Cat smells

[Harwood]

My cat has a horrible smell coming from him, not quite sure what type of smell, but seems to come from his rear end, he is a teenage cat, long haired, probably a little overweight. Help please

[nickmo]

It is likely to be the anal glands. If you look at his rear, there are 2 small black 'dots' either side of the anus. these secrete as he passes solids and can get blocked.

He may, if being a bit tubby, be having difficulty reaching them to clean. It is possible to do this for him. Use rubber gloves, and hold a piece of tissue over the glands and very very gently press either side and a foul smelling liquid can be squeezed out. Only the smallest drop is expelled - not a whole stream of stuff.

It may be better though to get the vet to check him and do this though as there may be further complications that should be checked, so rather than try and sort it, for the sake of 5 mins with the vet, please take him along and the smell problem can be sorted in no time.

The vet may suggest a slight change to a diet such as adding a bit more roughage to the feed, so the vet is best ti get advice if you have a concern about him, but I doubt there is a serious illness here. Hope this is of help.

[gessoo]

Just seconding Nickmo's excellent answer. It's an absolutely foul smell - indescribable!

[drgnrdr]

Just wanted to add that if it's really bad it may have to be expressed Internally: "A lubricated gloved finger is inserted in the anus and the sac is squeezed between thumb and forefinger into a tissue held externally. The full anal gland feels like a grape."

Check out this website

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=625

it shows what your suppose to try and do, but I would go to the vet, IMHO, like nickmo said.

[Coobeastie]

Our cat gets it so often we've nicknamed it cheesing. I'd leave it to the vet to do...its not an enviable job.