Litterbox suddenly smelling terribly?

Hello,

Kitty has been using the litter box for 1 week regularly now, and I've been scooping it almost after every use. Today though, it smells terrible. It was ok on the morning, after I came back the whole house was stinking. I scooped the litter box, she has peed a little bit, less than usual. Could this be a sign of an urinary infection or something?

The litter is standard clay, and I've actually enjoyed scooping it until today when I had to close my nose...for some reason until now it has always smelled like clay...so this sudden change is worrying me a bit. It stinks more than it worries me actually...

I don't recommend standard clay litter unless you plan on dumping the entire box every couple of days.  It holds odors.  If you have a very young kitten who might eat the litter, then I don't use clumping litter, but otherwise I personally use pine pellets in some boxes and unscented clumping clay litter in some others.  (I have multiple cats so need multiple litter boxes, and they each have their preferences, so this works well.)  The pine deodorizes very well naturally (I can't stand scents in litters) and the clumping clay litter allows you to remove just about all the wet and solid deposits every time you scoop.  I let it get a little low and then dump the rest, wash the box, and then put in fresh clean litter. 

Sometimes litter holds the odor, even after you scoop. It gets nasty after a while and a full box change is needed- especially clay litter.

I use corn litter (World's best, but a cheaper alternative is non-medicated chick feed). Holds odor well, even after a month if I don't clean it 100%. It's natural as well.

if it still reeks after changing the entire litter and washing out the box, then I'd say yes, get your kitty checked out.

Has anything changed?  Is it stinky litter smell or does it have a stinky urine/poo smell?  If Noodles has a fish flavored food her poo reeks!  But scooping it removes the odor.  

Plain clay litter leaves moisture on the bottom of the box, and it will grow ammonia, which stinks, if you don't get rid of it.  Clumping litter doesn't have this problem as long as you make it DEEP enough, because all the moisture goes into a ball which you remove. 

Forgot to post, problem solved! It was a small piece of poop that had escaped my scooping four times, not sure how. But when I found it, it was so tough like a rock, it was obvious it was a few days old. 2 days of stinking for absolutely no reason, it's an experience though so now I know what to do if it stinks again

Odor completely removed in 5 seconds lol...

Thanks for all the replies.

Thanks for the update!  S often people get a problem solved and disappear, leaving us wondering what happened.