# new kitty's poop smells soooo bad!



## mreow (Dec 1, 2014)

we just brought home a new kitty from the shelter. we've named him lieutenant columbo because he's got something wonky going on with his eyes (shelter said something is up with his third eyelid but it does not affect his eyesight). he's a black one year old kitty with very sparse white markings just under his chin and on the lower end of his belly. he was surrendered to the shelter as a stray. i'll admit that i passed him up when i was first walking around the shelter as he's a bit of an odd duck, looks-wise. but he is really the sweetest cat i've ever met, there's no wrong way to pet him or pick him up and he can't get enough love from you, ever. we couldn't resist and had to bring him home with us.

when we let him out of the carrier at home, he fit right in, no fear or shyness. immediately wanted to step out of the room we had him confined in but we decided to keep him there overnight just in case. he also seems to have a bit of a cold (sneezing, some eye boogers, lots of swallowing and sniffling) and we're taking him to our regular vet tomorrow when they open. he is eating, drinking and playing normally so we aren't treating it as an emergency to get him to the vet asap.

now the only issue we are really puzzled by is...

his poop stinks. i mean, it's poop, so, naturally it has an odor but gosh this is odor like i've never smelled before. i'm trying to think what it smells like and it reminds me of very pungent, strong-smelling fertilizer. i read that some cats have smelly poop because of parasites but the symptoms are watery, mucus-based diarrhea and so far lt. columbo's poops have been normal except for the smell. i literally can't even step into that room he's in because the smell makes me gag. i tried cracking the window open but that only helped minimally and the room gets so cold during this time of year. i don't want to spray febreeze because he's already got a sensitive nose what with his cold. i don't know what to do! long term, this room is going to literally soak up that smell and no one's going to be able to enter that room.

here are some of the things i'm planning to do:
1. see if the diet we have him on (sheba pate) will change the smell of his poop in the next week
2. if that doesn't work, experiment with different grain-free canned foods
3. if that also doesn't work, bring him to the vet to get his stool tested (does anyone know how much that might cost on average - vet fees can be so terrifyingly high, just hope that our emergency vet fund will cover this)

should i be doing anything or worrying more about his extra stinky poop?

thanks in advance for anyone who can help.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Since you're going to the vet tomorrow anyway...take a fresh stool sample with you. It's cheap to get it tested. I can't remember how much but I'm guessing less than $20...maybe someone else had one done recently and has a better idea. Do you know if the shelter de-wormed him? 

I'd ditch the Sheba food, it's not good quality. Go straight to grain free canned. 

If the poop is still smelly after any parasite treatment (if needed) and food change. Then adding a digestive enzyme/probiotic supplement to canned food will probably help. Here's the one I like:

[ame]http://smile.amazon.com/Animal-Essentials-Plant-Enzymes-Probiotics/dp/B0002AYQ94/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1423419629&sr=8-2&keywords=animal+essentials+plant+enzymes+%26+probiotics[/ame]

Make sure to refrigerate after opening.


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

Bring a stool sample to vet to check. My guess is the food he eats. Before I start trapping the ferals theu poop would stink my garden. Shelter usually feeds low quality food. My ferals now eat grain free taste of the wild venison mix with science diet can food and their poop is firm and doesnt smell.


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## mreow (Dec 1, 2014)

doodlebug said:


> I'd ditch the Sheba food, it's not good quality. Go straight to grain free canned.


Thank you for the suggestions, I will take a stool sample with me (ew...) to the vet tomorrow. I should have looked over these vet papers yesterday, live and learn. I see he was given pyrantel on 1/28 - is that for intestinal parasites? He was also given advantage, tested felv/fiv negative and given vaccine for fvrcp. I just noticed that he was neutered 2/5, wow...i did not even realize it was that recently until i looked over the papers and was given a rabies vaccine as well on that day.

Poor kitty, he seems to have been sneezy since 1/27 but the shelter did not treat, only "monitored" as they said discharge was serious and clear. I'm no vet but I can't bear to see my little guy sneezing and sniffly like this without treatment.

re: the sheba food, i understood it to be a grain-free canned food. is it not at least comparable to fancy feast classic (that's also grain free, albeit a lower quality one)? Sheba® Premium, Grain Free Canned Cat Food | Chicken Paté

I might have to rethink the sheba food if it really is bad for kitty.


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## mreow (Dec 1, 2014)

i meant to type that his discharge was serous and clear, not "serious" lol. sorry.


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## MyBabiesDaddy (Jan 1, 2013)

Congrats in your new kitty and I'm glad another cat gets to leave a shelter into a loving home. Over the years many people on this forum have written about how feeding their cats high quality food will eradicate the foul poop smell. I feed my cats grain free , high quality food (granted its not raw diet) and their poop always stinks. Poop is poop  sometimes one of them will poop upstairs and a few seconds later the smell drifts downstairs and makes me want to gag. I think it depends on the cats digestive system and how compatible it is with the food you feed. I think the best thing is to feed the highest quality food you can afford, and live with some stinky poop. 

P.s. $20 for a stool sample analysys? Wow! I wish my vet was so cheap! A batch stool test here is around $55-60. Consider yourself lucky


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

mreow said:


> Poor kitty, he seems to have been sneezy since 1/27 but the shelter did not treat, only "monitored" as they said discharge was serious and clear. I'm no vet but I can't bear to see my little guy sneezing and sniffly like this without treatment.


 TBH if shelters treated every little sniffle and sneeze they'd go broke immediately. It sucks, but the truth of the matter is that pretty much every cat that gets to a shelter will come out with the feline herpes virus. the good news is that it isn't serious for the vast majority of kitties, and only flares up when they're under stress. Since your boy has clearly been stressed I'd suggest getting him on 2 doses of l-lysine/day. A lot of people here start their kitties at 50mg, twice a day.

You can get L-lysine fairly cheaply at pretty much any drugstore. I prefer to get capsules rather than tablets (easier to just open than to have to crush them), but if you're in the US you might be able to get a bottle of powder.

I generally give the lysine every day for 2 weeks, then reassess. If his sniffles are gone by then you can stop. You can't really 'overdose' lysine, so if you need to keep giving it to him that's fine. In the future he'll need it if he gets a flare up, and symptoms can range from what you're seeing (sneezing, mucous, sniffles, etc) to weepy eyes, and - in serious cases - eye ulcers. Generally weepy eyes and sneezes are the worst it gets though.



mreow said:


> re: the sheba food, i understood it to be a grain-free canned food. is it not at least comparable to fancy feast classic (that's also grain free, albeit a lower quality one)? Sheba® Premium, Grain Free Canned Cat Food | Chicken Paté
> 
> I might have to rethink the sheba food if it really is bad for kitty.


 Looking at the ingredients list there's two that immediately set off red flags:

Chicken, Chicken Broth, *Meat By-Products*, Chicken Liver, *Poultry By-Products*, Natural Flavor, Guar Gum, Added Color, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Minerals (Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate), Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Vitamin E Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex [Source of Vitamin K Activity]), DL-Methionine, Salt, Taurine.

'Meat' can literally be any meat...yuck. It is always better if it actually says a specific animal, otherwise it could be something terrible like roadkill or euthanized zoo animals.  ditto for 'poultry'.

After that, the 'Natural Flavors' and 'Added Colors' are another issue, especially since it doesn't say WHAT colors. Vagueness is always bad.

You're headed in the right direction looking for grain free, so kudos for that  Don't get discouraged, none of us knew anything about pet food until we started trying to learn, and the amount of info that's out there (especially the dodgy stuff!) is phenomenal. I'm sure other people will have some great suggestions of foods you can try (I feed raw so I'm not much help there, lol), and with luck it's just a bit of tummy trouble and your new boy will perk up very soon


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## Sabrina767 (Sep 5, 2014)

I pay $23 for stool test, that 55-60, yowza!
Change in food may have caused some upset and resulted in that stinky poo, that's what happens with my Charli if something goes awry, it smells REALLY bad. It's not the normal bad poo smell, it's _really_ bad poo smell...same with the younger kittens until their worms cleared up, they had stinky breath and stinky poo.
And yes, that pyrantel was for parasites. You won't get an accurate answer on the stool for parasites until three weeks after that pyrantel was administered, I don't think....but maybe someone here with more knowledge can jump in here. But I believe it takes about three weeks for evidence to show up in the stool, if worms didn't completely clear with the initial treatment.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

The Sheba website does not indicate whether they use human grade ingredients. Most companies are proud to share that info, so the fact that they don't mention it means they probably use pet grade ingredients...human food rejects like 4D animals. They don't mention where they source their ingredients from so they may be getting ingredients from China. It also means that fish may contain ethoxyquin which is a very controversial ingredient. 

Meat and poultry by-products are not good quality ingredients. Many people think it's just organ meat, but there can be a lot of junk that is not really nutritious especially if they're using pet quality ingredients. Using "meat" instead of a specific protein source means it can vary from lot to lot, so you never really know what you are feeding. 

Added color means artificial...which has been linked to cancer. Menadione is another controversial ingredient, but it's really hard to get away from even in the better foods.


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## mreow (Dec 1, 2014)

thank you all for your help and advice. it's been very informative and useful. i'll look for another type of cat food and wean him on to that slowly. i'll also hunt down that l-lysine and try that for his sniffles. and i will brave his litter box and get a stool sample tomorrow lol. he just went again and boy does that stuff reek!!


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

MyBabiesDaddy said:


> P.s. $20 for a stool sample analysys? Wow! I wish my vet was so cheap! A batch stool test here is around $55-60. Consider yourself lucky


I live in NH, you live in Westchester...enuff said


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

$49 here for stool sample.


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## mreow (Dec 1, 2014)

just wanted to update that at the value pet clinic in Renton, WA, a stool test done in-house is $18.99 and if it is sent to an external lab for giardia testing it is $54.99. they were the only vet who would give me prices for stool testing over the phone.


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## TranquilityBlue (Nov 13, 2014)

Some of you really pay a lot for these  

There's at least 5~6 vet clinics in my town, so I got to be a bit choosey with the one I ultimately decided to bring Jasper too. They will test stool samples for $13.99.


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## mreow (Dec 1, 2014)

so, just to update, his poop is starting to smell less rancid. he did have a wet stool earlier today but the vet confirmed that it's just most likely the sudden change in his diet and possibly any parasitic remnants that are being flushed out by the pyrantel he was recently administered. she wouldn't even test his stool because the treatment needs time to work. if he continues to have terrible smelling poop and/or bouts of diarrhea in the next two weeks, i'm to bring him back. thank you all again for your help!


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