# Cat food and Poo smell



## fantastipotamus (May 11, 2010)

So this might be a weird question, but here's my situation. I've been using Premium Edge Weight Control cat food for my 2 cats for a few years now because we thought that it had the best ingredients. (http://www.premiumedgepetfood.com/produ ... l_formula/) We've always used that food so we always thought that their stinky poo was normal. 

The other day, we ran out of food unexpectedly and had to go to a grocery store and bought some IAMS healthy naturals weight control. (http://www.iams.com/iams/en_US/jsp/IAMS ... tID=200004) We realized very quickly that their poo was WAY less smelly with the new food. However, the ingredients for the IAMS seem inferior to the Premium Edge.

So my question for you all is this. Does the less smelly poo mean the food is somehow better for the cats and thus smells less? Is there a connection between quality of food and the smell of their poo? Should I switch to the IAMS for the sake of my nose?

Thanks for the help!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Welcome to CatForum, and I must say ... I *love* your screen-name! :lol: :lol: 

As far as solid-waste odor, I think it could be some certain ingredient, or quantity of, that your cats were reacting to with a strong odor. Everyone digests things differently and it could be that both of your cats' systems just didn't care for something that was in the PEWC food and isn't in the Iams. 

I fed Iams for years, thinking it was a premium catfood ... until I came here to CF and learned differently. I switched to Innova dry and Innova EVO canned, still mixing a can of Friskies into the EVO for 'junk-food-flavor' to trick my picky kitties into eating it. Also, by making the switch from Iams dry to Innova dry, over a period of about just over a year ... my Fat-Cat (Squirrely-Jo) went from an 18# blob to a fit and active 12# cat who likes to play and can actually jump, now! I still keep a small bag of some sort of dry McKittyCrack (right now it is a Friskies) to give them as treats but their main diet is Innova dry free-choice and 1 large canned food (EVO & Friskies) in the late evening. _I have one cat who needs more moisture in her system so I try to give her a mid-afternoon canned food meal and I always mix a bit of water with the canned food._

I don't notice any poo-odors with my cats on this diet. I've also read that cats on a RAW diet have almost completely non-stinky solid waste.


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## ~Siameseifuplz~ (May 6, 2007)

Like Heidi said it could be just one ingredient in the premium edge. I know when I was feeding the cats dry Felidae their poop was better than when I fed them Before Grain (which is better ingredient wise). We decided that it might be potato and switched to a food without potato and their poop improved.


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## fantastipotamus (May 11, 2010)

Thanks for the help you two. So I guess my next question is, do you think I should switch to the Iams? I can't afford the Innova, so I don't think that's an option. Do you have any other less expensive options to suggest? Will I be doing my cats harm by switching to the Iams?

Thanks again for the help!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I really couldn't recommend Iams over Innova. My S-Jo was a BLIMP on the Iams and the Innova slimmed her down because it wasn't 'junk-food' and she stopped parking herself in front of it and eating all day. One 20#/$40 bag of Innova lasts my EIGHT cats one month. You have two cats and if you feed like I do, that bag should last you almost 4 months. 
*...that is only $10/month for Innova dry food...*
I remember when I was feeding the Iams (_average of 9 cats_) I purchased a 20# bag every two weeks. I think they were about $24/bag ... so the Iams was costing me just over $50/month. Innova is *much* cheaper at $40/month.

I feed the Innova free-choice and one large canned food meal in the evening.
The canned food meal is about 5oz of Friskies mixed with 5oz of Innova EVO and about 2 Tablespoons of water, all mixed up. ...that is about 10oz canned food for 8 cats, so about 1.25oz canned per cat. That would be half of a 5oz can for two cats.


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## fantastipotamus (May 11, 2010)

Heidi n Q said:


> I really couldn't recommend Iams over Innova. My S-Jo was a BLIMP on the Iams and the Innova slimmed her down because it wasn't 'junk-food' and she stopped parking herself in front of it and eating all day. One 20#/$40 bag of Innova lasts my EIGHT cats one month. You have two cats and if you feed like I do, that bag should last you almost 4 months.
> *...that is only $10/month for Innova dry food...*
> I remember when I was feeding the Iams (_average of 9 cats_) I purchased a 20# bag every two weeks. I think they were about $24/bag ... so the Iams was costing me just over $50/month. Innova is *much* cheaper at $40/month.
> 
> ...


I wish my cats would eat so little. We have to constantly battle to give them enough to eat, otherwise they'll eat plastic bags, eat off the kitchen counters, eat houseplants... etc etc. So to save them from intestinal obstructions (one cat had surgery once, the other almost had to), we basically free feed them and they eat and eat. We try to limit it to around 3/4-1 cup a day for each cat, but that seems to keep their weights up too high still. So we trade chubby cats for $1000s of dollars in surgery.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

fantastipotamus said:


> I wish my cats would eat so little.
> ...we basically free feed them and they eat and eat. We try to limit it to around 3/4-1 cup a day for each cat, but that seems to keep their weights up too high still.


Cat-proof you home = surgical problems solved, no matter how much/little they eat.
Did you read the part about my Squirrely-Jo? She parked herself in front of the Iams free-choice dry food all day every day and was a fat 18#. 
_She was more woodchuck than squirrel._ 8O 
After switching to Innova, it didn't taste as 'junk-food-good' as the Iams so she stopped grazing all day just because it was there and only ate what she needed. In addition, I also feel the Iams, and other poor brands of cat food, probably don't allow the cat to feel full, and they feel they must constantly eat because their body keeps telling them they don't have enough of whatever they need and will never get out of a not properly formulated dry food. 
Innova was properly formulated, I feel it satisfied the cats' hunger and S-Jo stopped her all-day-long-meals, ate only what she needed and lost 1/3rd of her FAT body-weight to maintain herself at a fit and healthy 12#. Since switching her from Iams to Innova, she has lost weight, is fit, likes to be active, play and she can now JUMP onto surfaces she had to struggle to reach when she was so heavy.

Imagine the Iams as being comparable to a Happy Meal and candy. 
Imagine the Innova as being comparable to lean meat and cut vegetables.

If both are available (Iams and Innova, HappyMeal/candy and meat/veggies) which do you think a child and a cat would choose to eat? If you give them only healthy choices then they have no choice but to be healthy.


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## Mrs. PBJ (Dec 29, 2009)

You could also get a bag of Taste of the wild for a little over a dollar a pound. 


I have found with my cats that the pricey kibble really is not that much more. I feed one cat for 18 a month. With a pretty good diet. 

TOTW/Evo canned

If you tell us how much you can spend a month and what you have access to we may be able to help trust me they helped me find my mixture. I have a 14 pound healthy cat. Healthy weight also

I have also had to cat proof my home. Boss is a counter surfer it takes some getting used to but Boss also has his safe room. Our bathroom where their is nothing he can get into until he figures out how to open the lock.

according to my local store A 20 pound bag of Iams is 30 bucks which breaks down to 1.50 a pound

A bag of Taste of the wild is 25 for 15 pounds which breaks down to 1.65 a pound I think. 

Now with iams if you feed 1 cup with TOTW you will feed 3/4 of a cup if not less. There are no filers in the better food. 

wellness is more like 2.25 bucks pound a bag 12 pound bag. That bag last my cat 3 months. so at 32 bucks a bag I break that down into three months. 10.35 a month on dry and 9 bucks a month on wet. If I only where to feed dry that bag would last me 2 months so 15 bucks a bag. 

so it just depends on what you really want to feed in a sense.


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