One of my cats has poop stuck in the hair of his tail.

[prole_for_peace]

I have been trying to clean it for the last few hours but have had no luck. He won't let me wipe it off and he is too big and strong for me to pin so I can clean him.

Now I am cringing as I watch him sit everywhere and brush his tail against my clothes and furniture. He keeps running through my closet (he can open the door on his own). I just know I am going to pull out something to wear to work and there will be crap on it.

He keeps getting up here on the desk and I am so scared it is going to touch me. I am locking him out of the carpeted rooms tonight so hopefully he will clean himself by morning.

It is so gross.

[demnan]

1. You can't handle the cat?

I've never had any trouble doing what I wanted with my cats and that includes using a luke warm wash cloth and some Dove soap on their rear ends.

Wait until the cat is sleepy. See if you can gently catch him by surprise and take him into the bathroom. Have two wash cloths ready, one with a small amount of soap and one that is just wet. Put the commode seat down and place the cat on it. Lock his front end with one arm and clean with the wash cloth on the other. Use your weight to assure that the cat's head doesn't turn around and see what you're doing. Since his claws are on the commode he won't be clawing at you (although he might try).

Make sure you get all the soap off so it doesn't irritate his skin.

[prole_for_peace]

2. this cat is only 9 months old but he is HUGE and very

strong. He also doesn't like being held or touched.

I kept grabbing at his tail with a papertowel wrapped hand. He would run and the tail would zip through the papertowel and get a tiny bit cleaner. It was like he was proud of his poop tail or something.

[catmandu57]

3. will he stand still for a brushing?

Occaisionally my long haired momma cat gets the same thing, she'll come and jump into my lap and the strong smell of excrement hits my nose.
I'll try a damp paper towel first and if that doesn't work, then I'll start brushing her out, and work down to the offending spot, sometimes it's all that works.

[prole_for_peace]

4. Nope

No brushing. No petting. No holding. No nothing. He is a pain.

[Freebird12004]

5. isn't love strange ?

cause you still love that darned cat.

go to a really good health food store and buy "Batch Rescue Remedy" - it is a flower essence that will have a calming effect on both you and the cat. Good luck!

[Eurobabe]

6. Parents need to get control of their children early

If you can't by the time they are one, forget it. (LOL)

Do you have anyone who can assist you with the turd removal? My fat guy weighs a whopping 24 lbs. now, but I be god durned, I can flip that cat and pin him to remove dangling poopy any day of the week.

You have to get up the nerve to do it. Put a towel over his head if you have to and pin him, it's for his own good and he'll get over it if you talk lovingly to him while he is squirming.

Sometimes parents just have to be firm.

[radfringe]

7. get someone to help you

wrap him up in a towel with the tail exposed -- and just trim off the hair sticking to the poop

poop probably won't fall off on it's own -- especially if the cat is a long hair

[RadicalMom]

8. Try this..

You or a helper should take a nice bath towel, and place it over him, face exposed, and loosely wrap it,so it's in a cocoon, then, while holding him that way, someone should go to the nasty spot with some scissors, if it's not too close to the skin,or else you can work a comb between the clump and the skin, and cut against that. Works for matts, too. Or if you don't want to cut that off, you can take some wet paper toweling and carefully grab hold of the offending item and see if gentle tugging works it off. Sometimes if you hold on and it's not embedded in too much fur, the fur that is loose will release with the poop. I'm partial to a quich snip with some sharp, but not too pointy scissors, like the ones they have for grade school kids. Good luck.

[prole_for_peace]

9. Well I chased him around the house last night with scissors in hand.

I finally got to cut out the crap-hair by letting the kitchen faucet run so he can play in it. It still wasn't easy he kept chirping and looking over his shoulder at me like "What the f*** are you doing back there?"