odor problem

ouhogfan

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
3
Purraise
0
I have had my cat for about 1 1/2 yrs and this is the first cat I have kept totally indoors. I keep the litter box in the garage and have a cat door where he can go in and out when he needs to. I constantly have a strong odor in the garage and the odor creeps into the house which I cant stand. I've been very careful to make sure he isn't going in the house somewhere. We had a problem with that 4 or 5 times when we first got him but as far as I can tell there is not a problem with that anymore. I keep the litter box cleaned out every day. Occasionally I may miss a day but not very often. The vet suggested changing foods and I have tried that with no success. I have changed litter brands several times with no success. I have friends that keep their litter boxes in the house and you can't tell at all. Please help. I don't want to get rid of the cat, but I can't have my house smelling like a litter box. Thanks for your help
 

Moz

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jun 6, 2006
Messages
3,244
Purraise
708
Location
Canada
Since you already tried changing food/litter... maybe your cat is just stinky in the litter box? Scratch is, so I have one of those "Little Tree" air fresheners above the box and I have air spray. That usually keeps the smell down, same with scooping soon after she goes.
 

bruce&sheila

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Mar 20, 2007
Messages
139
Purraise
3
Just a thought: has your vet checked that your cat is fully neutered? If he is a 'rig' (that's what you call horses whose castration was not completely done - I don't know if it's the same word for cats!), he may still be giving off that unneutered male smell in his urine.
 

goldenkitty45

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
19,900
Purraise
44
Location
SW Minnesota
Have you changed litters? Do you use the clay kind or the scoopable kind? The clay litters will hold smells even if you scoop them out often. I like Arm&Hammors Multi-Cat scoopable. It has some extra deoderizers in it.

Also you might want to start emptying the entire box weekly or every 2 weeks and clean it out good with a little bleach and water.
 

gingersmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
8,028
Purraise
22
My first question would also be is he neutered? Ferris' urine stank quite a bit until about 8 weeks after he was neutered - I would walk in the front door and the smell would literally slap me in trhe face. Now, you would never know I have cats (unless of course, one of them drops a # 2 just before I get home!
)
 

epona

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
4,663
Purraise
949
Location
London, England
Originally Posted by GingersMom

My first question would also be is he neutered? Ferris' urine stank quite a bit until about 8 weeks after he was neutered - I would walk in the front door and the smell would literally slap me in trhe face. Now, you would never know I have cats (unless of course, one of them drops a # 2 just before I get home!
)
tell me about it


Sorry I am obsessed with cat wee right now, Sonic is growing up and dear lord my whole flat STINKS of tomcat wee. He is going in his litterbox consistently now (praise be!) apart from when he faces the wrong way in it and goes over the edge (as I discovered this morning
) but it is RANK and yes it almost physically hits you the smell of it.

So yep I agree, if you think he is neutered I would get the vet to check that it was done right and no tissue (or retained teste) left behind.

Another thought is, you say you've tried different foods, but is he on mostly wet, dry, or both? A dry only diet may be causing the urine to be concentrated and thus more smelly as a result of chronic dehydration if he is not drinking enough water. A higher moisture diet may help this.

Did the vet check his urine for bacteria and crystals?
 

beandip

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
Messages
2,322
Purraise
2
Location
under a pile of cats
I would have 3 questions/suggestions..

1. Is he neutered?

Yes is a must on this, or else you'll get a urine smell...like the others mentioned.

2. What does he eat, brand & flavor, wet or dry, etc?

Some cat foods will make for stinky and frequent poos. There are other factors, but that's a big one IMO. Food has a lot to do w/poo smell...and a lot of vets make some very odd recommendations for food IMO.

I've made some changes to my cats' diet and one of the 1st things I noticed was that they are poo-ing less and it doesn't stink now. They used to go probably 3x a day...now it's just once. Less garbage in = less garbage out


3. What type of litter are you using now?

Anything but clumping litter leaves my house smelling like a barnyard no matter what I feed them. Pretty much any clumping litter works for me. For awhile now I've used the Tidy Cat clumping type...and I'm happy with it.

4. Is it a poo smell, or a urine smell, or both?
 

persi & alley

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 27, 2006
Messages
6,313
Purraise
15
Location
Farmers Branch, Texas
Originally Posted by ouhogfan

I have had my cat for about 1 1/2 yrs and this is the first cat I have kept totally indoors. I keep the litter box in the garage and have a cat door where he can go in and out when he needs to. I constantly have a strong odor in the garage and the odor creeps into the house which I cant stand. I've been very careful to make sure he isn't going in the house somewhere. We had a problem with that 4 or 5 times when we first got him but as far as I can tell there is not a problem with that anymore. I keep the litter box cleaned out every day. Occasionally I may miss a day but not very often. The vet suggested changing foods and I have tried that with no success. I have changed litter brands several times with no success. I have friends that keep their litter boxes in the house and you can't tell at all. Please help.
I don't want to get rid of the cat, but I can't have my house smelling like a litter box.
Thanks for your help
Do not get rid of your cat! I have two cats that use the same box and nobody can ever smell anything at all. You say that you have changed litter AND food; that is a good start, perhaps you just have not found the right combination yet. Stay tuned to TCS and the answer will show up, and you can keep your precious cat.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

ouhogfan

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
3
Purraise
0
Thanks for all your help so far. I think from what I am seeing on here I have probably found my biggest problem. He is not neutered yet. We have been planning on having it done for some time but just haven't gotten around to it yet. I will try to get that scheduled asap. I didn't realize that this would help the odor. Right now he is eating Nutro brand dry food (roasted chicken flavor). He was on Diamond brand dry food before. I am using Special Kitty crystal blend litter right now. I have also used Arm & Hammer scoopable and a Wal-Mart brand
 

gingersmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
8,028
Purraise
22
Yup, sounds to me like that will fix your problem. Please keep in mind that the strong urine smell takes a while to go away, 6-8 weeks in most cases. But that will absolutely make a big difference.


By the way, WELCOME TO TCS!!!
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
Welcome and Nuetering will help...If it continues try the nutro natural choice.. Are u in the USA ???
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #12

ouhogfan

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
3
Purraise
0
Yes, I am in the USA (Oklahoma)
 
Top