# Stinky Poo!



## SkylinePigeon9797 (Feb 21, 2011)

We just adopted a pregnant stray and have named her Lucy and other than having tapeworms (which will be dealt with after she has her kittens) she is in good health. However; her poo has a very strong (almost sweet, though not at ALL pleasant) stench that will not go away. Her litter box is in the upstairs bathroom (away from our other cat's litter box (Penny)) and it continually smells in there making it difficult to go about one's regular bathroom duties. :roll: I clean both litter boxes out twice daily and Penny's never smells.

Could this be caused by:

1. The fact that she has tapeworms?

2. Being pregnant?

3. Normal for an older cat (2-3yr) and Penny's is not as potent because she is only 11mo?

3. Diet related? (She and Penny are eating the same food.)

I just don't know what I am going to do if this is how it's always going to be... :? A better idea of what a healthy adult cat's eliminations are supposed to be like would be much appreciated!  Thanks!


----------



## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

I don't know enough about tapeworms or cat pregnancy to comment on those, but I do know that diet can be a possible cause of stinky poo. One of my kittens had horribly stinky poo and bad gas before switching her to a different diet. Even my other cat's poo smells better on his new diet.

Poo never smells _good_ obviously, but for comparison: when my cats use the litterbox, I can't smell it at all unless I'm right next to them when they're doing it. I barely smell anything (and sometimes don't at all) when I scoop dried poo out of the box.

Others with more experience/knowledge on the tapeworm and pregnancy issues can advise you on those, but on the dietary perspective, if a cat's food contains too much of an ingredient they have difficulty digesting, or too much of an ingredient their bodies don't use, that can cause soft, stinky stools, or gas, or upset stomach. In my kitten's case, she had a real problem with grains, and a bit of a problem with processed/cooked foods in general. Both of my cats are eating a raw meat diet now, containing now grains and very few vegetables. There was a very noticeable difference in litterbox smell after switching to that diet. We used to come home from work and the condo would smell noticeably of cat poo (despite the fact that I usually scoop 2 times daily). Now we come home and it smells like nothing.


----------



## SkylinePigeon9797 (Feb 21, 2011)

saitenyo said:


> Both of my cats are eating a raw meat diet now, containing now grains and very few vegetables.


What did you switch them to? (As in, a certain brand, or do you make their food...?)


----------



## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

SkylinePigeon9797 said:


> What did you switch them to? (As in, a certain brand, or do you make their food...?)


Mine are currently on a rotating flavor variety of Primal and Nature's Variety, which are premade raw foods.

The same stool improvement generally applies to properly-balanced homemade raw too, if not moreso, because it contains even less filler, typically (and obviously with homemade you can specifically control the ingredients and remove anything they have issues with).

Mine thankfully seem to have no issues with the minimal vegetable content in the commercial raw I'm feeding, although one did have a problem with raw beef (he always vomits it up), so of course every cat is different!

If food is the culprit for Lucy, the issue could be a grain intolerance, or an intolerance to a specific vegetable/protein/other ingredient. In general, grain intolerance are probably the most common, since cats have short digestive tracts designed to rapidly extract nutrients from their food. This is easy for them to do with raw meat/organ/bone because the nutrients are so readily available. 

Whereas highly processed/cooked meats, grains, and vegetables take longer for the stomach to break down (cats lack the salivary enzyme to break down carbs, for example) so more of these ingredients end up unused or poorly digested by the body and excreted as waste (sometimes messy, stinky waste). This is why raw-fed cats often have smaller, less-smelly, less-messy stools than cats on more processed diets.


----------



## SkylinePigeon9797 (Feb 21, 2011)

Where do you buy those from?


----------



## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

SkylinePigeon9797 said:


> Where do you buy those from?


They can usually be found at small local pet stores. Both brands have store locators on their sites:
Primal Pet Foods: Store Locator
Find A Store | Nature's Variety


----------



## Vorguen (Feb 23, 2011)

be careful with giving your cat tapeworm medicine right after the kittens are born its still a poison and it will get mixed and transfer to the kittens through the mommy's breast milk.

do some research on when its best to de-worm her


----------

