Hi,

Not sure if this was the right forum as i am a newbie here. Recently got a bengal boy in oct and he is settling in nicely and is a lovely cat. He is toilet trained and happens to poo for England.

He is 19 weeks old and the problem we have is that he doesn't clean his bum after having a poo. At the minute we have started to wipe it for him, in the hope that he will get the hint.

I would really appreciate it if anyone could offer some tips to encourage him to lick himself clean after the toilet. I have read on another site about spraying his behind with catnip, but am a bit unsure if this would be a good idea.

I would just like to minimise the skidmarks in my house.

Many thanks

Adam

Hi Adam - Welcome to the Forum

I had the same problem with one of my boys when he was younger. I have to say it kinda resolved itself and he eventually got the hang of cleaning himself properly..........he's 7 months now and very clean!!!!!

I personally would not spray him with catnip.

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www.supernova-bengals.co.uk

Hi Linda thanks for the warm welcome and fast response. It's heartening to know that it can be resolved.
I'll hold fire with the catnip. It did sound a bit dubious to be honest.

Did you just leave your cat to his own devices or did you encourage him by wiping?

As i mentioned before, we are wiping James but he isn't overly keen. on the flip side, we're not overly keen on skidmarks on the sofa.

hi all

i would not spray catnip as too much licking etc would start to break down the mucous membrane without getting too technicalplus it would send him insane for a while and would be forever chasing his behind!

as Linda said it is a kitten thing and he should come round.
you havent had him long and he is still finding his feet.
his mum might not of shown him properlyalso.

mine do not clean as soon as they go but will take themselves off in a corner a bit later on.

are all his motions fine and that it is he just wont clean?
and do you have any other cats?
regards

FG

Hi filthygorgeous,

I think you are right that his mother may not have shown him properly. He is a rescue bengal and we got him from a breeder. He had a bit of a cold in his early weeks so him and his litter mates were separated from teh mother around 8 weeks of age (they were indoors and mum went outdoors in the cattery).

His motions do seem ok. He does go around three or four times a day it would appear.
But, yes it is just the cleaning (or lack of) that we have a problem with.

We dont have any other cats in the household either.

Thanks for your reply btw

regards

Adam

Hi Fg,

Slight improvement in that he cleaned himself (albeit slightly delayed) after visiting the litter tray. I praised him highly. Although tried not to put him off the task at hand.

Periodic checking of his behind is showing that he is still a bit slack in the hygiene department.

At the minute i am feeding him jamewellbeloved in the morning and he grazes all day on that. Then in the evening we give him felix kitten food in pouches (with jelly rather than gravy if that's relevant?).

Just recently uploaded some pics of him, so i'll attach one here and then put the rest in the photos section.

Thanks for the interest FG. All help is appreciated.

Adam


Here's James (the cat, for those that remember the cartoon)

Not a nice question but how are his stools....I'm guessing a bit loose!

The key to solve this would be to stiffen them up a bit, maybe try him on biscuits for a while.....just mix some in with his meat to start with and see how he goes gradually increasing the biscuits.

Avoid meats with gravy.....but you already seem to know that one!

Has he always been like this or is it a more recent bad habit?

Hi meemonkey, thanks for your response.

As chief of litter tray duties i can confirm that his stools are predominantly stiff. He has had some impressive logs in there . Having said that he did have some diah.. diaor... runny poo a couple of weeks ago which has cleared up. There was remnants last night of a looser stool in with his other logs.
Should i really have this much interest in cat poo?!

Anyway, he has 50/50 biscuit cat food diet at the min, shall i make this more biscuit?

As for his personal hygiene, i think he has been like this since we got him, but i was oblivious until my partner (who is queen of clean) kept on complaining. But when i saw a few skidmarks on various surfaces it became apparent we had an issue. So i think he has always been like this.

Thanks

Adam

If he's solid then keep to the 50/50 mix!

He may need worming soon, so have a word with your vet when you see them just to see if they can shed any light on anything that may be underlying.

Kittens do get messy tho, and lazy.....so providing its not dribbling out with every step he should grow out of it!


And to answer your question about "should I have this much interest in my cats poo!".....Yes you should, its always good to check and its an early indication of numerous problems that can arise!

Thanks for the advice. I'll just keep an eye on his progress and fingers crossed he grows out of it. He's at the vets in a couple of weeks so if will seek some advice regarding any underlying issues and the worming point you raised.


Adam