# Cat Poop smell but nothing in the litterboxes



## saprize21 (Jul 15, 2013)

Hello, i am wondering with you cat owners if you also experience this or could explain for me. 

I often smell cat poop in the apartment but i can never find anything in the litter boxes, and yes i would notice if they had done it on the floor in the apartment, trust me on that one. 

So, does cat poop smell just smell often even if there is none in the litter boxes afterwards for long? 

Also, if it is like that, is there a way i could reduce that smell? Cause it sometimes annoys me how bad it smells but i cannot even find any poop in the litter box. 

Thank you for your reading, please tell me if you do not understand what i am trying to say and ask


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## Emiline (Sep 26, 2014)

If you are smelling poop chances are there is poop somewhere! I would check in boxes and bags and other little hidey holes.

Can't say I have ever had a issue with phantom poop smells personally.

Some say that feeding a raw food diet or a diet that has less fibre reduces the smell of the cat poop. 

Other than that, frebreeze! 

But I would really suggest having another look if the scent is as strong as you describe.


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## TabbCatt (Mar 26, 2014)

My boxes don't smell, with or without poop usually, but I feed raw along with a bit of canned and scoop twice a day, so I'm not sure how you're smelling the stools but not finding any around your home or in the boxes.

If your kitty has loose stools, they definitely smell a lot more than normal ones. Also, does your kitty have anal gland issues? Maybe something is going on with your kitty? Is it possible to follow your kitty when your kitty eliminates? That's what I'd do, if I could...and, I'd worry _more_ if there hasn't been poop at all in a few days rather than not finding poop in the boxes, but yes, both are important. 

Hope you find out what's really going on soon!


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## Blakeney Green (Jan 15, 2013)

Is it possible they could be going somewhere other than the box or the floor? You'd notice if it was on the floor, but it could be in a closet or behind the sofa, for example.

I would suggest doing a sniff test. Do the boxes themselves smell? If so, I would give them a good scrubbing with an enzymatic cleaner and maybe look at a litter deodorizer and (depending what you're feeding them now) maybe a diet change.

If the boxes don't smell strongly but the apartment does, it's probably coming from somewhere hidden so you'll have to do a careful search.

Best of luck!


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

If I smelled poo and there wasn't any in the litterbox.... my first step would be to sniff around the back end of each cat for gas  

If no one smelled gassy then I'd start hunting for poop and threatening everyone that I'd turn them into fur muffs if I found any outside the box.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Hmm, you need to do some detective work. Look under the couch, the box springs, the back of the closets - almost any teeny tiny hole that a cat can squeeze in to can give her access to a place to poop - or like Mow Mow said - it could be flatulence.


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

Does it smell even after you open windows and let air in?


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## zuma (Nov 5, 2009)

I second the others. Also take a look at your cats rear. Mine isn't a rockstar at cleaning herself, so sometimes there's a nasty odor when she walks by. She is very patient with getting her butt cleaned though. Lol


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## Marmoset (Feb 18, 2014)

Yup sniff and do a visual check on your cat's butt. I go through this almost daily with my kitty. Sometimes it's just gas but sometimes she has a hanger-on. If your cat is long-haired the latter is even more likely unless you keep up the trimming.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

When this has happened to me, it means one of my girls had a little _tootsie roll_ stuck on her bottom and scooted somewhere to get it off. There might be streaks somewhere you haven't found yet.


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## zuma (Nov 5, 2009)

Haha exactly. Ahh... good times. Lol


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## saprize21 (Jul 15, 2013)

Thank you everyone for your replies, i have read what you all said and i can say that there is not so much stuff in my apartment and what i mean is, i can see pretty much all over the floors, and i live alone with 3 cats and i am often quiet so i would hear if they would try to ''hide'' the poop on the floor or where ever it would be, and the smell is gone now, so it feels like the smell goes around in the rooms in the apartment then dissapers after a while. 

I do not know how to explain, but at the moment i dont smell anything, so it could be like some of you said that they had it stuck on their behind or something and that is what brought in the smell, cause they have had poop stuck on them sometimes.

But, i will keep an extra eye open around the apartment and see if i notice anything or see any weird behavior, i have had a period with 2 of my cats peeing on the floor and pooping in sinks so i am experienced with noticing if they do stuff on the floor  s

But thank you everyone for your replies  I really appriciate it


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Just a heads-up, the streaks could be on clothes, furniture, rugs, etc. fun, fun, fun! :grin:

Thank goodness it hardly ever happens, and I can't be mad at my girls, I mean, I'd be doing anything to get it off, too.


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

I don't find streaks, but every once in a while, I can smell it on furniture, especially when cats' butt sits on it. Unless I disinfect the furniture once every week, then I will never get the smell, there were times, I just completely forgot about it and went one whole month without disinfecting, then I can smell it. I do have a disinfectant and deodorizer that I bought from the petshop, just 1 to 2 pump does the trick. If I disinfect weekly, I usually just use 50/50 water/vinegar spray, works too. Recently, I found another product good in dealing with pee/poo smell, Nature's Miracle 3-1.

Plastic is porous, they do retain smell too. If I am lax with cleaning, the litter box does smell, especially when its covered. I toyed around with the scoopfree litter box, the covered purple waste compartment stinks and permeates the room even after adding carbon. Long story, I won't go into it, but problem resolved now.


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## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

You don't by any chance have a dog do you? I only ask because my dog's most favorite thing in the entire world is cat poop. We have the boxes securely out of her way, but on the rare occasion when someone fails to put the barrier back up.....the poop is mysteriously gone. Well that's how it happens at my house anyway. And yeah, on occasion someone gets a tootsie roll stuck to their bum and it ends up down the hall or in a random place.


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## Mochas Mommy (Dec 9, 2013)

Sometimes they step in their poo and it is between the pads of their paws too.....sending off wafts of "OMG, who did it?" as they walk innocently by over and over and over and over....


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## Mandy and Ellie (Oct 22, 2013)

The only time I smell poop in my apartment (usually only in the room the litter box is in) is if they've recently used the litter box, they have some stuck on their butt, or inbetween their paws, like someone mentioned (gotta love messy kittens...). However, I clean up the issue and the smell is gone. No litter box or poopy odors.

When Ellie was a kitten, however... the second day she was home, I smelled poop in the apartment. I couldn't find it _anywhere_ in my apartment, and it wasn't in the litter box. I kept getting wiffs of it but couldn't find the dang poop! Fast forward three days... I moved my dresser to vacuum and clean... and there was the pile of poop. I had looked beneath it with a flashlight, but still somehow missed it until I actually moved the dresser.

Cats can be masters of disguise hiding poop! Luckily, that was Ellie's only accident ever, because she was afraid in the new apartment. Hopefully you discover your poop issue and resolve it! lol


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

A black light will show them up. Turn off all the lights and shine it all around putting a penny on all the spots that glow. You'd be surprised at the yuck there is on the floors.


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

We use to have "phantom" cat poo smell when Sadie and Belle were little. The problem was Belle. She was the only little kitty I had that had gas. Also, she seemed to have a weak retention of her sphincter muscle. Every once in a while there would be a teeny tiny ball of poo that would be deposited wherever she had been siting.

This lasted till she was about 5 months old. I had to keep an eye on her. The vet had said it would probably be something she would "grow out of". Thankfully she did and the gassy issue seemed to disappear with it. (oh thank God for that!!)
I guess when kitties are tiny some of them have issues with development at first. 

Those little tiny balls would end up everywhere, on bed spreads, rug, shoe (Belle loves playing with my shoes), chair cushions, my personal fav, behind the toilet. It just went on. Wherever she would sit for a while you would end up finding one of these things. 

I mean we are talking about the size od an artificial sweetener pill, so it is not easy to always find. AND if you or your cat steps on one of them or sits on one of them you're guaranteed that "air du le poop" smell, for sure!

The poop doesn't have to be "the whole movement" to smell the place up. 

Best of luck trying to work it out, hopefully you can solve it real soon!!


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## saprize21 (Jul 15, 2013)

Thanks everyone for the replies, i will keep an eye open And no i do not have any dogs just 3 male cats 

Thank you all, will post again if i find anything Or if i have anything new to say Thanks for all the tips


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## gizmothecat (Jun 26, 2013)

Marshall used to have horrible gas...smelt like a fresh poop!!!! 

Also, if it smells more like rotten eggs...that could be a gas leak!!!


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