Kitten makes everything smell?!

[rachleigh]

Hi All, yesterday I bought home a new 12 week old female kitten. She was a little smelly (very filthy house she came from) so we bathed her which seemed to do the trick. The issue is now that she is making the furniture and bedding smell like poop. I have checked her and she seems to be cleaning her rear area quite well so I don't think there is poo on her. Last night we had her in our bed with us and then put her into the bathroom where she sleeps, when we got back into our bed there was an awful lingering poop smell and she wasn't even in the room anymore. Anyone have any ideas how I can stop this? Or what might be causing it? I never had this problem with my previous cat! Thanks!

 

[misterwhiskers]

If she hasn't been to the vet for shots and dewormed, I'd do that real quick. Kittens should not smell, it makes me wonder if something else is going on.

What are you feeding her?

 

[rachleigh]

Thanks for replying! I'm in Australia she is eating fancy feast which is what she was being fed previously. She has been wormed and had her first shot, will be back again in two weeks time for the second.

 

[catanalyst]

If there's no visible poop and you still get a foul smell coming from the kitten's bottom, then her anal glands might be full. My cat had the same issue when I first adopted her. If that's the issue, then you need to take her to a vet to get them expressed.

 

[rachleigh]

Thank you I'll get it checked out when she is there next week for vaccinations! Is that an ongoing issue or a once off kind of thing?

 

[catanalyst]

Once the glands get expressed, then the smell goes away. Whether it comes back or not depends on the cat. My cat has this issue every 6 months or so. It's been better since we switched her from dry food to wet food and started giving her a spoonful of plain canned pumpkin every day (based on the vet's advice). The pumpkin helps bulk up her poop so that her anal glands get expressed naturally when she poops.

Most of the time, it's dogs that have problems with their anal glands getting full, but it's not uncommon in cats either.