The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Off Topic => Topic started by: Vintergatan on November 06, 2012, 07:56:22 AM
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I'm mainly looking for some input here or advice, if possible.
I have 4 cats right now and we're doing pretty well - they are clean, healthy, well behaved and get along well for the most part. But one of them as a really stinky behind :P
The reason I'm asking here is that I've had cats all my life and I don't ever remember a cat whose behind was so stinky, constantly, that it was very noticeable. It's really annoying me because I love my kitty and she rarely comes to cuddle, but when she does, she always has her tail up and gives me the backside, which is obviously really hard to put up with.
She is 2 years old and she has had diarrheas before. At one point she had blood in her poop so the vet gave us some paste to inject in her mouth, and that paste had a very distinct smell and I think I can kind of smell it still, though this was a year ago at least. In the end it turned out that that blood and diarrhea came from her nibbling on one of our house plants and that that paste didn't help much (till we got rid of the plant).
I don't know if this is related, but she also LOVES hanging around our toilets. She is a house cat (3 out of 4 of our cats are) and we have 3 toilets around the house for them, and she basically loves going around, from one to the other, scratching around it and just hanging out there. She especially loves it when we change the sand, then she makes a round and has to check each toilet out, often peeing in them even if she did her business recently. I guess she is marking her territory because she is the queen of our little community, but I wonder if that could have anything to do with her smell.
I also want to make it clear that it is only her behind that smells, and not the cat herself - she is clean and healthy, no bad breath or anything. And her behind looks fine as well.
Oh, and we only give them dry food - Royal Canine Indoors (which is made to minimize the odour, and it really does help). We give them canned food sometimes as a special treat.
Anyone had a similar issue? Anything that can be done?
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Does she maybe need her anal glands emptied?
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It did cross my mind, but I've never had an animal with that issue so I'm not sure of the "symptoms". I was always under an impression that if an animal has that problem, the odour would be obvious from a distance? To be perfectly honest, I can only smell my cat when she is close to me and when she turns her back to me.
Are there some obvious tell tale signs of it I can look for? Like some swelling or something?
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My Stevie has a smelly backside, but she doesn't smell at all like poop. I've had her in to see the vet about her anal glands and he said there was nothing wrong with them. They're probably a bit overactive but not getting clogged so if we can live with it just to leave her alone. Since Stevie doesn't like having her glands emptied, we have followed his advice and everyone is happy, lol!
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Aww, good for her :)
I'm not sure that I'd describe it as poop smell as such, but it's definitely some weird strong smell. It might as well be that the glands are a bit too productive but it doesn't seem to be bothering her much. We're supposed to take her for re-vaccination in a couple of months so I'll point it out to the vet and see what she says ^^
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I think skeen and rybett are right; probably anal glands. One of my.cats has a stinky butt too. It doesn't smell like poop; it's a musky smell similar too a skunk's (the cat family and the skunk/weasel/otter family are in the same taxonomic order Carnivora, so they're fairly closely related). If her glands were bothering your cat, she'd be trying to empty them by scooting her butt on the floor. But it sounds like they're just "overactive" like skeen said. My cat's the same way. It doesn't bother mr much, so I've never askef my vet about it. But if it's really bothering you then talk to your vet. Anal glands can be surgically removed, but it's not cheap, and it's a bit risky. If the vet accidentally cuts a little too much, then the animal loses tone around the muscles that keep the butt hole closed. That means the animal loses control of when it poops and becomes incontinant, so not good. I used to work as a vet tech, and one of my bosses was experienced at anal gland removal surgeries. But they always made him nervous; he said they were tricky.
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Oh, I'd never subject the poor thing to something like that unless it was for her own good, yikes, it sounds bad :(
But it does sound like we got to the bottom of it, so thank you all for the input. I guess it's good that she is not as cuddly as my other two cats that love to go into my face :P she keeps more to herself so I definitely don't mind it.
On an unrelated note, I don't know how a skunk smells, I don't even think I've seen one in person, although I'd love to ^^
EDIT: ok, so I've googled it a bit and I'm pretty sure that's it. At one point, some months ago I saw a bit of brownish sludge coming out of her anus but I just thought it was poop, now it seems that it was probably the extra liquid. It crossed my mind that since she's so bent on marking her territory (only around toilets though, fortunately) that she might be making them more active that way, or something of a kind :) She does also often lick herself so I'll be sure to ask the vet to check her out, just to make completely sure that it's not giving her problems.
Thank you again!
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I'd talk to my vet about it when I went to be safe if I were you, but like others have said she's likely fine.
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Oh, you're in Iceland! No skunkies there, I guess, though there are European species, I think. Ferrets are also in the weasel family, so their musky smell is kind of similar.
And yes, the surgery is really only recommended for pets with serious anal gland problems. Some (usually dogs) get lots of infections in their anal glands, or they just get swollen with too much fluid that the animal can't squeeze out without help, and it happens about every week.
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Gary Pudding has a cat form of IBS.. and as much of a cute little fluffball as he is, sometimes he really does not smell like a bed of roses. :yikes:
My mother detests having to wash him.. my gosh, I have never seen a teensy little cat get so vicious in the space of 10 minutes!!
She swears by baby powder when he's having a poorly tummy. Just stick some of it on a cotton ball and powder kitty's bottom. As it's intended for babies, it's not toxic.. she sometimes uses baby shampoo to wash him as well, it doesn't hurt them.
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Gary Pudding has a cat form of IBS.. and as much of a cute little fluffball as he is, sometimes he really does not smell like a bed of roses. :yikes:
My mother detests having to wash him.. my gosh, I have never seen a teensy little cat get so vicious in the space of 10 minutes!!
She swears by baby powder when he's having a poorly tummy. Just stick some of it on a cotton ball and powder kitty's bottom. As it's intended for babies, it's not toxic.. she sometimes uses baby shampoo to wash him as well, it doesn't hurt them.
Misty used to have feline IBS. What she did in the litter box smelled so bad she wouldn't even bury it. She'd take care of business and bolt! Used to be I'd take her to the vet about every other month for it because of her tummy troubles. Bloody stool should never be ignored. When I switched her to raw, all those issues stopped. Turns out her tummy can't handle highly processed food. Raw's more expensive than canned or dry, but it sure saves me a ton of money on vet bills!
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I hope the poor kitty gets to smelling better!
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Hey guys, I think Nala (the kitty in question) might be peeing blood :(
I'm trying not to panic here since our vet told us last year that it does happen and it doesn't have to be too serious, but, you know, it's hard not to.
So the reason I can't be 100% sure is that we have three other kitties using those toilets, but I do think it's her because she goes and pees often.
Ok, so as hinted above, her toilet habits have always been a bit excessive. Ever since she was a kitten she loved hanging arund toilets and scratching around, and as I mentioned, every time we change the sand (which is often) she has to go and use it even if she did her business shortly before. She also tends to take her time peeing, like, she would be in the peeing pose for a few minutes even. But now I've noticed it even more. For the past few days she's been going to pee very often, always taking her time and producing very little pee every time (that I caught her). Now I'm noticing that some pee in the boxes is tinted red and the reason I think it's her is because the area with the blood is quite small, just like she tends to pee sometimes.
I've been observing her closely these days and apart from that she acts normally and she is happy and cheerful. I've touched her all over today, when I noticed the blood, just to see if she would wince at some pain or if I would feel anything odd, but nothing :( The vet is closed for today so I can't call and ask, or take her there til tomorrow.
any ideas? Any advice? She is two years old, spayed and has never had any medical issues (I've had her since she was a kitten).
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My first question is- is she fixed? If she's not fixed she could just be having her "time of the month".
If there is blood in the pee, it might be a bladder infection. The vet can give you some antibiotics for her, like our doctor would do for us if we had one. My brothers cat had one once and we gave her meds from the doc for 2 weeks and she was fine after that. I hope your cat feels better. I am sure when your vet is open you can take her and she will be right as rain in no time.
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Yes, she is fixed. I just found a small pool of blood in the bath tub and as I was just reading online that often happens when they have a urinary tract infection :( poor kitty. She is here sleeping between my keyboard and screen all cuddly and peaceful, she really doesn't look like she is in pain or discomfort.
I'll be calling the vet first thing in the morning when they open.
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Take her to the vet immediately, it sounds like the urinary tract disease.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_lower_urinary_tract_disease
Hope she'll get better!
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Yes I think so too, but I was under the impression that it is urgent only in male cats?
ETA: well this is great :S no one's answering our vet's emergency phone...
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Well I think you can wait till morning, I doubt it's that urgent. I don't know if it's a blockage or infection or what, and while the urinary problems are more common with males, all cats can have them and they should always be treated as soon as possible. Good luck with your kitty, I hope you'll get an appointment soon!
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Ok I just got off the phone with the vet and I'm a bit ticked off to be honest. So she says that female cat's don't get blockages and that this is urinary tract infection. She asked whether Nala was eating (which she was, right as I was on the phone) and said that it's nothing urgent and to just come by on monday to get anti-biotics. So I protested that I would like to get the anti-biotics tomorrow the latest but they are closed on sundays :S and she would have to charge me around $100 dollars extra :S I got really annoyed when she said I shouldn't worry because it's just as when humans have it, it's nothing too urgent. Well let me tell you, I once had the UTI and it was hell!! I had to go to the doctor immediately to get some relief for the pain and discomfort :S Fortunately my cat seems to be doing fine, she just went to pee and she peed with no difficulties, which is a relief.
I don't understand why it isn't possible for me to get my cat medication without getting ripped off just because it's a sunday!
I'm also slightly distrustful because I have been dismissed twice this summer as having just a cold when it turned out I had whooping cough and now i hate feeling like I was simply dismissed with "oh, it's nothing".
I guess I'll just keep a good eye on her tonight and see how she's doing and see if I want to wait till monday.
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Totally, get her to the vet! Peeing often can be a sign of diabetes too. Hopefully, it's just a UTI. Any time a cat is straining to pee, going to the litter box often and not producing anything, or there's blood is a sign of trouble.
Cats are very good at hiding signs of pain. In the wild, if they show pain then other cats and animals know they're weak. It's up to us to know what their pain signs are. For my baby, it's when she becomes really clingy; she's not a cuddly, affectionate type cat and I know something's wrong when she won't leave my side. My moms cat is usually silent; last month she had a UTI and wouldn't stop meowing. My friends cat will pee on the rug just outside of the litter box (or her mom's pillow on the bed!) if she needs to go to the vet.
UTI's are often caused or aggravated by dehydration. Cats don't have a very strong thirst drive and don't drink much water. If they're fed a strictly kibble/dry diet, it can cause problems with digestion, kidneys, and the urinary tract. Would she eat wet food? Giving her some canned or raw food will help increase the moisture in her diet. Getting a pet fountain might encourage her to drink too.
Please, be sure to keep us updated! I hope your kitty is just fine and that the vet can help her if she isn't.
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Actually that's exactly what I wanted to ask, we do normally just give them dry food with canned stuff only for special occasions. All vets have always insisted that giving them just dry food is good for them and that they shouldn't need anything extra, but I'm wondering about that.
We used to give them dry fish but for whatever reason, 2 out of 4 (including Nala) are no longer interested in it.
The problem with canned food is that they all get crazy over it and stuff themselves :P except for Nala that usually just licks all the juicy stuff and leaves the rest for the others.
So, any specific food tips for this, but also in general, to avoid issues like these from occurring?
Also, Eskara, I did notice that Nala has been a bit more cuddly and clingy past 3 days :S I did think that it was a bit strange, but this explains it, and I thank you wholeheartedly for pointing it out.
oh and one more question - the vet said to take care that she is drinking plenty - but how do I do that with a cat? we have fresh water in two places in the house, should I put more? should I put bowls in front of her to drink?
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Gimme a sec to pull up the article on one of my favorite cat blogs... There's a lot of good information about natural remedies and what causes these issues. Just have to find it.
Also, freeze-dried treats, while yummy, should be given very sparingly. They actually cause more dehydration because the treats are so dry.
It's tough to get a cat to drink more water. I used to get mad at Misty for lapping up the water from used food bowls in the sink, but then I realized that a little spaghetti flavoring wouldn't hurt her if it made her drink more water! Maybe you could put a little bit of tuna juice in some water and that would entice her to drink?
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Edit- Found some good links!
The Conscious Cat has a good article on how dry food ties in to feline urinary tracts (http://consciouscat.net/2012/05/29/more-reasons-to-stop-feeding-dry-food-to-your-cats/). She also provides links to all of the research she mentions.
Natural Cat Care provides 10 useful sites for researching cat health issues (http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2011/02/9-useful-sites-for-researching-cat-health-issues/)
Natural Cat Care also has an amazing list of the best cat foods (http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2010/12/the-7-best-natural-commercial-cat-foods-so-far/). She explains why foods made or didn't make the list. I realize the foods she lists are for here in the US, but her reasoning on why she picked the ones she did could help you if you decided to switch what you're feeding your kitties.
Here's the thing about vets and dry food... They're often paid by pet food companies to push their food. Purina is really big about that here in the US. The American Veterinary Medical Association recently adopted a stance that all raw food is unsuitable for animals. (http://consciouscat.net/2012/10/22/are-processed-foods-at-the-root-of-all-feline-illness/) When you start researching who is on the board of the AVMA, you discover that Purina is on the board. Most vets will tell you that a cat can be completely happy and healthy on dry food for their whole life. The problem is, cats are obligate carnivores and so much of what is in those dry foods isn't species appropriate. Giving a cat only kibble is pretty much the equivalent of giving a human only McDonalds- tastes great, but it will have serious health effects later on.
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Years ago I caught my cat Kitty peeing in bed on us. I took her to the vets and she had crystals in her bladder. It was very painful and uncomfortable for her. I now look very closely and the cat foods I give her. My vet told me to buy foods with as little ash and magnesium that I can find. I hope your kitty feels better!
I have also found that cats like to drink water that moves. Could you get her a little water fountain for her to drink out of? I got one for I think around 15$.
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Well, we just came back from the vet. Nala has been doing fine yesterday apart from difficulties peeing and the vet examined her today. Her bladder is not enlarged so she can obviously still pee as such and she concluded that it must be the UTI.
She gave her antibiotics and steroids to help with inflammation so we'll see. She told us to come back with her if this happens again so they can take the blood sample and check for anything more serious but for now it seems it's just this and asked us to try to take a sample of her pee if we manage. She gave us special (dry) food for her but we have already switched our cats to mostly canned food.
We brought up the water fountain and she agreed that it sounds like a great idea and will see about ordering it for us.
As for the cause, she says it can be any number of things - the dry food, the stress where she doesn't get to finish peeing if other cats interrupt her, not drinking enough water or just genetics.
I just wanted to thank you all for your advice and help. I've read through the links you provided, Eskara, and I thank you so much. These days I will make a trip to all the pet shops in the area to see what foods they have on offer, as our supermarkets just have the typical Wiskas and Friskies.
Tl;dr Nala has an UTI but is generally doing fine, is eating well and being playful so hopefully the treatment will work ^^
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in males it is definitely more urgent, the crystals can block their unrinary tract and can kill - my mum had a cat with it. my girl suffers from cystitis, i don't think the girls get the crystal build up?? strains and strains and nothing comes out (and then gets nastier than normal) - she is now fed only dry food, it is vet prescribed royal canin urinary and can only be bought from a vet. it's not the cheapest, au$30 for a 1.5 kilo bag, but if she eats anything else, she would get really ill again. i feel for you that your vet was not so helpful, i have a wonderful vet, the first time my cat got it it was a sunday, my vet opens for half an hour for patient pick ups. it was 5 mins before they closed, and they stayed open for me :) mind you, i reckon my cat is a dud, before the cystitis she couldn't handle regular cat food so was on prescription sensitive stomach food :) she's cost me an arm and a leg since day dot lol :) oh, and she also digs as soon as the litter is changed, and my mum's cat used to also do the bolt after using the box - he would howl at the door to come in, drop, run and howl to be let back out :) gotta love them :biggrin:
ps - my vet gave me a tip for getting a pee sample, wash box out completely and dry, and replace litter with shredded plastic - the cat can still 'dig' but pee won't get contaminated by litter.
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RC Urinary is exactly the food our vet recommended to us. I think we are going to go with that one + wet food and mix it up for them.
I'm sorry to hear that your kitty is so sensitive though! She is lucky she landed with you and is getting all the love and care she needs ^^
You are also lucky with your vet! Back home in Serbia I had a wonderful vet. My mom was also teaching his kids so he was prepared to do anything for us at any time of day. He even agreed to operate on a mangled pigeon that I found on the street, turned out he fixed her really well and she lived with us happily for the rest of her life. here, however I can't seem to get that personal connection with vets even though we take all our cats to the same place :( But at least today I had an impression that the new girl there listed to all we had to say and didn't dismiss us, so that's good.
and thank you for the tip! We have a new kitty litter made out of wood pellets so i might try to catch some urine before it gets soaked up.
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I'm glad you got the poor kitty in to the vet. It's so awful when your furbabies aren't feeling well, I don't blame you for being worried (and frustrated). I've had urinary infections a couple times and they are the worst! So I'm glad that they gave you the antibiotics for Nala and I hope she's feeling better soon.
Finding a good vet can be so tough, I just switched to a new place and I think I like them. Hopefully this new vet will be good at listening and giving thorough checkups.
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RC Urinary is exactly the food our vet recommended to us. I think we are going to go with that one + wet food and mix it up for them.
I'm sorry to hear that your kitty is so sensitive though! She is lucky she landed with you and is getting all the love and care she needs ^^
You are also lucky with your vet! Back home in Serbia I had a wonderful vet. My mom was also teaching his kids so he was prepared to do anything for us at any time of day. He even agreed to operate on a mangled pigeon that I found on the street, turned out he fixed her really well and she lived with us happily for the rest of her life. here, however I can't seem to get that personal connection with vets even though we take all our cats to the same place :( But at least today I had an impression that the new girl there listed to all we had to say and didn't dismiss us, so that's good.
and thank you for the tip! We have a new kitty litter made out of wood pellets so i might try to catch some urine before it gets soaked up.
i know. she was adopted from a shelter, so i'd hate to think what would've happened if anyone else got her. food and health issues were no problem for me, we had 2 at my mums that were always at the vet, plus i nursed my partner's cat thru 9 months of feline aids :( but all of that contributes to the excellent vet care we get, between me, my sisters and my mum, we reckon we paid for the clinic's refurbishment and extension so they have to treat us as VIP's :biggrin: the rc urinary is really good, my miss biatch has had no issues since being on it, i took her off once to see how she'd go, and it was straight back to the vet - i think there might be a wet version of it too... it's a nuisance tho when you have other cats that don't need to eat it - my mum's were both on different script foods, one of whom would eat everything in sight. she used to have to stand guard while they ate!!!
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Zenna, yes it is really hard to find a good vet and yet that is probably what matters the most to me, especially here. If I get neglected or misdiagnosed by my doctor, I have some protection, but animals here have none! Although this vet office has already fixed two of our cats and operated against hernia on the third and it has all been done well so i'll give them the benefit of the doubt :)
Oh poor little darlings! I had no idea that there was a feline version of aids :( although I do know that my mom and my gran (that have always had many cats) had to battle cat plague (at least that's what they called it, not sure what it was exactly but by the sounds of it it was horrible), but that was before I was born.
You have such an amazing family though, to have taken care of so many fragile kitties :)
As for the new food, we had to shoo away our ever-hungry male constantly last night so he wouldn't eat all of the urinary food! It was crazy! He even knows he's not allowed to eat from that bowl and is usually fine with it, but this time, it was war :P
Now off to give Nala her medicine ^^
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it just goes to show, no matter where we are in the world, our furbabies are all the same :) you are so right about needing a good vet, we can tell our dr what is wrong with us, but our pets need someone to talk for them. our lovely vet always referred to herself as aunty dianne, she was a true animal whisperer, i'm sure of it. i hope the rc works for your puddy, and mr pud doesn't eat it all :)
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Does she maybe need her anal glands emptied?
My cat who's now 8 had his anal glands blocked by bacteria and it burst, because it had no where to go. His but smelled bad and he was bleeding from his behind a little, where he sat. We took him to an emergency vet the next morning and they drained it and sewed up the large hole that was in the place of the gland. Maybe the anal gland needs to be cleaned out like rybett said.