[Emrys]

I have two indoor cats. However, from time to time, we let them out to play for a bit before bringing them back. One of them, the girl, just runs around and explores, without getting into much trouble. On the other hand, the first thing the boy does when he gets outside is run to the nearest patch of dirt and roll around in it. It's such a big problem that when he gets back, he literally leaves dust clouds wherever he walks.

I figured that it might be a lack of grooming by us, causing him to roll around because it feels good. The girl will insist on being groomed at least once or twice a day, but the boy absolutely hates brushes and combs of any kind and will often bite us if we try to groom him. We give them both regular baths (actually the boy enjoys baths a lot more than the girl) so I am fairly certain he does not have fleas. It's probably not a skin condition since he doesn't scratch himself excessively while indoors.

I'm running out of ideas, so if anyone has had similar issues, advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cat owner again]

Mine go outdoors and my girl who does love brushing and grooming also rolls in some dry dirt. I just wipe her down with a damp cloth when she comes in and then dry her with a towel. I don't know why she likes it. My boy comes in all dirty too but I am not sure if it is from going under my fence or the dirt. I just do the same with him. My friend thought I was nuts to cover all my furniture and beds but my cats get dirty!

 

[cat face]

I feel for y'all! My oldest cat does it a lot. It use to drive me nuts, well it still does, but I just take a deep breath and add a little more to my wine glass.

Cats, as you know are desert creatures. One of the way they use to groom themselves was to take a sand bath. This felt great, I am sure lol. It would help scratch and dry scrub them clean.
This seems to be an instinctual thing, and since sand isn't as plentiful as it is in say, Egypt, they go to the next best thing... dirt! lol

 

[Mochas Mommy]

We have an exposed aggregate driveway. When we let Mocha out for supervised outside visits, she would race to the driveway, to the roughest spot, and roll around for at least 20 minutes. Fur would be flying off her as she rolled and rubbed...but she purred the entire time. So I think it is some grooming they like doing. (Sure glad she didn't use dirt...she was VERY picky about grooming herself and being clean!)

 

[CatMonkeys]

When I was growing up, we had a cat who rolled in dirt all the time! It drove my mom nuts because the cat would come inside and roll all over the couch or on someone's bed and get dirt all over the house before we could catch her and wipe her off. Every time she went outside, she headed straight for her favorite spot at the edge of the driveway that was dirt with no grass. We couldn't figure out why she did it, it was just something she seemed to enjoy.


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