Let’s face it, no one’s feces smells like roses. However, if the cat poop smell in your home is overwhelming, this blog is for you.
Let’s first chat about what a normal cat poop or bowel movement should be like. Would it surprise you if I told you that your cat’s poop should not have much of a smell at all? A healthy cat poop smell should have a mild odor and yes it smells but it should NOT stink up your entire house or cause you to go running around turning on fans and opening windows.
A healthy stool should be formed, oblong and the size will depend on your cat’s size. The color should be a darker brown. It should be firm and formed and it should not be hard and look like pebbles. Adult cats usually have one to two bowel movements every day.
How Food Affects The Cat Poop Smell
What a healthy cat poop should not be is extremely smelly. There are several factors that can play into your cat’s poop being stinky, let’s explore them…
- Diet: This can be from a poor quality diet or from switching up the diet. Cat’s are obligate carnivores and they have no reason for carbs to be in their diet. Foods like a dry kibble that are made up of a lot of carbs can cause digestive issues which will cause smelly poops. If you switch up your cat’s diet we always recommend slowly weaning them off one food and on to another food to avoid digestive upset.
- Worms or parasites: We recommend bringing in a stool sample to your vet to check for worms and parasites and if needed treat with a non toxic dewormer like our Worm eX.
- Medications: Some medicines such as antibiotics can cause stomach upset. We suggest that after your cat is on any antibiotics to get him on a high quality probiotic to build up that healthy bacteria. Check out our Complete Cat Probiotics!
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): Sadly I think this is getting to be more and more common in our older kitties. This can be controlled through diet, supplements and stress relief.
- Liver/Gallbladder Disease: The liver plays an important role in the digestive system. When the liver/gallbladder are not functioning well, this can also cause stinky poops
- Stress: Just like when we are stressed and develop colitis, so can our cats. Stress can mess with the gut’s health. We recommend confidence building exercises as well as a great stress relief supplement, we love this one – Cat Calm
An occasional excessive smelly poop is not an emergency, however if your cat has chronic diarrhea, loss of appetite or the stinky poop is chronic, a trip to the vet may be in order.
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