Cat problems! Angry dirty cat??

Question
My newest cat is 8months old we had her about 6months.  At first she was very nasty didnt like to be bothered.  I finally got her to come along and now she comes when shes called and isnt as nasty.  She still often bites and scratches hard.  One time she even growled at me while I was holding her.  I think she often plays to rough with the other cats.  

She especially doesnt like to be pet by her tail and we recently discovered she seems to be dirty under her chin behind her head and by her tail.  Could she have something wrong with her skin, coat, or is she just dirty?  With her bad attitude im almost afraid to give her a bath but I want whats best for my cat can you help me out?

Answer
My first question to you is has she been to the vets for all her vaccinations and or spayed yet? If not i would suggest this would be a good time to take her and also to get her skin checked out.
From the sound of her behavior, either she is in some discomfort with her skin and so this puts her in a bad mood and also it may hurt to me picked up or patted. Or she was taken away from her mother to soon and was not properly taught my her mother how to react to other animals people etc.. This sometimes shows up as aggression and also when they play too hard they didn't learn as a very young kitten not too do this, her mother would have chastised her.
But my first thought is you should  get her skin checked out because cats are not dirty animals so it is unusual to find dirty places on her.
The vet should be able to reassure you if there are any problems and if she is ok then it could be that you have a long process on your hands of socializing her. But this can be done especially with a cat so young.

Kate and her partner co-write  a site full of further cat care and cat health topics. As well as being a feline friendly community site for happy cat and a happy owner.