Poop turds stuck to butt - is hair the culprit?

[jahzara]

My kitty keeps tracking both small & large turds outside the litter box.
Tonight, he had a tiny piece stuck to his anus, which I pulled off with a tissue. The skin underneath was reddened a bit, but seems back to normal.
This happens frequently..

Couple things:
He is short hair, not long haired.
He barely has any fur balls.
We just de-fleaed the house, and I noticed they lost a ton more fur when they had fleas.
He has access to water 24/7. Gets both dry food and wet food daily.
We did just switch to an indoor formula of the same brand of food, so less fat. (Our other kitty was putting on some weight.)
he has a beautiful silky coat (always has) and is at a great, sleek weight. He seems very healthy.
my guess is that he needs more brushing as, due to his meticulous cleaning, must just be ingesting too much fur. And the turds are holding on because of the fur connecting it all. But I wanted to get others opinions in case it could be something I'm not aware of. (Google search keeps giving me long haired cats issues of poop getting stuck to the fur.)

 

[Azazel]

Poop shouldn’t be so soft and sticky that it sticks to the butt. I would change the diet, get rid of dry food completely. Indoor formulas replace fat with carbs. Carbs are worse for cats than fat because they are obligate carnivores and cannot process carbs properly. They end up with bulky stinky and smelly poops. An all wet food diet will have fewer, smaller, and less stinky poops. It will also be better for losing weight than any dry food.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Are his poops soft as A Azazel suggested could be the cause? That would seem to be the most obvious reason for poop getting stuck in his hair. Is there any correlation between when this started happening and the food change you made? For one, if you didn't make a gradual change between the old and new food, a lot times it can cause looser stool until the digestive tract gets used to the new food. Or, it could be that the new food just doesn't agree with his system as well as the old.

If you are seeing a lot of hair in his poop, then the only way to help reduce the amount he is ingesting is - as you mentioned - more frequent brushings.

Until you figure out for sure what might be the problem, make sure you clean his behind routinely so that the poop is not there long enough to cause irritation. You can use unscented, hypoallergenic wipes which will help to loosen the poop and also clean any 'remnants' off so they can't irritate his skin.

 

[kittenmittens84]

My cat recently had this problem and I was confused about why since his poop wasn’t soft and he’s never had litter box troubles. He likes to try to attack/eat my hair sometimes, and turns out he had swallowed a few of my hairs and they were connecting two bits of poop together which was causing a bit to hang out of his butt but still be connected. Which of course caused him to freak out and run around everywhere. Now I make sure to lint roll and vacuum up hair I see more often and keep my hair up when he’s feel playful so I don’t have to deal with that again

 

[jahzara]

Lots of good advice. Thanks everyone!

Going to continue trying the more frequent brushings and make sure I sweep my hair off the bathroom floor as I HAVE seen him try to eat stray hair clumps and have pulled him away. I didnt think he was getting into them, but he could be.

If it doesnt improve in about a month or so, I will then do the food change. That was the kind of information I was thinking I might have been missing. I think our tubbier cat has been stealing this guys wet food from him to compensate for the food change as well. I am planning on sitting in the dining room with them while they eat to make sure that doesnt happen any more as well. Wish I could afford the collar ID activated food bowls for them!

 

[Scratchy22]

Is he de wormed? And I would change the food. Purina is a good brand in my experience.