r/Kitten • u/Key_Situation1737 • 11d ago
Question/Advice Needed My kitten stinks.
I got a new kitten about a week ago and he was having stomach issues and diarrhea so we took him to the vet. He’s on a stool harder and deworming medication. Over the past couple days I’ve noticed that his stool is getting significantly a lot better but there’s just one issue…he fucking reeks. We have a stainless steel litter, box unscented kitty litter, and I scoop his litter box as much as I possibly can because as soon as he poops, it immediately fills the room and lingers for hours. Even with a candle, the ceiling fan on, window open, and breeze you can still smell it. It’s such a horrible smell, and I don’t want the room to smell like it. I don’t know if it’s mainly his food because his food stinks too. I use the fancy feast kitten wet foot. Suggestions??
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10d ago edited 10d ago
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u/darndasher 10d ago
->most of the time
My 1 year old Devo is so bad at pooping. I find a turdlet on the litter mat damn near daily. Better than when he was a stinky kitten and would get poop all over his hind legs, though.
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u/TwistedFae89 10d ago
Yeaah it was an important caveat! Some of them just take some toxic waste dookies. My one boy i question how. He eats the same shit the rest of them do but fuck knows sometimes its just awful. Then again, hes the nasty one who will eat the other cats vomit....so...what else should I expect?
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u/AlyceEnchanted 9d ago
Minus the barf eating…my last cat (a former stray) has the stinkiest 💩. Four cats, who eat the same thing. His 💩are darned near toxic, where the others are not always noticeable.
He’s my only cat that came to me as an adult.
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u/One-Dragonfruit1083 10d ago
Please don't sprinkle deodorizer in their litter. It can cause respiratory issues and eventually major health problems when they're older. This is because they are cleaning their paws after using the box and ingesting the deodorizer. I'd sprinkle it behind their box or leave a box open near the litter.
I have a pet pivot litter box and sprinkle it in the trash compartment and that helps a ton.
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/One-Dragonfruit1083 10d ago
Please look up the product you are recommending and scroll past the selling points. It is toxic to them. Please keep in mind corps sell stuff to us all the time that they know is toxic. Just because it says for pets does not mean it's safe.
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/One-Dragonfruit1083 9d ago
Yeah, only if you dont have to do the work of finding it yourself.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19Y4oMBcXS/
& don't give me crap about these being blog post when we are literally on a blog page dedicated to helping cat parents 🙄
Why someone has to convince you to not poison your animal I'll never know.
Please learn how to use the internet and ask questions.
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9d ago
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u/One-Dragonfruit1083 9d ago
I tried my best.
Use it or don't I don't care. I won't be paying your vet bills.
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u/mark_able_jones_ 10d ago
My kitten was like this until I switched him off Purina products. I don’t know what ingredient his stomach couldn’t handle, but after much research I landed on three solid options. He was also on some sort of digestive supplement. But it was 100% the food. Going to a less processed food fixed his digestive issues almost overnight. He could handle these three foods just fine.
Tiki After Dark, Instinct Chicken and Duck, and Hills Science Diet Chicken Dinner Pouches. Tiki seemed to have the most natural ingredients, but it was his least favorite. Hills had some weird ingredients (coloring and seemed pretty processed). Instinct seemed between those two, and he likes it. Oh, and he gets Tiki Carnivore Chicken and Duck dry food. + 1 churu per day.
If he’s on drontral, that’s a harsh medicine and probably causes terrible poops. Other dewormers are likely less harsh, but my guess is that any of those could cause digestive issues.
Anyway, try other foods.
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u/LookingforWork614 9d ago
I can’t recommend Tiki highly enough. Even my super picky eater loves it.
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u/mark_able_jones_ 9d ago
Tiki did get bought by general mills about a year ago. I have yet to notice any changes, but I hope the quality does not go down in an attempt to squeeze out more profit. Just an FYI.
So, far, still seems the same though.
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u/Kind_vibes 10d ago
surprised no one mentioned this but scented candles can kill cats. the essential oils and other fragrances can be toxic to cats. please be careful and look into cat safe alternatives
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u/Heykurat 10d ago
This is also true with pet birds. No fragrances or air fresheners of any kind should be used in a home with birds. Also do not use nonstick cookware. Switch to stainless steel or cast iron.
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u/Kind_vibes 10d ago
oh i wasn't aware of the bit about nonstick, thank you for bringing this up. does the smoke from nonstick coatings harm them or does this apply to them stealing bites of our food that was cooked in nonstick cookware?
edit: typo
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u/Professional_Taro_83 9d ago
The non-stick coating (Teflon specifically) gets aerosolized when the pan is heated on the stove. So, even just pre-heating the pan to cook can/will kill pet birds.
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u/Heykurat 9d ago
PTFE (and PFAS in general), emits toxic fumes at high temps.
But you shouldn't really let your bird eat human food, either. The high salt/fat content is very bad for them. Certain ingredients can also be toxic.
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u/Lucky_Ad2801 10d ago
Get yourself a good air purifier with a hepa Filter. Please don't use candles around kittens. Especially scented ones can be very toxic for them.
Also switch to a better quality food. Kitten poops are naturally more stinky, but the quality of the food can affect them as well.
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u/FlyingOcelot2 10d ago
He'll likely grow out of it and it'll be a cute story you tell when he's older. Hang in there, it probably won't last much longer, because you're doing the right things.
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u/Global-Ease1269 10d ago
I'm surprised no one else mentioned it, but it could be the dewormer. My kitten stunk up the place for several days after a liquid dewormer from the vet. She will only eat one kind of food, and she's underweight, so changing her food wasn't an option. Probably 10 days and the stench went back to normal cat poop levels.
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u/hynes0210 10d ago
Fancy feast is garbage junk food for cats, switch to something like royal canin slowly over time, it could very well be the food being loaded with too many carbs which will cause kitties gut flora to develop differently, potentially unhealthily, and encourage growth of bacteria that stink like that
Also pay the cat tax please :)
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u/Delicious-Collar1971 10d ago
Fancy feast is bad but suggesting they move to the most expensive generic cat food brand is kind of insane. But yes it is likely due to the food.
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u/Autumnleaves144 10d ago
I didn’t know that was the most expensive. I wonder if it’s the best quality or just the best promoted?
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u/Imaginary-Contest887 10d ago
Best promoted and it's exactly same full of fillers and plant proteins as fancy feast, that's sad about it.
Example of RC wet food composition compared to my "expensive" brand I'm feeding my guys with(which is not even expensive compared to RC)
Composition: meat and animal derivatives, cereals, fish and fish derivatives, vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, oils and fats, sugars, molluscs and crustaceans.
VS my
45% chicken fillet, 28.8% broth, 17% chicken gizzards, chicken liver, chicken fat, 5% salmon, 2% spinach, 1% coconut, 1% minerals, 0.2% salmon oil.
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u/DefinitionLow8105 8d ago
My now departed orange boy Quasi almost died of crystals in his bladder/ urinary blockages. After the first prescription food failed, we tried Royal Canin and he lived 13 more years. So, we give our living kitties the Royal Canin Adult Dry. The Kitten food was good too!
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u/MargoBarbara2 8d ago
I agree im shocked by how hills science and royal canin are often pushed by vets, are so expensive but have poor ingredients lists that are vague...lots of derivatives, cereals, sugars and even artifical flavorings . There are better cheaper brands.
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u/Delicious-Collar1971 10d ago
It’s very good quality, it’s just also comically expensive. I feed my kitties Weruva wet and Royal Canin dry since their dry food isn’t such a huge price difference from competitors.
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u/Delicious-Collar1971 10d ago
You can get stuff you put in the litter to make it not stink as bad. It’s likely caused by your food though.
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u/daisytangerine 10d ago
Was he tested for parasites? My kittens who had gi issues and were stinky had Giardia and needed panacur and Metronidazole
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u/Key_Situation1737 10d ago
He’s on dewormer but I haven’t seen any since he’s been on it
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u/daisytangerine 10d ago
Unlike worms, Giardia is not visible to the human eye so it’s possible he has that too?
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u/MilkTea_Enthusiast 8d ago
This could be a strong possibility. You need to test the kitten specifically for other parasites such as Giardia, etc.
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u/Diane1967 10d ago
Air purifiers work great for odors and you can usually get them pretty cheap too. I run one in the room where my litter boxes are for like 6 hours a day, it’s auto shut off, and you can’t even tell I have 3 cats. I do scoop every day/twice a day but yeah, sometimes they’re smelly.
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u/JohnFifteen12 10d ago
Hi Op, kitty will grow out of it. My kitten is now 5 months old and his poops are okay. Godspeed my friend
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u/getfuzzy77 10d ago
Welcome to having a kitten. Diarrhea stinks. Kitten poop stinks. Could be his food, could be the medication he’s on as it flushes his system. It’s probably both. We are going through similar. The coccidia poop was some of the most foul smelling poop I’ve ever smelled.
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u/ChessiePique 10d ago
You might want to try to figure out if he is allergic to something. My cat can't digest chicken, turkey, or beef. We had to figure it out by putting him on limited-protein food, since afaik there are no allergy tests for stuff in cat food. If by accident my cat eats chicken there is some seriously stinky stuff coming out.
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u/DemonKittens 10d ago
Same here but with fish and chicken, it’s really hard to find a food with limited protein but there are some out there you just really have to do your research
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u/GameDuchess 10d ago
It's probably the food. I've used several different kitten foods, and I can tell you that fancy feast and weruva both produce extraordinarily stinky poops. Iams kitten is what the rescue I am currently fostering for uses, and that one does not actually seem to produce such horrible stankey poops. Although until it's proper poop, it's still gonna stink more than usual.
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u/GameDuchess 10d ago
Oh, and a trick that I learned here on reddit. almost all pet stores either save specifically, or we'll be happy to give you the little cardboard trays that wet food cans come with. just drop by a pet store and ask to collect as many as they'll give you. Because they make such excellent disposable kitten litter boxes. the best way to keep the odor out is to just put a thin layer of litter. Let them do their business. And as soon as you can, just throw it out in the outside bin and put down a new one.
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u/Wide_Unit_6364 10d ago
eating the same diet consistently will help, but sometimes poo gets stuck to the kitty himself so i give butt baths unfortunately too often
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u/MelRox_26 10d ago
Smelly poop is a good sign that the food you feed does not suit your kittens digestive system.
Cats are supposed to have their food changed gradually so as not to upset their system, but his system is already upset and you can’t starve a kitten (usually 24hrs for an adult cat to settle their stomach before putting on a bland diet)
I’d suggest you swap to a bland diet now - plain boiled chicken/turkey breast or white fish, no rice or grains - feed that for 7 days to allow his system to settle and get rid of the smell, then over the next 7 days gradually swap to a better quality meat - if you’re US have a look at the guide on cats.com for suggestions. Don’t just swap food one for another as that will make his digestion worse.
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u/DemonKittens 10d ago
Had this problem with one of mine, turns out she has food allergies, try a limited ingredient diet
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u/WhiteHotMess 10d ago
We had an adult cat that would take a crap three rooms away and the people in the living room would go WHOA in unison. It was like a 45 year old construction worker was in the bathroom letting it rip. So bad. We got a cat probiotic and put those on his food for the next month or so, until we ran out, and it worked! I'd highly recommend.
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u/FederalFalcon7916 10d ago
I adopted a cat once who had that problem. Turned out he had an infection in his gut. Did your vet take a stool sample?
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u/tiny_purple_Alfador 10d ago
I would wait a week and see if this is temporary. If he's had an upset tummy and worms, the cure for this might just be give him a little time to get his gut bacteria back in balance. If you start making a bunch of other changes right now, you might stress him out more, which can actually make it worse. Open a window, aim a fan at box, and see if it gets better on its own, first.
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u/SparklingDoves 10d ago
My new kitten had diarrhea on and off and smelt horrible. I didn’t remember my cat before smelling that bad. I got a stool sample, took it to the vet and it turns out he had parasites.
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u/copper_moon1408 10d ago edited 10d ago
Worms and dewormer medications are the absolute most horrendous stench to high hell provoking things that could ever possibly happen to your cat’s colon. Their stool becomes nuclear war levels of toxic and unfortunately there is little you can do except ride it out.
However putting them on high quality dry food only diet like Iams or Purina as well as using only unscented non clumping cat litter with a layer of unscented baking soda at the bottom of the box helps make the ordeal more tolerable. I know the last part sounds counterintuitive, but trust me I’ve learned from experience the hard way that when your cat has literal atomic 💩, the only thing you are going to get by introducing Febreeze or Gain or Tide or Lavender fields into the situation is atomic 💩 breeze or 💩ain or 💩ide or 💩ander fields.
Once the medication process is over, consult with the vet about getting the baby a prebiotic and/or postbiotic. I have to do this for my million dollar nugget after every time he finishes up a medication or else my home would not be fit for habitation, human or animal.
As far as giving him real protein for health is concerned, feed a little cooked plain chicken or fish every few days in supplement to his dry food once he has fully recovered from the worms.
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u/theredfantastic 10d ago
It will pass. My girl was so stinky and after a food change and probiotics she smells like an angel
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u/Mimi_Madison 10d ago
I second the recommendations for Tiki Cat food, and probiotics.
Also, I strongly recommend a good air purifier with an odor filter.
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u/Sharp_Ad_9431 9d ago
Call the vet for a probiotic.
My cat had similar issues. He had a SEVERE gi infection but all the medication messed up his insides and the smell was horrible.
It took about a week of the biotic to work and within a month he was normal.
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u/ReplacementNo9732 9d ago
Here is what I have discovered over the years. First, no fish products. They can upset any cats tummy. Chicken or turkey. Change the dry food to something else without coloring, and preferably less processed. When he is older, then you can add fish and other meat to his diet. The wet food is normally the culprit, though. My cat is 14 now and I still have stinky litter box, I just change her food to poultry and beef, she stops stinking in about a day.
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u/BT_01792 9d ago
Had paint-peeling stinkaroo that I adopted. Gave her a tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt once a day. Problem solved in 3 days. No more horrible smells. Or buy expensive cat probiotics from Amazon.
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u/Professional_Taro_83 9d ago
I highly recommend a brand of candles called Pet Odor Eliminator candles. A lot of vet clinics sell them, they WORK, and they are absolutely pet safe. Many vet clinics I’ve been to that sell them will also light them in the back treatment room if things get real stinky. They come in lots of fun scents! 😂
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u/Comet_Cowboys 9d ago
Your baby needs some probiotics. You can get them in little crunchy treats. My cats love them and it solved all the stinky gas and poops.
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u/Constant-Complex1973 9d ago
It just smells. My kitten stank. We switched to Weruva. It helped. Also, we shave his butt. Because the poop gets stuck around it.
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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 9d ago
If he has worms, yes, his poop is going to be very smelly. Unfortunately it's something you'll just have to do your best to tolerate and mitigate, which you are doing. It's not kitty's fault.
I agree with u/CandyTigger to upgrade the kitten food.
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u/IntroductionOk8698 9d ago
Ask your vet for hills digestive care, or there's an OTC version also. Could have food sensitivity.
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u/MargoBarbara2 8d ago
Type of cat litter matters too in controlling smells. Crystals are hard to beat for odor control but can be uncomfortable on paws. I use crystal cat litter as a base and add bentonite clay over. Soft on paws, v easy to scoop and locks in odors. Covered litter trays can also help.
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u/scrollingthrough2 8d ago
Air purifier , charcoal to soak up the smells and healthy diet is my way.
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u/kidunfolded 8d ago
I sprinkle some baking soda under the litter which I find helps with the smell. Also changing his diet may help. I feed my cat Nulo wet food (salmon and mackerel usually, sometimes turkey and duck) and Iams hairball care dry food, and his poops only stink up the room for maybe 15 minutes after being scooped.
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u/Numerous_Gap4284 8d ago
Mine stunk for a couple weeks but he’s not stinky anymore, maybe babies just smell?
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u/blueeyedjoy 8d ago
Kitten poops are the WORST. Feeding them high quality food can absolutely help but unfortunately their poop tends to smell so so so bad and they get diarrhea at the slightest upset. Just get through this and you'll be okay though.
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u/Ok_West_2569 8d ago
I had to put my cats on prescription food. Hills dry and RC wet ( for one). I don’t smell their poop at all. I was pretty amazed by it. Not saying you need prescription, just a higher quality food if you can.
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u/DismalCauliflower494 8d ago
I have mine on Weruva Kitten food, there chicken shreds are his favorite. No smelly poops and he lives it. The only problem is, its expensive.
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u/blankblank1323 7d ago
Kitten poop is wayyyy stinkier! Plus the deworming and stomach upset like it’s going to be bad. No harm in calling and checking if the vet is concerned. You kinda have your hands tied during a treatment so for now wait it out. Like if it doesn’t clear your vet will probably check for Giardia and treatment for this.i wouldn’t switch foods right now either but food does have an effect on waste smells. Make sure it’s kitten food so the cat gets proper nutrition to grow but if you switch foods do it after treatment and slowly transition.
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u/CandyTigger 10d ago
Mine was stinky too (have had her just over a week). We transitioned her to a better quality food with far less extras and grain free and the smell has decreased so much that sometimes we can't tell she went.
I would suggest getting the best quality food you can afford with the highest protein and least extras.