Is Your Cat A Scooter?
December 2, 2020
Does your cat have a habit of scooting across the floor or carpet? You may have a scooter on your hands. Let’s look at all the possibilities and get to the bottom of it.
It’s not a regular occurrence for cats to scoot along the floor. They prefer to leave that activity to their doggie friends. While uncommon, cats can experience problems with their anal glands just like dogs.
The main reason your cat will drag his or her butt on the ground is because it’s itchy. But what could be causing this unpleasant reaction. There are three causes that may explain why your cat is scooting their butt and these include:
- Parasites
- Food and environmental allergies
- Impacted anal glands
Parasites and scooting
One of the common causes for scooting is tapeworm. Sometimes visible, these nasty parasites can show up in your cat’s stool looking like a grain of rice. Often you’ll see traces of them around your cat’s butt.
If you’ve had your cat dewormed, you shouldn’t have a problem with tapeworm. If your cat is an outdoor cat, then there’s a greater chance of them getting worms.
You can’t always see tapeworms, so it’s hard sometimes to tell if this is the cause. But you can be sure that if your cat is scooting along the ground, there’s a problem and they need to see a vet.
Allergies and scooting
Cats can be quite susceptible to environmental allergies caused by dust, pollen, mold, mites and fleas. The allergic reaction causes itchy skin and can affect your cat anywhere on their body.
Food allergies in cats are less common, but can produce the same kind of itchy symptoms as environmental allergies. Food allergies are often caused by protein sources. For instance, if your cat is allergic to chicken, it could be because the chicken was grain fed and that’s what your cat is really allergic to.
Food sensitivities are not unheard of, especially if you feed your cat food scraps or human treat food like cheese. Human food can soften your cat’s stool, making it difficult for the anal glands to express. This can cause swelling and discomfort.
Impacted anal glands
Similarly, when anal glands are not expressed regularly with each bowel movement, the secretions can build up and become infected. You will notice redness and swelling in the area and quite possibly a pungent odour. Itchiness is caused by infection. Your cat scoots to relieve the itch.
If you notice that your cat is scooting along the ground, it’s time for a visit to the vet’s for a check-up. The anal glands may need draining, which is a simple but unpleasant procedure that is best left to the professionals. If you catch this in time and avoid infection, you can prevent more serious disease from happening.