# Quality of food - smelly poo?



## ellie.p (Mar 5, 2010)

I've noticed that our kitten's poo smells quite bad. It smells essentially the same as his food, but just generally stronger and nastier.

We feed him on the food he was weaned on - Whiska's kitten meat pouches for his wet, and Royal Canin Kitten for his dry. I know that Whiska's is among the worst of the wet in terms of meat content (4%) and loads of fillers and sugars.

I have read that cat poo should not smell too strong or too nasty, and if it does it can be a sign of a bad diet. 

I was just wondering if this is true, and whether switching to a higher meat content/higher quality food would solve the problem of smelly poos, as well as generally making him happier and healthier? 

Thanks! 

Just about to take him to the vet's for the first time :scared: I'm nervous but I don't reckon he'll be bothered at all.


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## Sorcha (Oct 19, 2009)

Our cats get raw mince and normally, their poo doesn't really smell that much. It's quite firm and compact and when they've just used the litter tray, you can't make out they did anything on there. When they we're still on dry food with cereals, you could smell them a mile away when they'd been to to litter tray 
My cats are much happier and healthier on their raw diet, but a higher meat content diet is really good as well of course. Our Patchouli still eats dry/wet and she's doing really well on higher meat content foods.
Maybe you can start giving them a high meat content wet food? That way they get enough moisture in their food as cats can be quite bad drinkers.


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## The Twins (Oct 11, 2009)

ellie.p said:


> I've noticed that our kitten's poo smells quite bad. It smells essentially the same as his food, but just generally stronger and nastier.
> 
> We feed him on the food he was weaned on - Whiska's kitten meat pouches for his wet, and Royal Canin Kitten for his dry. I know that Whiska's is among the worst of the wet in terms of meat content (4%) and loads of fillers and sugars.
> 
> ...


Yes the whiskas and any dry food will be whats causing the poop stink... they're full of fillers and this makes them poop alot and makes their poop smell. Mine eat raw food and their poop hardly smells at all and they go once every 2 days (roughly). A higher meat content diet will help - there will be last waste to poop out and will be healthier for kitty and NO dry only wet food. Ideally raw is best IMO.


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

I agree with Sorcha and the Twins - cat poop doesn't need to smell bad. Yes, like human poop it might have a smell but it shouldn't stink. 

I think a lot of cat owners just put up with it because they think it is part and parcel of having a cat. It is not. IMO it means that the food is not being digested properly; either because it contains too many fillers, sugars etc or because the gut is reacting to something in the food. 

Like the other two posters my cats also eat raw and when they poop (which is only every 2 -3 day) then it doesn't smell at all. Like Sorcha said, you wouldn't know there is a poop in the litter tray. 

Moving to a higher meat-content food might fix the smell problem. It might also decrease the overall output. But that is not necessarily a given. Bozita, which has got a high meat content, gives some cats smelly runs; Nature's Menu does it to others. 

So it is completely down to your cat and what agrees with him.

But overall, a higher meat content food is going to be better for your furball. Cats can deal with a small proportion of grains for fibre but some of the commercial cat foods contain way too much. Completely unusable by the cat, but nice and inexpensive bulk for manufacturers. 

Hope that helps


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## ellie.p (Mar 5, 2010)

Thank you all so much. You definitely confirmed my suspicions! 

I have been putting up with the smell for the past few days but it makes cleaning his tray VERY difficult for me. Once it's buried in his litter you can't smell it unless you get very close, but the moment it's uncovered...

I would LOVE to be able to feed him raw, but both my mum and I have huge problems with handling and eating meat (not an ethical thing, just the smell, texture etc.) especially raw, and even if we got pre-prepared frozen raw meals, it would likely still be too difficult for us. Our best bet would be a higher meat content food.

Will also try to cut down on dry food, or switch to a better one as well - I would prefer not to get rid of dry entirely, but will definitely cut down.

I'll have a look on some of the other threads here where I know this has been gone over in detail and see which food will be best for us and Max!


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

When I brought Mitzy home at 10 weeks she had been weaned onto whiskas supermeat and tesco premium dry. Her little belly was swollen and gurgling, and that first night she did 5 stinky ruuny poops in the tray. Which was right by my bed side so I did not get much sleep that night! No way could I ignore that stink and leave it till morning. As soon as I got her onto Bozita and raw meat her tummy settled down. Now I only know she has been to the tray because of all the digging and scratching....not the almighty stink!


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## ellie.p (Mar 5, 2010)

Paddypaws said:


> When I brought Mitzy home at 10 weeks she had been weaned onto whiskas supermeat and tesco premium dry. Her little belly was swollen and gurgling, and that first night she did 5 stinky ruuny poops in the tray. Which was right by my bed side so I did not get much sleep that night! No way could I ignore that stink and leave it till morning. As soon as I got her onto Bozita and raw meat her tummy settled down. Now I only know she has been to the tray because of all the digging and scratching....not the almighty stink!


Oh no! That sounds terrible. Glad she's alright now though 

Max's poos are firm and medium to dark brown, they seem like healthy poos from what I have read, except for the stink obviously!

We'll try switching him slowly in the next few weeks. I like the sound of Bozita, but I might first try something I can get in shops instead of just online. The [email protected] Purely range also looks good, or I might see if our local Morrisons has any Feline Fayre in stock.


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