FAQ of the Day: Please help with my butt-dragging cat!
Wednesday February 28, 2007
A Reader asks:
I have had my 8-year old cat for about four years now. Over the past 2 years he has a new habit. Once he is done "pooping," he comes out of his litter box, walks to the carpeted area and drags his butt and leaves a residue of poop. We have recently moved to another home and he continues to do this. Now, whenever I hear him scratching in his box, I check to see if he is pooping and promptly wipe his bottom with a baby wipe (which he hates). Is there anyway for me to train him not to drag his butt on the carpet?
Please read my reply before posting comments.
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I have had my 8-year old cat for about four years now. Over the past 2 years he has a new habit. Once he is done "pooping," he comes out of his litter box, walks to the carpeted area and drags his butt and leaves a residue of poop. We have recently moved to another home and he continues to do this. Now, whenever I hear him scratching in his box, I check to see if he is pooping and promptly wipe his bottom with a baby wipe (which he hates). Is there anyway for me to train him not to drag his butt on the carpet?
Please read my reply before posting comments.
Additional Suggested Reading:
Comments
Has your cat been checked by the vet for worms? That can cause itchiness and irritation. This irritation can also be symptomatic of other medical conditions. Take your cat to the vet for a complete examination.
My cat Jade does the same thing if her defication is not totally clean. She has been checked by the vet and has no anal gland problems, anal irritations, nor parasites. It just appears to be her way of cleaning herself. She is now 5 years old and has done it since she was less than a year old.
my cat has done this since he was a kitten. we took him to the vet, checked him for worms, checked if his anal glands needed expressing, and there seemed to be no cause. he did it so often that he would scratch his anus raw and it would bleed everywhere. we just gave up after going to several different vets, even those specializing in cats. we eventually put a special rug outside the litter box for him to scoot on, so that he wouldn’t scoot on other portions of the house. also, we recently just so happened to remove all carpeting and put wood flooring in our renovation and he stopped doing it altogether.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw this scooting activity. I had just woken up and Tun Tun was scooting across the carpet. To me it looked like he was using only his front legs to move while dragging his little tush. I was terrified that he was paralyzed. Then he got up and I saw the truffle on his tush! Talk about ignorant…
i saw my cat do that once on concrete but she never did that again it was sort of funny and she licked her but right after
I’m a 9 month old almost grown-up kitten and I only scoot around on my but if my dainty parts are still dirty after a trip to my litterbox. My human mom sees me doing this and cleans me up real quick and then I’m fine!
A trip to the vet would be a good idea; the vet can take a fecal sample and analyze it for worms or other issues, and you should be able to get to the “bottom” of this problem and have your little guy feeling 100% better in no time!
Your cat could be constipated. Try giving him more canned food and cut back on the dry food. It worked for my Casanova.
YOUR CAT IS SCRATCHING HIS BUT AND HE MAY HAVE WORMS. HAVE YOU LOOKED AT HIS BUTT IT CAN BE SORE
I would suggest getting a special carpet to place in front of the litter box. Whenever you see the cat rubbing itself on your carpets, pick it up and place it on the carpet in front of the litter box. If the behavior continues, try lightly tapping the cat on top of the head or back, then move it to it’s own carpet.