guess I'm just very worried about my little girl and am looking for a little solace in someone else's opinion. I love her so much and I just want her to be as happy and healthy as possible.
 

tabbytom

Happiness is being owned by a cat
Staff Member
Mentor
Joined
May 12, 2016
Messages
19,668
Purraise
36,862
Location
Lion City, Singa-purr
Hi rbianchi, I think as long as she is pooping regularly and shows no signs of distress, should be ok. It's better that it's out of the system than becoming furballs.

I sometimes see that when my boy poops. Think he picked it up on the floor while while munching or licking it off his fur.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

rbianchi

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
44
Purraise
6
Thanks for your response. I'm thinking she is okay but I am super paranoid of intestinal obstructions in cats since my last baby died from it. I will keep monitoring her.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
10,061
Purraise
10,250
My baby girl Tigger is about a year and half old and I have raised her since she was a kitten. Ever since I have gotten her she has had a strange fixation with eating just about anything (pica). I go well above and beyond to completely cat proof my room so that the chances of her ingesting something she shouldn't are slim to none. However when I am sleeping I cannot always prevent her from eating my hair. She used to do this more frequently but it has definitely dwindled as time has gone by. But occasionally she gets a poop that is hanging from her butt by a hair (presumably mine) and she proceeds to drag her bottom on my floor in the attempt to remove it. If I am around, I pick her up and cut the hair from her butt and then clean her up a bit, I know never to pull it. But is this something to worry about? It has happened quite a few times but she does not exhibit any tummy tenderness when I push on her abdomen, she is very lively, drinks roughly 8 oz of water a day, has a healthy appetite of usually a 1/2 cup of food a day, and has roughly 1-2 solid bowel movements a day. About once or twice a week I give her a small amount of over the counter laxatone to help with digesting the hair. I guess I'm just very worried about my little girl and am looking for a little solace in someone else's opinion. I love her so much and I just want her to be as happy and healthy as possible.
You mention feeding her "a 1/2 cup of food a day"... I'm guessing this means dry food?

The reason I ask is that you also say that she drinks a large amount of water ("roughly 8 oz of water a day"). That's a lot. This to me suggests that she is dehydrated, and not getting enough water from her food diet. This could happen if you are giving her strictly dry food. It's my understanding that cats should get most of their water intake from their food. What often helps this to happen is if people feed their cats canned food, which has a higher water content. I know cat owners often choose just dry food, which may be the decision you have made, but it does help their bowel motility to get water intake from canned food. Don't get me wrong, it is always good to leave out fresh water all the time... it can only help! But I feed my cat canned and commercial raw (with some dry food as training treats), and it is rare if she drinks more than an ounce or two of water from a water dish. If she drinks more than that, I know she is dehydrated and/or that something is off-kilter (she is on steroids for asthma so I know she can get high blood sugar at times).

A hydrated cat will poop more easily because the poop is usually softer (and those stray hairs might be swept up more easily in her intestines and be "pooped out" more completely).
 
Last edited:

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
16,390
Purraise
7,126
Location
Arizona
I actually agree that if you fed her wet food, her stools might be a little softer, and then YOUR hair might gather up more in them and not create "hang-ons".  That's sheer speculation on my part, but it kind of makes sense. 
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

rbianchi

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
44
Purraise
6
Thanks for the great advice! When I adopted her as a kitten we spent a lot of time (and way too much money) at the vet due to her having liquid diarrhea from what ended up being a grain free blue Buffalo kitten food. So we tried IAMS sensitive stomach dry food (which I know is frowned upon as it is not the best option for cat food) but since we had previous tummy troubles with other foods (I tried quite a few) my vet advised that if it works for her than stick to it. I have to avoid a diet that is rich in protein for her because it does not sit well with her digestive track. I recently tried switching her to a blue Buffalo sensitive stomach dry food but that did not take and we are back at the IAMs. I have also tried wet food in the past but she does not take to it very well. Do you have recommendations for wet food? I'm thinking tiki cat, blue Buffalo, etc? But like I said she mostly just sticks to her dry food. She's a finicky little thing.
 

catdaddy007

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Jan 31, 2016
Messages
49
Purraise
10
Curious about her pica- any materials in particular? Does she eat litter or lick tile or concrete?
 

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
16,390
Purraise
7,126
Location
Arizona
Thanks for the great advice! When I adopted her as a kitten we spent a lot of time (and way too much money) at the vet due to her having liquid diarrhea from what ended up being a grain free blue Buffalo kitten food. So we tried IAMS sensitive stomach dry food (which I know is frowned upon as it is not the best option for cat food) but since we had previous tummy troubles with other foods (I tried quite a few) my vet advised that if it works for her than stick to it. I have to avoid a diet that is rich in protein for her because it does not sit well with her digestive track. I recently tried switching her to a blue Buffalo sensitive stomach dry food but that did not take and we are back at the IAMs. I have also tried wet food in the past but she does not take to it very well. Do you have recommendations for wet food? I'm thinking tiki cat, blue Buffalo, etc? But like I said she mostly just sticks to her dry food. She's a finicky little thing.
Many cats who eat only kibble don't even realize wet food is food
  I used to feed all my cats kibble, and it took some time and effort to get them transitioned over to an all wet diet.  Now they don't know what dry food is, and when I show it to them (tried it once in case of emergency just to see what would happen)  they just walk away.   I transitioned FOUR cats, the oldest was 13 at the time, so I know it can be done.  The key is finding a wet food that peaksk their interest, and for that I recall going thru a LOT of different foods.  Some cats prefer pates, some like slices, some chunks, then some like chicken, some like beef, some like turkey, and the list goes on and on and on.   However, if your girl has "issues" and gets diarrhea from certain foods, then you might have a challenge.  What specifically was she diagnosed with, if anything?  It is true that sometime dry food will help with diarrhea, because dry food is "drying", but it could be she has an issue with a certain protein or another


Anyway, IF you are interested in changing thing up, here are a couple of articles for you:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/transitioning-free-fed-kibble-kitties-to-timed-meals

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/transit...-to-a-new-type-of-food-canned-raw-or-homemade

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/what-makes-the-best-canned-cat-food.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

rbianchi

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
44
Purraise
6
Thank you for the information. She was never diagnosed with anything. If her diarrhea was going to continue I was going to get an allergy test done but by then we had fixed the issue by switching her to IAMS. I stopped at Petco today and bought some grain free wet cat food like suggested. She took to it a little bit. If she does well should I try a quarter cup of dry food in the morning and wet food at night?

As for the pica goes. It is quite a challenge. I've had her since she was a tiny kitten. But I have found that she will eat everything I drop on the floor and especially strings which I do not have around. It really shocked me after a few months of having her that she had managed to eat the tags off all my sheets. She has eaten a chunk of her litter may (thankfully no litter though) she'll eat certain toys. But I am very careful as to what toys she gets. For a short time she had a fixation with cords but I got an outlet box over them and cord protectors. My least favorite is my hair. She will try chewing on my hair while I am in my bed. I swear I've tried everything. I have to keep her confined to my bedroom and all things that she should not get into are stored in plastic tubs with locks on them. She is a handful and quite frankly it's exhausting. But I love her to pieces. I think she was weened to early from her mother. Because I have found her sucking on my really soft blankets while kneading it. I'll see if I can attach a video so u can see. It's actually quite cute haha.
 

rampionrampage

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
116
Purraise
69
My boyfriend's hair is super long- down to his behind. Middle cat likes to eat hair so it's literally impossible to totally avoid this from time to time, no matter how much we try. The other day she had two bits hanging, ran across the room, the bottom one hit a box with a thunk and fell off and the other just kept swinging as she went. She thinks she's being chased by the poop so we have to chase her. It's a production.
 

EDIT: she was an orphan kitty, I raised her from four days old. she's at least stopped licking the walls and the curtain. The hair is pretty infrequent, it's just difficult to be 100% on top of it all the time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #13

rbianchi

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
44
Purraise
6
Exactly it's impossible. I've tried everything from wearing my hair up to an air horn that releases pheremones when I spray it. But I'm just trying to do my best for her. I just want her healthy and happy.
 

rampionrampage

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
116
Purraise
69
Like us trying to avoid cat hair. I was going to a funeral, I washed my coat twice and didn't take it out of the dryer until we left. Stopped at a pharmacy on the way.
"Oh, hey, you have a cat, don't you?" said random stranger. *sigh*

Living in a carpeted basement doesn't help.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15

rbianchi

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
44
Purraise
6
Oh I know I finally invested in a jumbo sized lint roller that's probably a foot long of sticky so I can get all the fur off my bed and chairs. And my poor boyfriend of six years is allergic to cats but he must surely love me since he has stuck it out for this long with a crazy cat lady. Haha.
 

rampionrampage

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
116
Purraise
69
It was a wool coat. Totally hopeless. :(

I get way too excited about new vacuums, too.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #17

rbianchi

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
44
Purraise
6
The life of a cat lady. Lol.
 
Top