Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My kitten recently starting eating solid food, and now is about 7-8 weeks old. He has developed problems deficating and urinating properly. At first I thought it was a one time thing, but it has been like this for about 3 days now. He doesn't have a tail, and I have another adult cat that doesn't have a tail that ocassionally gets stool stuck to her fur. I thought it might have had something to do with that, but now I see that his bottom is very red, irritated, and the skin/hole doesn't look normal. His stool builds up on the outside, sticks to his fur and blocks the passage way for other bowel movements. He also seems to have urine on his legs. I have been cleaning him with warm water, much to his discomfort. I'm very worried, but I don't know if it is a serious problem. What could cause this and what should I do?

Try simple solutions first; clip the fir from around the rectum. If that doesn't help, I think he may have a congenital problem. Cats that don't have tails may also be missing parts of the spinal cord that innervates muscles and organs at the very rear, such as the muscles of the rectum and the urinary bladder. This is likely to be the case if his bladder feels full on palpation all the time. What urine you see on his legs is basicly overflow from a full bladder, not what the bladder normally presses out. Stool would build up if he is not exerting pressure in the abdomen and the sphincter muscles are not working, so the stool is also overflow from the colon. Have a vet check this out.