Terrible litter smell

[newkittyowner]

I am at the vets right now. I called them and they said to bring a poop sample in. They are going to test it now and let me know. If nothing wrong then they will talk diet with me. I cleaned the litter box and changed litter. One went in straight away and the stench was over powering so I am like this is enough! I called the animal hospital we go to down the road from our house and she said bring in a sample. So here I am! She said I know what you mean about the smell! I will let you guys know what info I get!

 

[mani]

If there's a place to talk about cat poo, it's TCS... we LOVE it

Seriously, I hope all goes well and look forward to the results.

 

[newkittyowner]

Negative results so doing a diet change to see if that helps!

 

[peaches08]

Be sure to check out the raw and home-cooked forum too. My cats had chronic diarrhea that went completely away once on raw diet. Friends are amazed when the cats "go" and there is no odor.

 

[crazy4catz nva]

Hi there,

We keep the kitty litter box in the bathroom upstairs so it's near three bedrooms. I am diligent in cleaning it out multiple times a day and we have one of those litter lockers. We had to resort to getting a covered littler box for them as they decided it was fun to just chase each other into it and scatter the little around.We always end up with littler in the bath tub so every couple days I am cleaning it out as that is the bathroom our three year old uses. We still end up with litter around even with a mat for trap the litter as they come out of the box. We feed them wet food in the morning when we get up and dry food is available all the time as is fresh drinking water. 

Well the bathroom is stinking to high heaven and it's even wafting down the stars now to the front door which is alarming. So every time we go upstairs it stinks to high heaven! We keep the window open in the bathroom as much as we can but even then as soon as they go again it's very stinky. We use a clumping litter that says it keeps the smell away so much that you don't have to scoop for 7 days but of course I scoop multiple times a day. I now know the rule of thumb is to have one littler box for every kitten/cat and then one but we don't have the space and they do fine sharing.  I have seen deodorizer stuff you can put in the litter box at pet stores but I was wondering if that would make them unhappy, anyone have any experience with it? I was told at the vets I could line the littler box with baking soda on the bottom and I have also read where you can sprinkle some in after every time you scoop but does it actually work? I know not to use air fresheners or smelly air fresh sprays as that can irritate them. Right now all we do as I said is keep the window open and scoop out the poop a lot. Anyone had a litter locker, may be it's that causing the smell. Some how I don't think so as it's really bad but who knows may be it's not working. It sure is handy though!  Also I have heard of using lavender essence in the room or lemons but not sure if that is safe or if it would even work. 
I don't know if may be it's their food making their poop smell so bad as I do notice some of the poop can be very soft. I am searching the internet for ideas as well to help with the smell. I just read a few times on different sites that putting a bowl of white vinegar near the littler box helps and the place won't smell like vinegar either. Has anyone here done this and is it safe for the kittens? 

Any help as to what we can try and what may be causing it is appreciated. I can't imagine there would be no smell although that would be great but it's really bad.

Thanks !

Hi, I read ur problem n think I can help. I'm the owner of 3 cats n have used many products foe most things. For little plz try FreshStep it mite cost alittle more but worth it. Also the deodrant they make to sprinkle is safe n works well too. Plz take note if their. Stool smells bad as to wet food sometimes makes it smell stronger with different kind. If it smells really bad all the time it's time to take a visit to the vet, could be a problem.. Good luck.

 

[newkittyowner]

Thanks a stool sample came back negative so going to try different food and see, fingers crossed!

 

[mani]

It's interesting that they find the smell strong as well, as they'd be pretty used to it.

Let us know how the diet goes...

 

[catsallaround]

Our second kitten could NOT eat Iams.  That was the vets go to food and it was horrible.  We drove a few miles with me holding the sample in baggie out the window!  Changed to science diet and did fine, later switched to cheaper dry and some friskies and whiskas wet at night.  This was when Iams was decent and not a proctor gamble disaster as was in late 90s
 

 

[newkittyowner]

Hi there , I think she was just agreeing with me how bad the smell was. Yes she must be use to it I would think. We are trying something at the vets that they recommended. I wasn't sure this was the way to go but I knew we had to switch foods and I wasn't about to go roaming the stores once again. I did that already and it's too much to take in as to what to try. I thought I was buying the best but apparently not agreeing with them. We may not have the best but changing will tell us if its the food I was giving them was the cause, lets hope this is all it takes! Thanks!

 

[GoldyCat]

What food were you feeding them? What did the vet give (sell) you? There's one brand of high quality grain-free food that my cats don't handle well because it's just too rich for them.

 

[newkittyowner]

They were on about half a can or three tsp in the morning of either Wilderness blue kitten grain free or Wellness kitten grain free in the morning and half a cup each of dry food called Merrick Purrfect Bistro kitten grain free.  We are slowly changing the dry food over a week to Medi cal Gastro Intestinal Hight Energy Feline Royal Canin dry half a cup a day and 1-3 tsp of wet of the same brand as the dry food we are switching to.  I was told that it would take a couple weeks to see if there is any difference.

 

[catsallaround]

I really would try to find something that is grocery/pet store bought before switching to a diet like that. It may work but there may be something better for that price range you can feed them.  Sometimes certain brands just do not go with certain cats/kittens. Maybe they are not doing good as it all has been grain free and something in there is triggering it

 

[newkittyowner]

Yes I know what your saying but we have already introduced this new stuff from the vets so going to stay with that for now. I knew on here I might get a lot of people against me trying food from the vets. I was not sure but we are going with it and seeing. Heck all we fed my cat/kitten growing up was cheap stuff from the grocery store. I have mixed feeling about switching but alas this is what we are trying. I would hate to go switching their food on them again.

 

[catsallaround]

Not against it just seems if cats are ok otherwise may be jumping gun to go right to that.  I personally used in past many rx diets including science diet a/d, c/d and w/d.  But for the cat on W/d turned out he thrives on friskies liver and chicken pate.  I was buying 2-3 cases a month of rx for really nothing.  Another cat on w/d for diabetic reasons did fine on friskies too. 
 

 

[newkittyowner]

Yes I really see your point and its a very good one. Got my mind wirling now. We have already started switching though. I am going to have them really messed up if I switch again would I not?

 

[peaches08]

Check out www.catinfo.org written by a veterinarian who also studied extensively in feline nutrition.

I would also advise ditching all the dry.

 

[ilovemia]

My Mia was through about everything, wet and dry, her first year. I finally decided to try Purina One Synsitive Systems and she has been doing great. She does the worst on wet foods (constant diarreah) and grainfree dry. Every cat is different!

Hope all gets better soon! 

 

[newkittyowner]

Check out www.catinfo.org written by a veterinarian who also studied extensively in feline nutrition.

I would also advise ditching all the dry.

Thanks for the site I think someone in another thread did mention this site before but I forgot and now have read through some of it. Very informative! Tried telling my husband that ditching the dry food may be a good idea had him very defensive! He said it's more convenient that if we go out they have food. If I were to ditch dry food what would be a good feeding schedule? I guess I should be in nutrition though now?

 

[peaches08]

I feed my cats twice a day. When I go out, I give them a sardine packed in water as a late afternoon snack and then give a late dinner a few hours later. They're fine. Cats aren't cows, they don't need to graze.

 

[newkittyowner]

I feed my cats twice a day. When I go out, I give them a sardine packed in water as a late afternoon snack and then give a late dinner a few hours later. They're fine. Cats aren't cows, they don't need to graze.

LoL I know they are not cows, haha, gave me a smile when I read that Just to clarify they are kittens born in April. Not sure if I ever said that. I think or I know to be honest that my hubby is worried if I go to more than the morning feed of wet then we are stuck as we have to be home at dinner time to feed them the wet again. He was against wet to begin with but in the end I went against him and got some wet food so feeding them some in the morning is a start at least!