Cat is having a problem with her bottom (post might have TMI)

[ravenclaw]

One of my cats (15 year old girl kitty) is having a problem that I think is with her anal glands. It comes and goes. It has been flaring up every couple of weeks. It happened this past Saturday. I could tell it was bothering her, then she pooped a couple of times and she was fine after that. This is how it goes…it clears up overnight or after half a day or less.

I don’t want this to keep happening and I don’t mind taking her to the vet, but would they be able to do anything if it’s not bothering her when I take her?

If anyone else has had this happen, do you have any suggestions that might help? I looked it up online and the only suggestion I saw was feeding a high fiber food since pooping helps release the fluid from the glands.

[Marla_100]

What are you feeding her now?
Could she be getting constipated? Some dry foods can cause that especially if they don’t drink enough water.
Have you tried all canned food?

[ravenclaw]

She is one of my easy keepers. She’ll eat pretty much whatever I give her. In the morning, she eats some of the urinary care wet stew (with water added) that I give to a couple of my boys. The rest of the time, she eats dry food. One of them is urinary care, one of them isn’t. I think she would be happy to eat canned food.

[Simkie]

What exactly is she doing?

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

It’s probably worth taking her to the vet - they can do an exam and see if her anal glands are swollen or if they detect any infection in them.

If she is straining and then pooping small little bits, it’s more likely constipation. My old guy Rascal had that constantly in his last couple of years, to the point that we had to switch foods and he had several vet runs.

[ravenclaw]

TMI and gross information warning:

She goes to the box repeatedly, but her posture is like she needs to poop (not pee). A very small amount of liquid comes out. I know what urinary infections look like and I really don’t think it’s a urinary problem. Sometimes when this is going on, she goes to the box and pees normally.

She also licks her bottom and doesn’t want to sit on her bottom on the floor. She sits more on her side instead.

On Saturday, she was uncomfortable at around 1:00 in the afternoon. She pooped twice during the afternoon and she was acting fine 4 or 5 hours later.

[Simkie]

Agree that it’s worth a vet visit.

I’d be more worried about megacolon than an anal gland issue. Cats can get weird and troublesome poop problems

[ravenclaw]

Thanks all! She is 15 (turning 16 later this year) so I know it might be an age-related issue or things not working as well as they used to. It happens to all of us.

I’ll try giving her more wet food too and see if that helps.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

With the additional information, you might want to take a look at this page:

Anal Sac Disease in Cats

A lot of what you just described fits the definition of anal sac disease/abscess.

[ravenclaw]

Thanks! I do think that it’s probably an anal sac/gland issue, but I would say that she’s at the irritation level (not infection or abscess). She is overweight, so there’s that too.

I am feeding her more wet food and I’ll see if that helps. It might be some constipation too and maybe when she doesn’t poop enough, that makes the anal glands fill up too much and get irritated.

[Marla_100]

Can you make some changes in her lifestyle that it also incorporates more exercise?
Besides improving the diet w/ all canned food, if she could become more active, loose some weight, the anal sac problems could also resolve.
After breakfast I usually boot my cats outside for the day if it’s nice out. They do get healthier rather than laying around all day.

[ravenclaw]

She goes outside sometimes. She’ll go out for a little while before I leave for work and after I get home. She goes out more on weekends and other times when I’m not at work. I don’t want to leave her out all day while I’m at work. She’s 15 and doesn’t move quite as fast as she did when she was younger.