Best Cat Food for Smelly Poop! Feline Diet for Low Odor Feces
If there’s one thing all cat owners have in common, it’s that living with smelly poop is something we would all much rather do without. Kitty litter can get really nasty really quick, especially if your little kitty tends to produce poop that isn’t as easy on the nose. No doubt, a stinky load from your cat’s rear end could cause a stench to take over your entire space. This is especially true for apartment dwellers that don’t always have the ventilation to air out something as potent.
If your cats poop smells horrible, don’t sweat it. There are easy, accessible, and simple solutions you can adopt to help make it easier to breathe in your home. The most practical? Find the best cat food for smelly poop, of course! Not quite sure where to start your search? Let our complete guide help you towards a sound choice.
What Causes Cat Poop to Be Smelly?
Inappropriate Diet
In most cases, smelly poop can be caused by an inappropriate diet. Certain ingredients in cat food can often cause cats’ stool to become particularly insulting to the nose. But it’s difficult to really find the specific ingredient, as each cat has a unique reaction to different ingredients in store-bought formulations. So what might cause one cat’s poop to become smelly might not do the same for another cat.
One of the ways you can pinpoint this as the problem would be to switch your cat slowly to a brand new cat food with a completely different formulation. If the stink goes away, then it was likely something in the first cat food that caused the problem.
However, if in case your cat’s poop still smells, consider how much excess macro and micronutrients his food contains. If they exceed his daily dietary needs, then he might simply be pooping out what his body doesn’t need. So before you jump on those 45% protein cat foods, consider the fact that an adult cat only needs about 18% of protein in each meal. Anything in excess will probably cause a smelly stool. The same goes for an excess of fats, carbohydrates, and micronutrients.
Hunting
Notice that your cat hunts insects, mice, and other small pests? Make sure you check on him to figure out where he keeps them. Because if you’re not finding the spoils of your cat’s hunt in places around your home, then that means he might be eating them.
These small creatures smell foul enough on their own, so you can imagine what they can do to your cat’s poop once they’re ingested. You can either keep a close eye on your cat to make sure he doesn’t end up eating what he caught, or you can eliminate the pests in your home so he doesn’t have a reason to hunt or an opportunity to eat them.
Supplements & Vitamins
Any added supplements or vitamins that you squeeze into your cat’s diet can cause smelly stool. How? Well, the same principle from a rich food formulation applies. Anything in excess of what he needs will be pushed out of the system in the form of concentrated stool or urine.
Most store-bought cat food contains just about the right blend of micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals to keep your feline happy and healthy without the need for supplements. So unless your veterinarian actually recommends the need for them, try to avoid giving your cat any sort of added vitamins that he might just end up flushing out of his body.
Infection & Parasites
In some cases, smelly stool might be indicative of a bigger issue. Some parasitic and bacterial infections manifest their presence in your cat’s excrement, so be sure to keep a wary eye. If you notice that your cat’s stool suddenly develops an unappealing smell along with other symptoms of illness like lethargy, loss of appetite, and vomiting, you might need to visit your vet as soon as possible.
What are Treatment Options for Cats with Smelly Odor Poop?
A Change of Diet
Most of the time, something as simple as changing your cat’s food can be good enough to resolve a smelly poop problem. As a general rule, you should try to steer clear of cat food that contains more micronutrients and vitamins than your cat actually needs. Those that incorporate more than one protein source are also known to aggravate the stinky issue.
So what foods should you actually be looking for? Grain free cat food is a smart choice that can help reduce any foul odors that come out of your pet’s rear end. The reason for this is because grain free diets are closer to your cat’s natural diet, so they agree much more with a feline’s digestive system. The ingredients found in grain free food is typically easily digested, maximizing absorption to make sure your cat poops out nothing other than waste.
Choose the Right Litter
Let's face it - there is no such thing as poop that isn't smelly. For first time cat owners who are just discovering how cat poop can smell, it might seem like the odor is too powerful to handle. But the fact is, cat’s stool can be pretty smelly even on an average, everyday basis. So maybe the problem is just that you’re not used to how a cat’s poop can be.
What you can do is invest in the right litter. Clumping sand is good at keeping cat poop from making a mess, but it’s not the best when it comes to neutralizing smells. So experts recommend making use of a mixture of crystals which control odors, and sand that keeps the mess under control.
Alternately, you can also try to make sure your cat’s litter box is in a well-ventilated area, and that you have something like an air purifier to help limit the spread of any foul smells throughout your space.
Finally, it doesn’t hurt to clean your cat’s litter box out a little more frequently. This way, smells don’t compound or have the chance to take over your home.
Visit the Vet
If it’s not your cat’s diet or your virgin nose that’s the problem, then maybe it’s high time you pay your vet a visit. For younger cats, it might be necessary to update your pet’s deworming record. For older cats, make sure you talk to your vet about possible parasitic or bacterial infections. It might also speed up the diagnostic process if you can bring a stool sample to the clinic for further analysis.
Should You Change Your Cat’s Diet if Its Poop is Too Smelly?
The answer is – it depends. For instance, problems like parasitic and bacterial infections won’t be resolved by a change in diet and require medical attention. If the underlying infection or infestation isn’t resolved, then your cat’s stool will continue on being unfriendly to your olfactory even if you change to the blandest grain-free food you find.
Parasitic and bacterial infections are uncommon in indoor cats that are well-cared for though. So if you don’t suppose that the issue is the cause of any unwanted inhabitants in your feline’s system, then a dietary change might be in order. Make sure to check with your vet anyway, as they might also have some suggestions to make other than switching to cat food for low odor feces.
The 4 Best Cat Foods for Smelly Poop
1. Blue Wilderness High Protein Grain Free Natural Adult Dry Cat Food
Our top choice for the best dry cat food for smell poop? None other than this recipe from Blue Wilderness. Okay, we did say to steer clear of foods branded “high-protein”, but for the brand’s High Protein Grain Free Natural Adult Dry Cat Food, we’ll make an exception. One of the reasons is because this formulation contains protein only from poultry sources, so despite having a high-protein recipe, it isn’t hard to digest.
Another reason why we love this cat food is because it uses all natural animal ingredients. This helps mimic a cat’s natural diet in the wild, so the ingredients are readily absorbed by a house cat’s system, leaving little to be excreted as feces.
Although it might be a little on the pricey side, this cat food definitely gets our thumbs up in terms of quality and efficacy. So if you really want to say goodbye to those foul odors stinking up your space every time your kitty visits his litter, this formulation makes a great investment.
2. Purina ONE Grain-Free Classic Pate Wet Food
Of course, leave it to Purina to come up with some of the most effective dietary choices for our cats. Their ONE Grain-Free Classic Pate Wet Food makes it to the second spot on our list for its palatable recipe that makes use of zero fillers.
Made from real beef, this pate can easily please any household cat – even the pickiest of eaters. So you won’t need to worry about your fuzzy friend eating less than its body needs. What’s more, the grain-free recipe means your cat will absorb almost every macro and micro the formulation has to offer. This effectively minimizes any poop odors, and optimizes digestive health to boot.
3. Purina Beyond Grain-Free Adult Wet Cat Food
Another top pick on our list comes yet again from Purina. Their Beyond Grain-Free Adult Wet Food is made from real turkey and doesn’t incorporate any grains, corn, wheat, soy, or meal to aid in optimal absorption. Other than that, this natural cat food doesn’t use any preservatives, artificial colors or flavors, and other additives that do nothing for your cat’s health.
Price wise, it’s definitely a little more expensive than the previous pick from Purina. But nutrition wise, they’re pretty similar. The main difference lies in the fact that the Beyond formulation simply incorporates ingredients that are little closer to natural, so some cats with sensitive stomachs might take to it more readily.
4. WholeHearted Easy Digestion Chicken Egg Dry Cat Food
WholeHearted is known for their hearty, delicious cat food recipes that try to mimic a cat’s natural diet. Their Easy Digestion formulation makes its way to the fourth spot on our list thanks to its blend of natural ingredients that work gently on your cat’s system to encourage healthy bowel movements and reduce the smell of foul odors.
Aside from minimizing the smell of your cat’s poop with its 100% grain free formulation, this particular cat food also helps optimize the way your cat’s gut works all together. With its carefully combined ingredients, the Easy Digestion formulation normalizes peristalsis, cleans away blockage, and maximizes absorption so your cat gets the most out of every meal.
Final Thoughts on Stinky Cat Poops
We know how nasty it can get when your cat takes a poop and the stench takes over. Fortunately, you don’t have to wear that gas mask forever – as long as you make the right dietary changes for your cats.
We found the Blue Wilderness High Protein cat food to be the best cat food for smelly poop, but don’t stop there. All the other choices on our list are vetted, tried, tested, and trusted as well. So you can go ahead and check those out to find the ideal dietary pick that will help neutralize your prized kitten companion’s stink bombs in a snap.