Adopted newly neutered male, urine SOOO strong, normal?

Hello everyone,

Today I adopted an approximately 1 yr old male kitty from the local Humane Society. He was neutered 4 days ago. He got a clean bill of health from the Vet there, plus I stopped by my own Vet on the way home and had him checked over, too.

He's peed once since being home and it was soooooooooooooooo strong and stinky smelling, it smelled like cat spray BUT it was definitely not spray.....I was sitting there watching him pee (just wanted to ensure there were no issues the first time he use the litterbox here).

It's been years since I had a young newly neutered male. Does it maybe take a few days for their hormones to lessen such that the urine doesn't smell so bad? Holy crap, it stunk up the entire room, so strong like ammonia/cat spray (that smell).

They were feeding him crappy Science Diet, just dry. I plan to feed him premium canned food twice daily along with some grain-free dry food. He ate a can of Fancy Feast as soon as I got home (I thought I'd try that first before trying the premium stuff, just to see if he'd even eat canned food).

They assured me at the Humane Society that he'd never sprayed (mind you, he was in a very large room with 5 other very social cats so if he ever did how would they really know?).....that was my only concern with adopting a male.

But again, the horrible strong smell is FROM urine, he squatted to pee, no straining, peed a golf-ball sized clump.

I'm hoping that it just takes a couple of weeks for the hormones to subside (is that what would cause that horribly strong smell?) and that by giving him a diet of primarily canned food (for the additional fluids), his urine will be less strong, too.

Please someone, reassure me! LOL

I have him in a room by himself now before I introduce him to my other 4 (female, all spayed indoor) cats. He's super friendly.

I wonder, will the super strong smell of his urine trigger some kind of a reaction in THEM? For now he has his own box but once introduced into the general population (haha), likely tomorrow, I have total of 7 large boxes so he'd potentially be using ones they use, too.

Any thoughts? Tips?

I'm terrified he'll spray, due to the fact that he was neutered so late (for all I know he could be older than 1 year though from what I've read it's best to neuter at 5-6 months; if you do it then it will cut down on spraying).

Thanks
Lisa

Is it possible that he was just neutered? He was probably neutered after puberty, and still has some male hormones in his body. All you can do at this point is wait and see if his pee still smells strong after a week or so.

Originally Posted by Cat-tastrophe

Is it possible that he was just neutered? He was probably neutered after puberty, and still has some male hormones in his body. All you can do at this point is wait and see if his pee still smells strong after a week or so.

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Yep, as I'd mentioned, he was just neutered 4 days ago (on Feb 10). The estimated him to be 1 year old, based on his teeth. I guess that could be off a bit, I understand it's a little difficult to determine a cat's age as they get older....but they've approximated him to be 1 year. That's a little late for neutering, I know (I've always neutered my males at 6 months, well that was years ago).

It takes up to 2 months for the hormones to settle after neutering.

Originally Posted by missymotus

It takes up to 2 months for the hormones to settle after neutering.

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That's what the vet told us, too. He probably still has a lot of testosterone in his system.

Neutering so recently - his urine will smell very strong.

The smell was pretty strong from Sterling when we brought him home. It took about a week for the smell to fade. He never sprayed, but, as you say, the smell was enough to knock you over at first.

Originally Posted by mrblanche

The smell was pretty strong from Sterling when we brought him home. It took about a week for the smell to fade. He never sprayed, but, as you say, the smell was enough to knock you over at first.

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Knock you over is right! LOL Holy. It's my guest/spare bedroom and it's not that huge, hope once he's out of there I can air the room out and it won't still smell in there. I'd open up the window a bit but it's soooo cold out.

i find it takes two weeks for the smell to go down after neutering, although I now use an anti-bacterial litter for the freshly neutered toms and it helps a lot.

If he's full grown and recently neutered, then yes the urine would still be strong for a few weeks. Males can take up to 2 months to be clean and have all hormones out of the system.

Originally Posted by booktigger

i find it takes two weeks for the smell to go down after neutering, although I now use an anti-bacterial litter for the freshly neutered toms and it helps a lot.

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2 weeks is what I've noticed at our shelter. That unneutered cat smell is something you will never forget. I always shake my head and say there is no way I could live with that in my house. It's very strong.

When I adopted my boy he was around 2 years old and had been neutered about 2 weeks beforehand. His pee stunk so bad. It took another 2-3 weeks before it stopped smelling awful. Now you can't notice it anymore.

Originally Posted by Rang_27

2 weeks is what I've noticed at our shelter. That unneutered cat smell is something you will never forget. I always shake my head and say there is no way I could live with that in my house. It's very strong.

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i can't work otu how people can have unneutered toms as housecats, i hate getting unneutered cats in (I foster in my home)!!