My cat is so fat he can't clean his butt! Ideas?

He's a Maine Coon, which is a large breed, but he's well over 20+ pounds and his kitty diet food has done little/nothing to help him. He's getting outside more now that the weather is nice and I play with him daily, but he's just too huge to reach back there. He's normally very sweet and relaxed, but come at him with a baby wipe or any intention of giving him a bath and he goes mountain lion on my a$$ (although I do suit up and bathe him about once every two weeks). He's disgusting and it's grossing me out! What else can I do to help him?My cat is so fat he can't clean his butt! Ideas?
Are you doing full on baths, or just butt baths? If you're doing the former, try just doing the latter. Or just keep using the wipes. Be sure to give him a nice treat afterwards too.



Get him a kitty brazilian. Shaving off his bloomers will be a HUGE help!



And last but not least, diet. Not only will my plan help him lose weight, but it's possible that better food will also firm the stool up quite a bit so you won't have to deal with so many dingleberries. (Or maybe the problem is just urine smell?)



From my blog:

In a nutshell, most cats are fat because they've been fed too much (free-feeding or indulging them) and because they're fed dry food which is NOT appropriate food for them due to the grain/carb/sugar content. Cats are obligate carnivores who need to eat a high meat-based protein diet, which is also high in fats and low in carbs.



Many vets, who are sadly ignorant on the topic of proper cat nutrition, will recommend prescription diet foods (usually dry). Cats are expected to lose weight on a starvation diet of 1/4 or 1/3 cup of food per day. Everyone is miserable in these situations.



The solution is to switch the fat cat (and any others in the household as well) to a good quality canned food. Because these foods are species appropriate, the cat will lose weight at a safe, slow pace (no more than 1 pound per month). Switching foods needs to occur slowly, and if you're trying to get a kibble junkie to eat canned food, that will happen naturally.



How much should cats eat?

This varies. Average cats may eat between 20-30 calories per pound per day. But note that that is IDEAL pounds. Using 25 calories per day for example, an 8 pound cat could eat 200 calories per day. By the same token, a cat who weighs 20 pounds but should weigh 10 could eat 250 calories per day. You multiply the ideal weight by the calories to arrive at that figure. When working toward weight loss, it's perhaps best to start at the lower end of the scale (20).



How do I find out how many calories are in cat food? See the link "Values in canned food." If it's not listed there, you'd need to contact the manufacturer.....I believe that link provides some help there as well.



That's it. Easy as pie. Not only will fat cats lose weight, but it and any others in the home will reap many benefits of eating a speciies appropriate diet.



See the links below for detailed information on this topic.



UPDATE: Poppy lost 5 pounds and Sophie lost 2 following this plan (from October to October). Each cat gets one can (5.5oz) of Nature's Variety Instincts per day. No one is starving or miserable. My vet is happy with her progress and so am I. Only 4 pounds to go!
That is a very unique problem. You certainly show alot of kindness towards you cat. Have you tried shooting the hose at him? No, I don't think that would be right. OK, I thinkyou should feed him sleeping tablets with his kitty diet. Then when he is sleeping, give him a good cleaning. Its only right, you know, he would probably do the same for you.My cat is so fat he can't clean his butt! Ideas?
Bless his furry little heart! You sound like you are being a very good parent to him. Is the hair long around his -for lack of a cuter word- anus? Even if it's fairly short maybe making it even shorter would allow less to be messed up back there? I can understand your concern. I have a Himalayan that frequently comes out of his box with a "cling-on" When his rear is more trimmed, there is less of a problem with that.
Cut down on the food and treats right away and take to the vet about this serious problem!My cat is so fat he can't clean his butt! Ideas?
I think you should approach him with the baby wipe in a different way. Play with him a little first, pet him and distract him. While he is distracted, wipe his *** real quick so he doesn't see it coming and go mountain lion on you. :P
Diet potato chips don't cut it. You need to stop feeding kitty crack aka dry food.

Carbs = pounds especially for an obligate carnivre

Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat鈥檚 health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingredient a muscle meat like chicken or is it meal or other things? Learn what meal and other things mean here.

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea鈥?/a>



Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i鈥檚 and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms of food allergies proabbly from the grains. Constipation? Dry food, not enough moistire. Blockages? Again not enough moisture in the food and you are risking something serious.

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food (Cats are not naturally big drinkers) but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at all or grains at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food as it uses a muscle meat as the first ingrediant. 9lives, friskies whiskas are lower grade canned but still better then dry and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. The optimum food to feed cats has no grains whatsoever, cats have no use for them and many have trouble processing them as well as the carbs. IBD is another disease that is rapidly becoming common amoung cats because of the inappropriate diets being fed.

Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? Why do people constantly repeat this old wives tale and put teeth over the organs like the kidneys?? (I have no clue) http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp鈥?/a>



Please read about cat nutrition.

http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics鈥?/a>

http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht鈥?/a>

http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht鈥?/a>
baby wipes will make his bum sting that's why we only use them outside the body use feminine wipes for women hypoallergenic ones they wont sting him as for bath in stages use a wet sponge instead on his body even rinse him with it
Put him on a diet. Skip the diet food. Get quality food (NOT supermarket) and give him about 1/2 of what you are feeding now. About 1/4 cup or a little less should work. Add canned or frozen green beans or mixed veggies so he won't think he is being starved.



In addition, you could also take him to a groomer and have them trim a poop chute which will help him stay clean.
I to have a Maine Coon cat that has the same problem. My cat (Smokie) is 29 pounds and can barely move. He has a really hard time cleaning himself, so every month ( expecially in the summer months) I take him to the groomers. It is not that expensive, about $25 per visit, but it helps so much. I also started last year, having them shave his body in the summer this really helps with that problem. About the weight issue, about four years ago the vet actually kept smokie for two weeks to make sure he stuck to the diet, and he ended up gaining two pounds. Sometime cats are just big, if he's happy that is all that matters.
Take him to the vet and get proper help and advice.



(And DON'T give your cat sleeping pills as someone suggests)
Ken has it pegged... Just switch your cat to a wet food. I did this with my cat and now he's about 2/3 the size he used to be.