Older Cat Urine Smell going to cause DIVORCE!

My Punkin is 12, he will be 13 in May. As he has gotten older his urine smells so strong it makes your eyes water. Now the obvious questions are, is he neutered? Yes he is. Is he dehydrated? Not according to the vet and he always has fresh water and he drinks from the leaky tub faucet and his water bowl. Is he sick?? Not according to the vet. Actually, other that being FAT, he is in great health. The vet was actually suprised at how great his bloodwork came back looking. He was expecting diabetes or some other disorder with him being overweight.

I am currently using Tidy Cat Scoopable for Small Spaces litter. It is the best i have found so far to control the smell. I scoop every evening when i get home from work. And the smell of ammonia just from ONE DAY is over powering. I have used several different varieties of "Litter Additives" that were supposed to control the smell and they don't work. Husband is ready to Divorce me if i can't figure something out. (he wouldn't really, but he isn't happy about the smell) Help! Is there something i can give to Punkin as a supplement? What is causing this strong urine? Old age?

You can try a litter box that is covered, that way alot of the odors stay in: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2002+113307

an odor control spray: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...tid=1776&rel=1

You can also change the litter weekly and wash the litter pan out well if you don't already. Where is the box located in the house? I have mine in a closet with the door cracked so alot of the odor stays in the closet. Good luck, I hope you find something that works

Thank you for the response, the box is closed with one of those charcoal filters at the top. I wash the box once a week. It isn't that the box stinks so much as the cat urine is so strong.

Hmmmmm.......... maybe you can talk with the vet about changing his diet? I wonder why his urine is soo strong

Try looking into what people use for their studs for litter. Some litters are supposed to be very good for odor control. I know one breeder uses crystals. Others use pine based litters, the pine smell is very strong and can be overbearing ot the urine, and at least smells nicer.

When we had the stud at our house for a while, my fiance began refusing to clean his litter box. It would bring tears to your eyes. He wasn't with us long enough for me to realize if I changed litters (using WBCL) would probably help the odor.

Is your current vet the one that did the neuter? Any remote chance of an undescended testicle being overlooked?

Did the vet do a urinalysis? Sometimes strong urine odors are caused by infection.

Punkin was not neutered by the same vet and he would not appear to have any testicles. I am not aware that a urinalysis was done. I think i may request one. I just thought that as cats got older their urine started to smell bad. Are you telling me this isn't the case?

First, I would buy a black light and search the house for hidden urine. It is unlikely (though not impossible) that the smell would be that strong if he is only going in the litterbox.

Second, a urinalysis is definitely in order. That will help rule out a medical cause.

Third, what is his diet currently?

Yah if urine odor is changing something is up. pH could be changing which could be leading to a uti or something similar (crystals). You might be able to catch it before something happens (if it hasn't already). A urine analysis sounds like a good idea.

If you choose to do this, you might try to collect the sample yourself (otherwise the vet will do it invasively). Once a cat starts peeing they don't stop even if you picked them up. So its easy to scoot a cup under them and get it yourself to save them a scary ordeal at the vet.

Originally Posted by SolarityBengals

Yah if urine odor is changing something is up. pH could be changing which could be leading to a uti or something similar (crystals). You might be able to catch it before something happens (if it hasn't already). A urine analysis sounds like a good idea.

If you choose to do this, you might try to collect the sample yourself (otherwise the vet will do it invasively). Once a cat starts peeing they don't stop even if you picked them up. So its easy to scoot a cup under them and get it yourself to save them a scary ordeal at the vet.

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If you choose to collect the urine yourself, you'll need to take it over to the vet's quickly. Normally you can refrigerator if needed, but this can make it difficult to detect crystals.

Have you thought about getting an automated, i.e., self-cleaning, litter box? I haven't tried one myself, but I know there are members here who use them. There's the Litter Maid, Pet Mate's, and Litter Robot. If you do a search of the Care and Grooming forum using those words, you'll find members' accounts of their experiences with them.

Hopefully a urinalysis will detect a small infection and the cat will be easily treated. You could try using chicken feed laying mash for litter. It doesn't clump as well as the clay litters, but the scent of the grains does the best job I've found so far, at masking odors. Some of the others here are using the "Krumbles" (sometimes called "Kracetts" depending on the maufacturer) but since your cat is "heavy", the mash is much easier on the paws than the Krumbles. I do add some "litter pearls" and about 1/4 inch of FRAGRANCE-FREE Arm & Hammer clumping per box. The price of the feed is right -about $8.00 per 50 lbs. If you save your clumping-litter boxes, you can saw the top a little larger & transfer the feed into them, or you can keep it in a plastic trash can.

To answer your question and age and smell, I have had several neutered male cats live to 12 or even much older, and I have never noticed an increase in smell unless the cat was sick. So I would investigate the cause as well as trying to control the smell.