How do you get a cat to groom themselves?

We adopted a cat from the local animal shelter recently, on their records she is 9 months old and was found with a litter of kittens. So she hasn't had the best start to life.

She is a lovely cat, very affectionate and isn't fussed by Moo running around being loud so is well suited to our household. However...she doesn't seem to know how to groom herself. I have adopted animals from shelters before and never come across an issue like this so really don't know what to do. I guess if she wasn't shown by her own mother she doesn't know how?

We have cleaned her ourselves by wiping her over with a wet cloth in the hope it would get her going herself...nope. It did remove some of the smell at least which is the biggest problem. Because she isn't keeping herself clean she is really smelly! I can smell where she has been and when we come home from being out it is really bad.

DH mentioned taking her back it's that bad. I would like to keep her so am open to suggestions of things we can try to get her to groom herself:D

Mother cats teach baby cats to groom by grooming them. It might be a bit late but for little kittens they recommend using a damp (not wet) rough cloth (like a mother cat's tongue) and cleaning in short strokes (like a mother cat's licks) and eventually kitty will learn.
You need to do it at least once a day, preferably twice. After meals is a good time. Do feet, ears bum, the whole lot.

Maybe it's not too late for your smelly cat to learn but I would assume it will take at least a few weeks.

I usually do our kitten in the evening after the boys go to bed while I'm watching TV.

ETA - If it doesn't catch on you might have to resign yourself to giving it a bath every week and a daily grooming.

How strange - I've never heard of a cat not grooming itself. I'm sorry but I have no idea - I hope someone does for you!!


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Thanks Onyx, I'll try the short strokes. She absolutely hates me washing her and fights me every step of the way! Would be nice if she does catch on :D

Poor baby girl. I hate stories like this.

A friend had a little boy moggy who was dumped at only a couple of weeks old so he didn't have any of the guidance from mum he needed either. She was told to smear something on a small section of her coat that is a bit tasty too - something like the oil from a tin of tuna/salmon or similar. Only do a little section of her coat, and do it a location that she can easily reach so she's not doing the whole cat pretzel routine. My friend found it took a bit to get him to continue to actually clean rather than just lick off the yummy stuff. He also never really got to be a very clean cat until she brought another kitten home who had been properly looked after. The second kitten then started cleaning the first and they then got into mutual grooming.

Good luck. I really hope she finds her way with you.

My little boy isn't so keen on the grooming with a damp cloth either (he'd rather attack the wash cloth) but if you watch a mother cat clean a kitten who would rather be doing something else you'll see that they just put a paw down and hold them down until they're done. I figure that by being firm I'm just imitating a mother cat.