Hello everyone,
Today I adopted an approximately 1 yr old male kitty from the local Humane Society. He was neutered 4 days ago. He got a clean bill of health from the Vet there, plus I stopped by my own Vet on the way home and had him checked over, too.
He's peed once since being home and it was soooooooooooooooo strong and stinky smelling, it smelled like cat spray BUT it was definitely not spray.....I was sitting there watching him pee (just wanted to ensure there were no issues the first time he use the litterbox here).
It's been years since I had a young newly neutered male. Does it maybe take a few days for their hormones to lessen such that the urine doesn't smell so bad? Holy crap, it stunk up the entire room, so strong like ammonia/cat spray (that smell).
They were feeding him crappy Science Diet, just dry. I plan to feed him premium canned food twice daily along with some grain-free dry food. He ate a can of Fancy Feast as soon as I got home (I thought I'd try that first before trying the premium stuff, just to see if he'd even eat canned food).
They assured me at the Humane Society that he'd never sprayed (mind you, he was in a very large room with 5 other very social cats so if he ever did how would they really know?).....that was my only concern with adopting a male.
But again, the horrible strong smell is FROM urine, he squatted to pee, no straining, peed a golf-ball sized clump.
I'm hoping that it just takes a couple of weeks for the hormones to subside (is that what would cause that horribly strong smell?) and that by giving him a diet of primarily canned food (for the additional fluids), his urine will be less strong, too.
Please someone, reassure me! LOL
I have him in a room by himself now before I introduce him to my other 4 (female, all spayed indoor) cats. He's super friendly.
I wonder, will the super strong smell of his urine trigger some kind of a reaction in THEM? For now he has his own box but once introduced into the general population (haha), likely tomorrow, I have total of 7 large boxes so he'd potentially be using ones they use, too.
Any thoughts? Tips?
I'm terrified he'll spray, due to the fact that he was neutered so late (for all I know he could be older than 1 year though from what I've read it's best to neuter at 5-6 months; if you do it then it will cut down on spraying).
Thanks
Lisa
Today I adopted an approximately 1 yr old male kitty from the local Humane Society. He was neutered 4 days ago. He got a clean bill of health from the Vet there, plus I stopped by my own Vet on the way home and had him checked over, too.
He's peed once since being home and it was soooooooooooooooo strong and stinky smelling, it smelled like cat spray BUT it was definitely not spray.....I was sitting there watching him pee (just wanted to ensure there were no issues the first time he use the litterbox here).
It's been years since I had a young newly neutered male. Does it maybe take a few days for their hormones to lessen such that the urine doesn't smell so bad? Holy crap, it stunk up the entire room, so strong like ammonia/cat spray (that smell).
They were feeding him crappy Science Diet, just dry. I plan to feed him premium canned food twice daily along with some grain-free dry food. He ate a can of Fancy Feast as soon as I got home (I thought I'd try that first before trying the premium stuff, just to see if he'd even eat canned food).
They assured me at the Humane Society that he'd never sprayed (mind you, he was in a very large room with 5 other very social cats so if he ever did how would they really know?).....that was my only concern with adopting a male.
But again, the horrible strong smell is FROM urine, he squatted to pee, no straining, peed a golf-ball sized clump.
I'm hoping that it just takes a couple of weeks for the hormones to subside (is that what would cause that horribly strong smell?) and that by giving him a diet of primarily canned food (for the additional fluids), his urine will be less strong, too.
Please someone, reassure me! LOL
I have him in a room by himself now before I introduce him to my other 4 (female, all spayed indoor) cats. He's super friendly.
I wonder, will the super strong smell of his urine trigger some kind of a reaction in THEM? For now he has his own box but once introduced into the general population (haha), likely tomorrow, I have total of 7 large boxes so he'd potentially be using ones they use, too.
Any thoughts? Tips?
I'm terrified he'll spray, due to the fact that he was neutered so late (for all I know he could be older than 1 year though from what I've read it's best to neuter at 5-6 months; if you do it then it will cut down on spraying).
Thanks
Lisa