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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

The litter tray

My kitten stinks really badly - is it his diet?

16 replies

virgiltracey · 27/11/2011 20:24

We have two and the other seems fine but the smell from the first is unbearable. He is ultra affectionate but we can't have him in the same room as us at the moment since the smell is extraordinarily bad and constant and also lingers for ages. Its literally making the whole house smell.

They have mainly dry food out with water but have a tray of felix wet kitten food each every day. Am I giving them too much dry food or is it likely to be something else?

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MrsCampbellBlack · 27/11/2011 20:28

Have you spoken to the vet?

I have 2 kittens and just give them dry kitten food and water.

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purplepidjin · 27/11/2011 20:30

My cats have always self-regulated with the dry, and wolfed down the wet when it's given. When mine were kittens, they had Whiskas kitten food but then got bored of the same old flavours so I mixed it up with own brand which they actually preferred, apart from Waitrose chav kittens There are guidelines on changing food which I ignored, bad Mummy but worth a try?

It might be worth a trip to the vet to have him checked over, though?

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hellhasnofury · 27/11/2011 20:33

DS (who used to work at a small animal referral hospital) thinks the kitten needs to see a vet.

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effingwotsits · 27/11/2011 20:40

Felix gives my cat the awful shits , she stinks after it. Maybe it's that.

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purplepidjin · 27/11/2011 20:43

One of mine (now deceased) was lactose intolerant. He loved a cup of tea, but it gave him the runs so I had to be very careful about it.

Definitely best to see a vet though, we're only assuming it's digestion related!

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virgiltracey · 27/11/2011 20:50

right - off the the vets again! These kittens are costing me a small fortune!

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purplepidjin · 27/11/2011 20:52

Get insurance. In fact, if your vets are anything like as efficient as mine are, get the insurance in place at 9am and phone the vets at 9:30!

wish the bloody doctors would take a leaf out of their book

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sprinkles77 · 27/11/2011 21:06

what does it smell of? My cat used to smell of shit, all the time. It was disgusting, not least because she was so loving. The vet said it was anal glands that make a shitty- smelling brown liquid. And that she would grow out of it probably by about a year. She did.

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sprinkles77 · 27/11/2011 21:08

OH, and BTW, check the small print in your insurance. They often will not pay out for conditions arising in the first 14 days of the policy. So if you are going to do it on the insurance, don't even mention the smell or even phone to make an appointment about it until those 14 days have elapsed.

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virgiltracey · 27/11/2011 21:21

smells like he has the runs - which he doesn't. Its completely overpowering.

He's also a lot smaller than his brother which is why I thought it might be digestive.

will definitely take him to the vets

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sprinkles77 · 27/11/2011 21:27

does it come from his bum area? My cat is very small too. Was a runt. I wonder if it's connected.

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virgiltracey · 27/11/2011 21:29

yes definitely from his bum. and he was the runt and has a deformed tail

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sprinkles77 · 27/11/2011 21:55

does he have visible leakage (I assume not as you said he doesn't have the runs)? If he did there would be wet fur on his bum and back legs and maybe flanks. I don't know about cat embryology, but it's possible that the structural issue with his tail is accompanied by other structural deformities in the general area. Clutching at straws, remembering that DS has a little deformity with his ear and had to see an audiologist to rule out other problems with the inside of his ear. I digress. Anyway, I'm going for anal glands, which hopefully will sort themselves out (though definitely not soon enough for your liking)! I did just google it and they can apparently be removed if the problem does not go away. But I also read something about you having to manually evacuate them. Boak!

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oxcat1 · 27/11/2011 22:13

You may not want to hear this, but my cat is 5 and still has problems with her anal glands! She seems unable to empty them naturally, so when she is getting very relaxed on your lap it suddenly leaks out - and it really is a hideous god-awful smell!

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sprinkles77 · 28/11/2011 22:48

Just had another thought. My cat smelt disgusting and left my hands smelling foul after touching her. It turned out she had been bitten by another cat and it had turned into an abcess. The smell was like a cross between shit and rotten meat. She had to have an anaesthetic to have it cleaned up and had to have a drain in for a week, and antibiotics. She probably would have died eventually without treatment, so if your cat has been stinky for a while and is otherwise well, it probably isn't and abcess.