Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for smelly kitty poop. I have two cats. Suki, a lilac point siamese mix (who looks and acts ALL siamese!!), and Pumpkin, a tortoiseshell naughty little kitty!!! Suki is about a year and 3 mos, and Pumpkin is about 8-9 mos. Suki doesn't have smelly poops, but she just doesn't always cover them, and Pumpkin, well, uggggg, it smells pretty bad. They have both been to the vet, and have all shots, have had recent fecals, and are totally healthy. Anyone have any food suggestions to minimize the smell from Pumpkin?? (I use Core Maintenance now, and they love it. It is all natural. I tried Raw Instinct and they didn't like it as well.) Thanks!!!

The only thing I've noticed thru the years is the food they eat really affects the smell. Different brands make their litter box smell differently. It sounds like you are happy with their food, so switching just for the sake of smell might not be an option.

You probably already do this, but I scoop the litter box twice a day and that really helps with the smell. Morning and evening and also if I happen to notice there is stool in there. I also keep a really good odor absorbing gel (like an air freshener) in the cat box area...
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

Hi There,

With most people I would recommend feeding a higher quality food but you are already feeding one of the very best brands. I believe that Core is grain-free, which is excellent as cats do not need the grains you find in most foods out there. In some cases these grains can cause smelly stools because cats cannot digest them well.

If you are feeding dry, you might try switching to canned food to see if it makes a difference....but I kind of doubt that it will. You can also try other brands but it sounds like your cats are doing very well with what you are feeding. The odor may just be something you have to live with.

I don't know what kind of litter you are using, but I usually recommend unscented clumping litter. The scented litters always smell worse to me once they are used and cats often don't like the scent anyway. I empty and scrub all 10 (yes, 10!) of the litterboxes here every week, fill with clean clumping litter and the odor here is minimal.

Take care, and please let us know if you decide to make any changes.

Regards,
PHKitkat

Hi. Thanks for the responses. I double checked and the food is grain free. I had a question about fecals. Is candida checked in a fecal?? Because I notice that pumpkin had smelly ears when she was a kitty, and they are still a slight bit smelly now, but clean. Could it be a yeast problem?? I know people can have candida, so I wonder about cats. As far as the wet food, do you mean giving it occasionally, or switching over completely?? Thanks!!

Nymph

Hi There,

A basic fecal test is done to look for worms and other parasites, never for yeast. As far as I know, cats cannot get systemic yeast infections as humans can. They can get yeast ear infections, but these problems are much more likely to be seen in dogs.

I would try to feed some canned food and see how it goes. It would be ideal if you can feed the canned version of the dry you are feeding. Since canned is easier for a cat to digest, there is a chance it might make a difference with the odor.

Regards,
PHKitkat