Smelly cat poop?

[catcora]

My cat is male, neutered, and 2 years old

I feel like his poop has always been very smelly, not in an unusually foul way, but just very pungently "poopy". The poop smell is strong, and often the whole bathroom smells like pure poop for a bit. His poops seem pretty normal in consistency and color too. He doesn't have any other symptoms, and has a good appetite and loves to play and sit on laps. He does drink a good amount of water, but I am unsure if his water consumption can be considered excessive. Im refilling his larger bowl, maybe once every 3-4 days. His diet at the moment consists of Open Farm Lamb dry cat food, and half a can of Fancy Feast (half and half) and he occasionally gets a bit of plain steamed chicken breast as a treat. I read that cat poop should not be too too smelly, but smell is subjective, and I am unsure, but his poop is very poopy smelling. Litter box wise, sometimes his "pee spot" in the litter box is all over the place, and looks like a spill, rather than a steady stream in one spot. The litter we use is the Arm & Hammer brand

Any similar experiences or thoughts?

 

[lisahe]

My cat is male, neutered, and 2 years old

I feel like his poop has always been very smelly, not in an unusually foul way, but just very pungently "poopy". The poop smell is strong, and often the whole bathroom smells like pure poop for a bit. His poops seem pretty normal in consistency and color too. He doesn't have any other symptoms, and has a good appetite and loves to play and sit on laps. He does drink a good amount of water, but I am unsure if his water consumption can be considered excessive. Im refilling his larger bowl, maybe once every 3-4 days. His diet at the moment consists of Open Farm Lamb dry cat food, and half a can of Fancy Feast (half and half) and he occasionally gets a bit of plain steamed chicken breast as a treat. I read that cat poop should not be too too smelly, but smell is subjective, and I am unsure, but his poop is very poopy smelling. Litter box wise, sometimes his "pee spot" in the litter box is all over the place, and looks like a spill, rather than a steady stream in one spot. The litter we use is the Arm & Hammer brand

Any similar experiences or thoughts?

Ah, the pungently poopy litter box problem, that's never fun, even with subjective perceptions of smell. Poop shouldn't smell much (or be very, er, voluminous) if the cat is able to digest its food well.

Odor problem often seem to be caused by ingredients that cats don't digest well. I took a look at the dry food you're feeding and see that the ingredients include chickpeas and two kinds of lentils. Those are protein sources that aren't natural for carnivorous cats and, well, pulses very often cause serious flatulence in humans. I've noticed others mentioning problems with these ingredients, which, unfortunately, have become more prevalent over the years -- not to sound too cynical but they're cheap protein, though not a protein that's very appropriate for cats.

All that said, you didn't mention what kind of Fancy Feast you feed. If it's pate, that's fairly fatty and rich and might cause some minor stomach upset, if it's one of the other types of food, most of them contain wheat gluten, which doesn't agree with all cats.

Good luck!

 

[Robyn5678]

My crew smells excessively bad when they eat friskies wet cat food.

 

[catcora]

Ah, the pungently poopy litter box problem, that's never fun, even with subjective perceptions of smell. Poop shouldn't smell much (or be very, er, voluminous) if the cat is able to digest its food well.

Odor problem often seem to be caused by ingredients that cats don't digest well. I took a look at the dry food you're feeding and see that the ingredients include chickpeas and two kinds of lentils. Those are protein sources that aren't natural for carnivorous cats and, well, pulses very often cause serious flatulence in humans. I've noticed others mentioning problems with these ingredients, which, unfortunately, have become more prevalent over the years -- not to sound too cynical but they're cheap protein, though not a protein that's very appropriate for cats.

All that said, you didn't mention what kind of Fancy Feast you feed. If it's pate, that's fairly fatty and rich and might cause some minor stomach upset, if it's one of the other types of food, most of them contain wheat gluten, which doesn't agree with all cats.

Good luck!

Thank you for such a detailed response! The Fancy Feast he eats ranges, we get both the pate and the gravy, but it’s usually the gravy kind. He was on Only Natural Pet dry cat food before, and his poop at the time wasn’t smelly like it is now, but they unfortunately discontinued it where I live. So maybe it is because of the food I’ve been feeding
He was also previously eating Whiskas wet food but I heard it was high in sodium and switched over to Fancy Feast

Do you have any recommendations for dry and wet food? I try to avoid ingredients like carregenan, guar gum, etc. I’ve done tones of research about it, but can’t narrow down to any that won’t break the bank too too much

 

[lisahe]

Do you have any recommendations for dry and wet food? I try to avoid ingredients like carregenan, guar gum, etc. I’ve done tones of research about it, but can’t narrow down to any that won’t break the bank too too much

Since every cat is different, it's hard to say if any of these will work for you but here goes...

For dry food, Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein chicken is the only dry food I'd feed. The carbs are very low (under 3% dry matter) and there are no fillers. Dr. E's other dry foods have chickpeas so I won't feed those. (For reasons mentioned previously!) I'm not sure how expensive Dr. E's food is compared to other dry foods but it's very calorie-dense so there's no need to feed a lot of it. (One of our cats pretty much stopped eating wet food a couple months ago but she loves Dr. E's... so that's what we feed her, along with small plates of wet food. At least she chose a good food!)

As for wet food, I, too, avoid carrageenan, though I will feed guar gum. It's the only gum I'll feed regularly, though I'd prefer not to feed it. I can't feed anything with potato, agar-agar, or green-lipped mussels -- at least one of our two cats is sensitive to those ingredients. I also won't feed foods with grains (including the wheat gluten that's in Fancy Feast that's not pate), carby vegetables, or much fish. This severely limits the options for our other cat, who eats almost exclusively wet food and has a tendency to gain weight. I (very) begrudgingly feed some foods with tapioca starch.

Some of Edwina's food is homemade cooked food. Her commercial foods include Rawz pates (they're expensive but both cats will eat them, which makes them worth the money), Fancy Feast pates, Sheba pates (and very similar "Perfect Portions" foods from Iams and Nutro), Tiny Tiger turkey and giblets pate, Nulo chicken/duck pate (also expensive but both cats love it), and an occasional can of Mouser. I think Rawz and Mouser are the only one that doesn't have ingredients that I don't like. Of course the cats go back and forth on Mouser! Edwina also likes a snack that I make for her with (Beechnut) chicken or turkey baby food and crushed Dr. Elsey's food. I figure the two balance each other out for hydration and nutrients. And she likes it.

I hope maybe there's something there that will be helpful for you. There are lots of other foods -- chicken shreds in broth, for example -- that I'd very gladly feed if the cats liked them. Alas, they can be very picky.

Good luck!

 

[mxphs]

I've had similar issues like you. What's strange is that despite eating the same food everyday, humphreys poos will go from not smelling to smelling really bad. weird since he eats the same thing everyday

 

[lisahe]

I've had similar issues like you. What's strange is that despite eating the same food everyday, humphreys poos will go from not smelling to smelling really bad. weird since he eats the same thing everyday

They're very mysterious creatures, these cats.

 

[Kat Luv]

catcora I can SOOO relate, lolol. My smelly-poop-semi-feral stunk up our entire house for a few years despite our cleaning up as soon as she would go....and she'd have "soft serve" poo at least a couple of times a week. She's high-strung and has anxiety, but those were ruled out as the likely cause.

She eats Fancy Feast (mult varieties) with Fortiflora on top. We tried to get her to eat a "sensitive stomach" product or 2 with no luck. She had been eating Royal Canin dental formula.
Thank goodness we found a new vet a couple of years ago, who said the Fancy Feast and Friskies hard treats are OK (no changes there), but she switched her dry food to Feline Gastrointestinal Fiber Response | Royal Canin US

The dry food change has transformed our home so that we can now have people come over without worrying they'll think we have a sewer leak. And I def feel like her tummy must feel better. Her poop is now well-formed and barely smells.
Maybe ask your vet about the dry food....it's prescription diet.

Best wishes! Kat

 

[Caspers Human]

Our youngest one, Elliot, sure knows how to stink up the place! Casper, the oldest, isn't so bad but, when Elliot goes, you always know when he dropped a bomb!

Both cats eat exactly the same food, too. Some cats are just smelly. That's why we, sometimes, call him "Smelliot."

It often gets so bad we have to open windows and burn incense!