Is there a connection between what my cats eat and how they smell?

Question

My cats smell horrible when they fart or do their thing in the litter box! It's worse than a guy with a can of beans!
Is it what they eat? And if so, is there cat food out there that can help with their 'issue'?
One of the two cats is allergic to any seafood products though...

1. My cats eat mainly dry food (Iams) but get one can of wet food (Whiskas) a day.
2. They never receive human food.
3. I only referenced to how they smell with men because I grew up with 3 older brothers who loved to fart obnoxiously.
4. The vet did a few tests to tell if the one cats was allergic to seafood because of unexplained and severe rashes.

Answer 1

Iams contains a lot of grain and indigestible ingredients, which will definitely make your cats' stool stink. Any type of canned food can also make a foul odor.
Choose a meat-based dry food (Natural Balance, Eagle Pack, Royal Canin, Felidae) and introduce it slowly to avoid gastrointestinal upset. Once the cat is fully on an improved diet, the smell should decrease significantly.

Answer 2

Yes, there is a connection. I find that the more good quality dry cat food they eat the less they stink. Usually it is the seafood that makes the cats stink, but if they aren't getting that then it must be something else. Do they get dairy? That can cause issues. Or human food? Try to limit their diet to only dry cat food and then only add things one at a time over a period of time. If they stink when you introduce something new, eliminate that food. Stinky cats aren't much fun. Good luck.

Answer 3

Yes,
There is a direct conection between how much a cat smells and what food it eats. Generally speaking higher quality (and higher priced) foods will make your cat go to the bathroom less often, have less waste per "time", and smell less. Every cat is an individual so some foods agree more with a certian cat than others.

I recomed Blue Chicken formula, it has premuium ingreediants and no seafood.

Some main things to look for in your cat food Is that the first ingrediant should be a type of meat such "chicken" or "Beef"

There should not be any corn, wheat mindelings, by products of any sort, meal by products of any sort, digest, digest meal, meat meal, bone meal

whole rice is one of the better ingrediats (used in place of corn in a lot of premium brands)

Chicken meal, beef meal, salmon meal ect. is perfectially fine to be used in cat food.

Answer 4

First a cat smells the food then it eats it. I know they are picky sometimes so you have to try different kind/brands of cat food. It's best to stay with the canned food because cats don't drink enough water-- even when they are thirsty-- and dry food can only help dehydrate them. And, I'm sure that when you smell their farts it's horrible. Do you think only guys fart? You must be new! How can you tell if your cat is allergic to seafood?

Answer 5

Yes, there is a connection between what they eat and how they smell. I never could get my cats to eat seafood though.

Now, I seem to remember about how some people can give their critters chlorophyll, and it helps them smell better. You might just want to look at the cat food and make sure that it is indeed a good quality food: Garbage in, garbage out after all.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Diet does have a big effect on what comes out of cats just as it does with humans. You didn't mention what you are feeding them, I hope it's not people food. If you are feeding a rich diet of can food, try changing to a dry cat food and keep the can food for special treats.

Answer 7

My kitty eats Iams and when she uses the litter box it smells worse than anything too. My husband can't believe it. We think how can anything so tiny and cute make an awful smell like that.

Answer 8

Yes, it's the wet food/. Change brands to a more expensive one...or move the litter box where you can't smell it!

Answer 9

YES what it eats makes a difference!!!Wet food litterbox stinks!!! Use dry or get the special diet foods.

Answer 10

Absolutely there is a correlation between what they eat and how smelly they are. Do they have diarrhea? I would try a different kind of food and see what happens.