A stinky problem..

Ever since I have brought Nutmeg home, she has had (and please pardon the language) a stinky bum!! :eek: She does clean herself - I have seen her do it and she's pretty meticulous about most of it, but for whatever reason she either neglects her rear or can't stand it herself! :p Anyway, I asked the vet about why she might have a smelly bum and she said it might be her diet, but it's more than that. She does have gas and is sensitive to diet change, which I am watching closely and mixing her new stuff very sparingly with what she is used to. But she smells like dried poop and urine, like she is leaking or just isn't cleaning. Might this change once she is spayed (she's still too little) and her hormones are different? Or is it just that she is a little stinker and I will have to bath her the way I do Bassett (Bassett has to be bathed because she really could care less about personal grooming)? It is a problem because wherever she sits with her bum against the surface she leaves a smelly spot, but she is in perfect health (as per the vet). Anyone have any ideas?

??? Have you seen the 'Pet wet wipes' (I don't remember the exact brand name) that can give cats 'dry' baths? That might help until she out grows the kitten smelly stage...

Both Cassy and Sassy had problems with body odor that was due to worms when they were very young. Your vet has checked for this?

Good luck, and do keep us posted on progress.

Yep.. Nutmeg has been checked for worms (and I just checked again.. it was scooping time!! :D ) and she is fine. She also had the deworming treatment anyway because she was feral and then fostered before I got her, so her exact history was not known.

I have not seen those wipes but I will look into it either at the vet or at PetCetera :D

Thanks for the reply!

Hey Nutmeg ~

Tell yer Mom this...

When our Boots, da Kat, had his operashun an had to wear the lampyshade/funnel on his hed - he couldn't lick nuffin wiff his tounge-licker an he got a lil :eek: *ripe*.

Dad bought a box of regular Baby Wipes at WallyMart and used them to tidy up da Kat. They're semi-moist an that helps to soften the :p crud.

An we thunk they had sum PURfume :cool: on em, too.

He dint smell much like a Kat fur a while! :rolleyes:

Thanks Cinder and Smoke! I will keep that in mind! It certainly would be easier than having to bath her all the time!! :D Luckily I don't have *crud* to deal with, so I'm lucky so far! :D

when I first started reading your post, I wondered, how old is this kitty, then I read that you said she is too young to be spayed, so that is really young! I'm pretty sure that once she gets older, she will be better, her stomach is very sensitive right now. in the meantime, you can keep her clean with those "kitty bath cloths".

I've also used baby wipes for my cats. Since I've stopped feeding them wet food, I don't need to use them any more. Nutmeg is very young so I'm sure she'll grow out of the smelly stage. Good luck. :)

How old is Nutmeg now? Could it be that she's really neglicting this part when she's cleaning herself? I'm asking because this was exactly the same problem when Luna was a kitten. I got her at the age of 6 weeks, and she was simply too young to do a good cleaning job on herself. Especially her butt became very smelly with time, like you said, like dried urine and poop. On day I just put her into the sink and washed her butt. I think it was the uncomfortable feeling of wet fur in that area that gave her the idea to clean her rear end for the first time. However, from that day on, the stinky problem has disappeared.

Good luck with Nutmeg! :)

Kirsten

Sounds like her internal chemistry is not agreeing with what she's eating. (just like certain foods may give a human gas). She may be having a reaction to a particular ingredient in the food, an allergy of sorts. Admittedly, this is hard to determine and harder to narrow down, but keep in mind two things. 1st- an animal can have a reaction to a food even if it's the BEST FOOD AVAILABLE due to a single ingredient. and 2nd- It will take a while for it to clear out of the system and settle down to normal.

Well, I still tend to believe that it is a cleaning problem. If it was food related, there wouldn't be that urine smell IMO.

Kirsten

What kind of hair does Nutmeg have? Long? Short? My cats that are longer haired have more of an 'odor' about them than the shorter haired ones...so, I wonder if stuff is getting caught or attached to the fur around her bum.

Also, my kittens were stinky (especially Allie) until they got a little bit bigger. I never thought about it being cleaning related (It just didn't occur to me, I am not doubting it), I just thought they had lesser developed systems...and reacted to things more easily.

I think I would double check the contents of the baby type wipes, though. What if they contain something nasty?

I don't think I would get to upset about the stinkiness...it will probably go away.:)

We have those wipes (Cat Baths) for Noah's fur...not for the problem Nutmeg is having, but because he tends to need more baths.

Does little Nutmeg have "gas" a lot? Or is this primarily cleaning issue? I ask because Basil seems to pass gas a lot. I think it's because he is eatinga mixture of kitten and adult cat food.

Nutmeg poots ALL the time! Hehe.. but the smell isn't a gassy one. It's more like stinky, uncleaned bum. I wouldn't get baby wipes if I were to go that route; I would go with ones specifically designed for cats.

She is only 12-14 weeks old, and she was bottle raised by people, not taught to clean by her kitty mother. I think I might try the sink dip because she would have to lick to dry off and that might get the ball rolling, so to speak :D

Thanks for all the responses! :D :D