Cat poop—or any other type of poop for that matter—is not supposed to smell like flowers, but that doesn’t mean it should be a stench from hell either. Odds are, if you are reading this post, you have had one or more issues with cat poop that stinks to the high heavens. While there are a lot of suggestions on how to make that disappear, we believe the key lies in the food that your cat eats. We would like to suggest to you the best cat food for smelly poop to help you get a hand on your situation.
If you consider your hygiene and that of the people around you important, you would want to limit the stench of cat poop to the barest minimum. Logically, what goes out depends on what goes in. Therefore, by feeding your cat high-quality food, you would be able to nip the problem in the bud. The best cat food for smelly poop also tends to be very good for your cat’s overall health, so this is a failsafe choice.
Drawing from our experience, this piece will be detailing the subject of cat poop smells, all you need to know about it, and how to change the diet of your furry little buddy accordingly. By the end of this article, you will have a perfect understanding of what causes your cat’s poop to smell and how to solve this stinky problem.
Top 7 Reasons Feline Feces Stinks
We should take a moment to consider why the cat’s poop smells at all. Again, poop wasn’t meant to be a sweet-smelling mound, but there’s just that stubborn one with the nose-rotting stench that lingers all around the house, irrespective of the ventilation.
Thus, we need to identify the underlying factors if we are to address the subject properly. The next time your cat drops some poop-from-hell that threatens to take over the house, know that one of these might be behind your current situation
1. Diet
Just like humans, cats are sensitive to certain foods or specific things found in particular foods. For instance, your kitty could be sensitive to grains or foods with high vitamin content.
Diet elimination can help you determine the specific foods causing your cat digestive issues and thus “go to the bathroom” with a foul smell. Cut out vitamin supplements or give a grain-free diet to get rid of these issues.
2. Bacteria
Cats are naturally carnivores. They prey on other small animals to eat as food. Their natural drive for prey can result in them eating what’s not right or healthy. This is more so true if your cat spends a lot of time outdoors.
They can eat meat infected with salmonella or E. coli bacteria, causing them digestive discomfort, inflammation or sudden stinking smell in feces as well as diarrhea.
3. Medications And Hormonal Changes
Certain medications for pain and those with an effect on hormones can alter your cat’s natural chemical balance. Depending on the duration the chemical changes have occurred, your cat can suddenly defecate foul-smelling poop.
4. Digestive Disorders
Digestive disorders and related problems can wreak havoc in your cat’s gastrointestinal tract as it does in humans. The result would be strong pungent odors, usually very smelly. Most issues with the digestive tract often result from poor digestion and absorption of starches and fats.
5. Anal Glands Infections
Every mammal, including cats, have anal glands. They often drain through gland ducts. However, sometimes they clog and call for manual draining. If the glands get infected, your cat can produce a runny discharge that smells so bad and lingers all over the litter box.
6. Protein-Rich Foods
Cats are carnivores naturally. That means their food is often rich in proteins, specifically animal proteins they source outdoors. As a result, the high protein content in your cat’s diet causes it to defecate stool that smells horrible and smelly. Although you can’t do much about the smell in your cat’s droppings, a change in diet can do wonders.
7.Parasites
A parasitic infection can upset the stomach of your cat, causing serious diarrhea and feces that smell so bad that you’ll have to go to a veterinarian. Coccidian and Trichomonas are some parasites that often cause serious issues in animals, including cats that are smelly. However, antibiotics and other veterinarian interventions can treat conditions the parasites cause in your cat or cats.
How to Choose Cat Food for Smelly Poop
You don’t have to shop for the most expensive, most specialized cat food for smelly poop to do away with the smell. There are plenty of solutions available to you. In fact, the perfect one may just be within an arm’s length. What we will be doing here is point you in the right direction. Next time you’re shopping for cat food, make sure to put the following into consideration:
‘Cheap’ is Not Always Best
If you have been buying your cat some new brands of cheap food and his poop starts to smell, it is time to stop. If it is a problem of budget conflicts, you could speak to your vet who is in a better position to suggest you worthier alternatives than that which makes your house smell like a dump.
A lot of those cheap foods were made without consideration of your cat’s health. If you keep feeding them that, you might need to take your cat to the vet in the nearest future over the issue of poor health. This will certainly be more expensive than if you had fed your cat high-quality food from the first place.
Fewer Carbohydrates, More Proteins
This has been suggested in the list before this one. The more carbohydrates you feed your cat, the higher the chances of them making poop that disturbs the air in your house. Unlike dogs and humans, cats are referred to as ‘obligate carnivores.’
This means that while we (and dogs) can choose to become vegan, nature did not give cats that option. It is true that your cats can eat vegetables when you give it to them, but that is not nature’s plan for them.
Imagine if your cat was not living in your home but out in the wild. Do you think he would be chasing after some herbs and vegetables? No! Instead of getting your cat food that is rich in carbs, switch to something that offers a higher percentage of protein instead.
Use Animal-Based Protein
The fact that most people don’t know the source of the protein content in their cat’s food, only the percentage, is one thing manufacturers use to take advantage of unsuspecting cat parents.
Since your cat needs more proteins, you can go out to buy cat food claiming to have some high percentage of this protein. What you don’t see is that an even higher percentage of that is plant protein, not animal protein.
You think it’s all the same? Wrong! What your cat needs is animal protein.
Buttressing on the part where we said cats are obligate carnivores, their protein needs can only be solved by the ingestion of animal proteins. Not only that, but animal-based protein also makes sure they have lower bowel movements and by extension less smelly poops.
Grain-Free vs. No Carbs
Still, on the issue of carbohydrates, know that a manufacturer claiming their product is grain free doesn’t mean it contains no carbs. It might just mean that they have removed all the grains and added other fillers like potatoes instead.
Potatoes are not grain, but they are still a high source of carbohydrate. Such meals end up containing 45–50% carbs, harming your cat the more. Instead of just being pleased with the promise of no grains, go the extra mile to see what the food has been made of exactly.
Know Your Cat’s Diet
Knowing foods your cat loves and food that they react badly to can help you get rid of the foul smell. Some cats are highly sensitive and thus, allergic to some food items/ingredients. That could ultimately result in smelly poop in the nearest future. Having the knowledge of things your cat is allergic to will help you nip the problem in the bud
Get Raw Food
Raw food is one of the few options that can be considered the ultimate answer to smelly poop in cats. In fact, you can have as much as zero smell from the cat’s poop if you go raw.
Of course, you should speak to your vet about this before starting at all. That is so you will know the possible dangers to be aware of, how to adapt your cat to that kind of feeding, and what kind of feeding timetable will suit your feline.
Other Considerations for Reducing Cat Poop Smell
Aside from the cat’s diet, which is a major determinant, there are other supporting measures you can put in place to reduce the stink of your cat’s poop.
Allow for Ventilation
While addressing the underlying cause of your cat’s smelly poop, you can make the process less unbearable by ensuring proper ventilation. Move the litter box next to a window if necessary. If there’s an air purifier in the house, there won’t be a better time to use it than now.
Provide Ample Litter
You want your cat to cover up their poop, but with what? Provide at least three inches of litter in your cat’s box so they can cover up their own droppings as soon as they are done.
Of course, this is assuming your cat has already been potty trained to do so.
Clean the Litter Boxes Frequently
This is a no-brainer. If you don’t want the smell of the poop to fester, clean out the litter box as fast as you can. The poop already has its own smell. Leaving it to stay unattended for long allows bacteria to work on it and break it down, leading to a release of more putrid gases. That process will only continue until you do something to the poop.
Cat Grooming
Groom your cat to remove any foul smell on its body. Wash it with cat shampoo and comb the hairs to remove loose ones.
See a Vet
Sometimes it’s not the diet, and it’s not your level of hygiene either. It is just that something is wrong with the cat.
Taking your cat to the vet will reveal whatever is out of place so you can start nursing your feline back to 100% health again.
