Cat help.... UPDATE

My cat is 12 yrs old, she is healthy and quite large- 18 pounds of her! She is eating as usual- playing, purring, etc. evertime she gets out of the litter box, she tries to clean herself. I have had to clean her because she is too large to do it- the past few days she has been running in and out of the litter box, playing in it, and I am sure she is urinating, but I am concerned. her little tush looked reddish, and smelled like she could not clean it too well. ( A Bowel movement odor) I have had this before and then it goes away when I clean her. This morning, I used a warm soft paper towel, cleaned her, and she seeemed very content. I left her in my bed - I had to go to work- she was purring. Do you think she needs a vet? Sorry if TMI- but my cats are my babies.

UPDATE! Called the vet, they told me to take her in. I took her. She lost 2 pounds- I have had her on a diet- they took a urine sample- no UTI. Phew..... They had to express her anal sacs- they were infected, they think- so she is now on antibiotics, a antibiotic cream and they gave her a cortisone pill to calm down her little tush. She is better then she was. She is acting more like herself. But after they took care of the anal glands- the poor cat kept having to eliminate. She is resting comfortably.

Message edited 11/19/2008 10:03:35 PM.

Re: Cat help....

i have a friend that has to do the same thing the cat is older and very heavy so she cant reach down there to clean so she just does it with a wet paper towel when she sees her leave the litter box

Re: Cat help....

I would try cleaning her daily first for about a week and see if the smell and redness gets better first. If it doesn't then I would go to the vet. She may just need a little more help now.

Re: Cat help....

I would at least call the vet to speak to him / her on the phone about it. I would also continue to help clean her to see if it get better.

Also, I would address the weight issue. If your cat is so large that she can't properly clean herself, then she is overweight. That's not healthy for a variety of reasons.

Re: Cat help.... UPDATE

glad she is better!!!

Re: Cat help.... UPDATE

I'm glad she's feeling better!

Plus, two pounds! Woohoo! I'd be happy with my OWN two pound weight loss. For a kitty, that's great!!