Litter Drama!

[Nixiiie]

We currently use the worlds best cat litter as it works best for our 2nd floor apartment - the flushing is nice as our Jude uses the bathroom frequently and is a stink butt. My concern is because he hates using litter boxes with doors even doing the litter every day we find there's a heavy smell. Does anyone use deodorizers to help with the litter smell? I've heard of potentially using crystals/baking soda but whats the safety on that..?

 

[maggiedemi]

Are you keeping the litter deep enough, at least 3 inches, topping it up once a day? Is it clumping litter? There really shouldn't be a smell. Yes, I would try baking soda if your litter is unscented.

 

[Nixiiie]

Yeah! I keep the box deep - jude won't use it otherwise, i've been adding new litter to the top as well. It's clumping but sometimes when I scoop since it's a wheat based it can tend to crumble, I'm thinking thats the cause of most of the scent. I was thinking baking soda would work! Just wanted to be sure it was safe. Thank you!

 

[RajaNMizu]

Arm and Hammer actually makes a product specifically for litter boxes. <a href="arm and hammer cat litter deodorizer - Google Search">Arm and Hammer Cat Litter Deoderizer</a>. I used to also use a litter box liner and I've found that not using it seems to improve the odor.

 

[Furballsmom]

Baking soda is safer than most deodorizers, also look into a gently transitioned food change. What goes in is a major factor in the smell or not of what comes out

 

[Azazel]

What food are you feeding?

 

[basscat]

Sweet PDZ Stall Refresher is what we use. When we change out the litter and clean the box, we just sprinkle about a quart of it around in the new litter.
We have tried Arm and Hammer baking soda and it didn't really help.
We have tried Arm and Hammer LITTER....and that was just horrible.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh yeah, thanks for that I'd forgotten about it.

 

[basscat]

What goes in is a major factor in the smell or not of what comes out

This is very true.
We have two cats that eat store bought kibble and the smell is...normal...I guess.
One eats raw chicken and almost no smell. BUT, if we feed him Mazuri? I swear the smell will melt glass.

 

[Furballsmom]

Heh, there you go LOL

 

[Nixiiie]

What food are you feeding?

We do dry blue buffalo food, and we were doing blue buffalo wet but they hated it and the only thing they would eat was fancy feast.

 

[Nixiiie]

Sweet PDZ Stall Refresher is what we use. When we change out the litter and clean the box, we just sprinkle about a quart of it around in the new litter.
We have tried Arm and Hammer baking soda and it didn't really help.
We have tried Arm and Hammer LITTER....and that was just horrible.

Awesome thank you ill look into this!

 

[Azazel]

We do dry blue buffalo food, and we were doing blue buffalo wet but they hated it and the only thing they would eat was fancy feast.

Dry food is associated with the most stinky poops (especially dry foods loaded with carbs like Blue). Assuming your cat doesn't have any food intolerances, a canned or raw food diet would greatly reduce the amount of odor.

Fancy feast canned food is far superior to Blue dry in my opinion.

 

[Nixiiie]

Dry food is associated with the most stinky poops (especially dry foods loaded with carbs like Blue). Assuming your cat doesn't have any food intolerances, a canned or raw food diet would greatly reduce the amount of odor.

Fancy feast canned food is far superior to Blue dry in my opinion.

Would this help with the pee smell as well? Were finding his poops arent soo awful but we find the pee could be. We also use the worlds best cat litter - im starting to think a big part in this is the litter not being a great choice.

 

[Azazel]

Would this help with the pee smell as well? Were finding his poops arent soo awful but we find the pee could be. We also use the worlds best cat litter - im starting to think a big part in this is the litter not being a great choice.

It may change the smell of pee depending on the ingredients in the food, but you will find that cats that eat all canned diets are better hydrated so they typically pee more but also drink less water. Also note that really strongly badly smelling urine could be a sign of an underlying condition.

Definitely try some different litter brands if you find that the pee smell is bothering you. I really like grass litter (Smart Cat is a popular brand).

 

[basscat]

Would this help with the pee smell as well? Were finding his poops arent soo awful but we find the pee could be. We also use the worlds best cat litter - im starting to think a big part in this is the litter not being a great choice.

The Sweet PDZ is actually for the pee smell. I just noticed it helped with the poop smell also..(which was an unexpected bonus)
AND YES! Amazingly, many of the brands of litter than we have tried, that are supposed to be fresh smell? Are actually UNBEARABLE.
Our favorite was Red lid Tidy Cat until we tried Tidy Cat Light.

 

[basscat]

Not to change the subject, but...
We have a huge "hole area" in the yard that will be getting a few loads of fill dirt pretty soon. Been dumping our old litter there (lazy).
Three cats, three litter boxes get dumped there.
No grass grows around Tabby litter piles.....

 

[Nixiiie]

Not to change the subject, but...
We have a huge "hole area" in the yard that will be getting a few loads of fill dirt pretty soon. Been dumping our old litter there (lazy).
Three cats, three litter boxes get dumped there.
No grass grows around Tabby litter piles.....

oh god

 

[Nixiiie]

Me and my S.O are going back and forth on this subject lol....Our first cat Bella is such a dainty little potty user - shes always had tiny poops and barely noticable pee. Now Jude our new cat we recently adopted is just a monster in the bathroom. BIIIGG change for us. He also has to use a bigger box which means the litter seems to go that much faster. We're gonna switch away from the flushable I think, and use some of the tips you guys mentioned. Praying this works so stink butt can stop stink butting our house

 

[maggiedemi]

Yes, my boy cat's pee stinks when he eats too much dry food. His pee gets too concentrated. Wet food helps to dilute the urine so it doesn't stink so bad.