Anal gland query!

Odd question! My male cat is 2.5 years old and is neutered. However we quite often find that he will scoot his bum along bedding/pillows/blankets etc and release an awful smell on the items, assuming from his anal glands. He doesn't show any signs of pain, no blood or redness around his bum or swelling and his poos are normal (just a bit smelly😂). He is on Royal Canin Digestive dry food and Gourmet Perle wet (sadly him and his brother wouldn't eat the RC wet). Anyone had anything similar? Or any ideas how to stop this?

Hello - anal gland problems are more unusual in cats than dogs, so it's worth asking you to make double-sure that this isn't an attempt to pass Tom-cat urine (which also stinks) in a cat with cystitis (which hurts).  The end of the penis is perhaps an inch below the anus in a Tom-cat.  It points backwards but is sunk into the bottom, so all you see looks like a round hole.  If a Tom cat is trying to urinate and can't, it can become extremely serious extremely quickly ie is an emergency.  So step one is to be to absolutely sure that your cat is able to urinate and if theres any doubt, to call the vet.  It may help matters to add water to the food and put out as many litter trays as you have, in different corners of the house.

However, assuming that your cat is urinating normally and we ARE talking about the anal glands, which are a little more side-ways than in dogs (perhaps twenty past eight if the anus was a clock face).  This is less serious than struggling to wee which is, I repeat, an emergency, but never the less can be very uncomfortable.

Cats can discharge smelly stuff from their anal glands when they're stressed.  Having consulted with cat owners for many years, the most common reaction is:  'but my cat never gets stressed' while actually, cats show stress in completely different ways to humans, so stress in a house cat can be almost impossible for many humans to spot.  It's well worth reading around the subject to be sure - try typing 'cats, stress' into our blog and into the International Cat Care website.  Always provide several litter trays (one per cat and one more as a minimum in a household), in places where the cats choose to go and can visit without having to walk through a busy place or another cats' territory.  However, some other, more immediately worrying causes of anal gland disease in cats can be cancer (adenocarcinoma), demodex and abscesses.  So, if you cat is paying more than usual attention to that place or if you can feel lumps there, then it is worth taking seriously and asking your vet to check the situation out.  Like dogs, cats do occasionally get skin disease in that area also, but it's less common.  I hope that something here is useful - wishing you both all the best in getting to the bottom of the problem.